High speed imaging of Z-pinch gas discharge in extreme ultraviolet and model-based three-dimensional reconstruction of emitting volume

We constructed a time-resolved imaging setup with 5 ns time step and 2 ns exposure to record plasma dynamics inside the electrode system of a gas discharge extreme ultraviolet source. To analyze the three-dimensional distribution of the emitting plasma, a model-based reconstruction method is implemented. It is applied to the experimentally recorded time-series images to visualize the transient dynamics of the emitting volume in the radial and otherwise inaccessible axial direction. The focus of this paper is the description of the experimental setup and the introduction of the three-dimensional image reconstruction technique for transparent axisymmetric sources. The influence of different fuel gases on plasma dynamics is discussed as an exemplary case.