Theoretical modelling of ionization potential depression and the related ionization equilibrium in dense plasmas, in particular in warm/hot dense matter, represents a significant challenge due to ionic coupling and electronic degeneracy effects. We present a quantum statistical model based on dynamical structure factors for the ionization potential depression, where quantum exchange and dynamical correlation effects in plasma environments are consistently and systematically taken into account in terms of the concept of self-energy. Under the condition of local thermodynamic equilibrium, the charge state distribution (or ionic fraction) characterized by the ionization balance is obtained by solving the coupled Saha equations. Calculations for the ionization potential depression of different chemical elements are performed with the electronic and ionic structure factors. The ionic structure factors are determined by solving the Ornstein-Zernike equation in combination with the hypernetted-chain equation. As a further application of our approach, we present results for the charge state distribution of aluminium plasmas at several temperatures and densities.
The properties of a bound electron system immersed in a plasma environment are strongly modified by the surrounding plasma. The modification of a basic quantity, the ionization energy, is described by the electronic self-energy and by dynamical screening within the framework of the quantum statistical theory. Introducing the ionic dynamical structure factor as the indicator for the ionic micro-field, we demonstrate that ionic correlations and fluctuations play a critical role in determining the ionization potential depression. This is in particular true for mixtures of different ions with larg…
We show how optical spectra in dense plasmas are determined by the shift of energy levels as well as the broadening owing to collisions with the plasma particles. In lowest approximation, the interaction with the plasma particles is described by the RPA dielectric function, leading to the Debye shift of the continuum edge. The bound states remain nearly un-shifted, their broadening is calculated in Born approximation. The role of ionization potential depression as well as the Inglis-Teller effect are shown. The model calculations have to be improved going beyond the lowest (RPA) approximation …
New facilities explore warm dense matter (WDM) at extreme conditions where the densities are very high (e.g., carbon up to density of 50 g cm$^{-3}$) so that electrons are degenerate even at 100 eV temperature. Whereas in the non-degenerate region correlation effects such as Debye screening and its improvements are relevant for the ionization potential depression (IPD), new effects have to be considered in degenerate plasmas. In addition to the Fock shift of the self-energies, the bound-state Pauli blocking becomes important with increasing density. Taking these degeneracy effects into account…
A physical model based on a Monte-Carlo approach is proposed to calculate the ionization dynam- ics of warm dense matters (WDM) within particle-in-cell simulations, and where the impact (col- lision) ionization (CI), electron-ion recombination (RE) and ionization potential depression (IPD) by surrounding plasmas are taken into consideration self-consistently. When compared with other models, which are applied in the literature for plasmas near thermal equilibrium, the temporal re- laxation of ionization dynamics can also be simulated by the proposed model. Besides, this model is general and ca…
The virial expansion of the Hydrogen equation of state in comparison to PIMC simulations: the quasiparticle concept, IPD, and ionization degree
Institute of Physics, University of Rostock（罗斯托克大学物理研究所）；National Key Laboratory of Computational Physics, Institute of Applied Physics and Computational Mathematics（计算物理国家重点实验室，应用物理与计算数学研究所）；Institute of Physics, Humboldt University Berlin（柏林洪堡大学物理研究所）
The Mott effect describes the dissolution of bound states in a dense partially ionized plasma. It happens when the ionization potential depression, owing to effects of correlation and degeneracy, compensates the binding energy of the bound state. At high densities and moderate temperatures, the Pauli blocking becomes important and influences significantly the degree of ionization in the region of degenerate plasmas. A quantum statistical approach is used where the total density is decomposed in an uncorrelated, "free" part and correlations, as a consequence of the cluster decomposition of the …
The balances of particles and charges in the volume of parallel-plane ionization chamber are considered. Differential equations describing the distribution of current densities in the chamber volume are obtained. As a result of the differential equations solution an analytical form of the current-voltage characteristic of parallel-plane ionization chamber with inhomogeneous ionization in the volume is got.
The ionization state of the gas plays a key role in the MHD of protoplanetary disks. However, the ionization state can depend on the gas dynamics, because electric fields induced by MHD turbulence can heat up plasmas and thereby affect the ionization balance. To study this nonlinear feedback, we construct an ionization model that includes plasma heating by electric fields and impact ionization by heated electrons, as well as charging of dust grains. We show that when plasma sticking onto grains is the dominant recombination process, the electron abundance in the gas decreases with increasing e…
The elementary processes taking place in the formation of charged particles and their flow in the ionization chamber are considered. On the basic of particles and charges balance a differential equation describing the distribution of current densities in the ionization chamber volume is obtained. As a result of the differential equation solution an analytical form of the current-voltage characteristic of a parallel-plane ionization chamber is obtained.
