Dense plasma opacity from excited states method
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Starrett, C. E. (ORCID:0000000215828148)↗
Engineering topics
White, J. R. (ORCID:0000000340522746)
Publications and source records attributed to White, J. R. (ORCID:0000000340522746).
Charge state distributions in dense plasmas
Charge state distributions in hot, dense plasmas are a key ingredient in the calculation of spectral quantities like the opacity. However, they are challenging to calculate, as models like Saha–Boltzmann become unreliable for dense, quantum plasmas. Here, we present a new variational model for the charge state distribution, along with a simple model for the energy of the configurations that includes the orbital relaxation effect. Comparison with other methods reveals generally good agreement with average atom-based calculations, the breakdown of the Saha–Boltzmann method, and mixed agreement with a chemical model. We conclude that the new model gives a relatively inexpensive, but reasonably high fidelity method of calculating the charge state distribution in hot dense plasmas, in local thermodynamic equilibrium.
70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