A soft X-ray (0.8-4 keV) crystal spectrograph with a CCD-based detecto
r is described and the CCD parameters for the X-ray quantum energy ran
ge are presented. The spectrograph is applied to the study of heavy-cu
rrent Z-pinch plasmas. The output signals from the CCD detector are tr
ansmitted via ADC to a computer, where a special spectrum-processing a
lgorithm provides a rapid determination of the plasma parameters (elec
tron temperature and density).