The elementary processes taking place in the formation of charged particles and their flow in parallel-plane, cylindrical and spherical ionization chambers are considered. On the basis of particles and charges balance a differential equation describing the distribution of current densities in the ionization chamber volume is obtained. As a result of the differential equation solution an analytical form of the current-voltage characteristic of an ionization chamber with homogeneous ionization is obtained. For the parallel-plane case the comparison with experimental data is performed.
When electrodes are biased above the plasma potential, electrons accelerated through the associated electron sheath can dramatically increase the ionization rate of neutrals near the electrode surface. It has previously been observed that if the ionization rate is great enough, a double layer separates a luminous high-potential plasma attached to the electrode surface (called an anode spot or fireball) from the bulk plasma. Here, results of the first 2D particle-in-cell simulations of anode spot formation are presented along with a theoretical model describing the formation process. It is foun…
Experimental data compiled over five decades of dense plasma focus research is consistent with the snowplow model of sheath propagation, based on the hypothetical balance between magnetic pressure driving the plasma into neutral gas ahead and wind pressure resisting its motion. The resulting sheath velocity, or the numerically proportional drive parameter, is known to be approximately constant for devices optimized for neutron production over 8 decades of capacitor bank energy. This paper shows that the validity of the snowplow hypothesis, with some correction, as well as the non-dependence of…
The charged environment within a dense plasma leads to the phenomenon of ionization potential depression (IPD) for ions embedded in the plasma. Accurate predictions of the IPD effect are of crucial importance for modeling atomic processes occurring within dense plasmas. Several theoretical models have been developed to describe the IPD effect, with frequently discrepant predictions. Only recently, first experiments on IPD in Al plasma have been performed with an x-ray free-electron laser (XFEL), where their results were found to be in disagreement with the widely-used IPD model by Stewart and …
A model for ionization and recombination collisions in a multifluid plasma is formulated using the framework introduced in previous work [{Phys. Plasmas} \textbf{22}, 093512 (2015)]. The exchange source terms for density, momentum and energy are detailed for the case of electron induced ionization and three body recombination collisions with isotropic scattering. The principle of detailed balance is enforced at the microscopic level. We describe how to incorporate the standard collisional-radiative model into the multifluid equations using the current formulation. Numerical solutions of the co…
We propose a general model, Multi-Average Ion Collisional-Radiative Model (MAICRM), to rapid simulate the ionization and population distributions of hot dense plasmas. In MAICRM, the orbital occupation numbers of ions at the same charge stage are averaged and determined by the excitation and de-excitation processes; the populations of the average ions are determined by the ionization and recombination processes with the fixed orbital average occupation numbers in each ion. The calculated mean ionizations and charge state distributions of MAICRM are in general agreement with the other theoretic…
In the ionization region above circular planar magnetrons well defined regions of high emissivity are observed, when the discharge is driven in the HiPIMS regime. Once their mode is stabilized, these structures rotate in the E x B direction with a constant rotation frequency in the hundreds of kHz range. A phenomenological model of the phenomenon is developed, in the form of a system of nonlinear coupled partial differential equations. The system is solved analytically in a frame co-moving with the structure, and its solution gives the neutral density and the plasma density once the electron d…
A new model of quantum mechanics, Classical Quantum Mechanics, is based on the (nearly heretical) postulate that electrons are physical objects that obey classical physical laws. Indeed, ionization energies, excitation energies etc. are computed based on picturing electrons as bubbles of charge that symmetrically surround a nucleus. Hence, for example, simple algebraic expressions based on Newtonian force balances are used to predict ionization energies and stable excitation states with remarkable precision. One of the most startling predictions of the model is that there are stable sizes of t…
The equation of state (EOS) for partially ionized carbon, oxygen, and carbon-oxygen mixtures at temperatures 3\times10^5 K <~ T <~ 3\times10^6 K is calculated over a wide range of densities, using the method of free energy minimization in the framework of the chemical picture of plasmas. The free energy model is an improved extension of our model previously developed for pure carbon (Phys. Rev. E, 72, 046402; arXiv:physics/0510006). The internal partition functions of bound species are calculated by a self-consistent treatment of each ionization stage in the plasma environment taking into acco…
