The non-LTE excitation/ionization code GALAXY

In this paper we describe the computer code GALAXY which calculates the excitation and ionization of a plasma, including the effect of the radiation field, whether incident on the plasma or generated internally through the optical depth of the lines. In the absence of atomic data provided by the user, GALAXY calculates energy levels and the electron collisional and radiative rates which link them, using simple scaled-hydrogenic expressions. For relatively highly ionized systems this approach is found to be sufficiently accurate to be useful in studies of high-power laser-produced plasmas.