Measurement of the total collisional ionization rates of Ne VI, VII and VIII

The total collisional ionization rates of neon VI, VII and VIII have been measured in a time-evolving theta-pinch plasma. The method used was to calculate the expected emission from the plasma using the measured time- and space-dependent electron density (10 16 -10 17 cm -3 ) and temperature (120-400 eV). The semi-empirical ionization rates of Kunze and Lotz were used in the calculation and were adjusted, by multiplying with a constant, so that the predicted photon emission matched the observed line emission. The multiplicative factors, with estimated errors, required for best fit are: for neon VI, 0.15+or-0.1; for neon VII, 0.4+or-0.2; and for neon VIII, 0.7+or-0.25.