Laboratory astroparticle physics

Abstract:

The construction of short-pulse tunable soft x-ray free electron laser sources based on the self-amplified spontaneous emission process will provide a major advance in capability for dense plasma-related and warm dense matter (WDM) research. The sources will provide 1013 photons in a 200-fs duration pulse that is tunable from approximately 6 to 100 nm. Here we discuss only two of the many applications made possible for WDM that has been severely hampered by the fact that laser-based methods have been unavailable because visible light will not propagate at electron densities of ne ≥ 1022cm-3. The next-generation light sources will remove these restrictions. © 2003 Optical Society of America.

Abstract:

In this paper we present an analysis of Thomson scattered light from an arc plasma jet. Our approach goes beyond the standard random-phase approximation (RPA) and provides more consistent data for the electron temperature and density in plasmas that are weakly nonideal and collisional. The theory is based on a memory function formalism for the spectral density function with the use of the three lowest-order frequency-moment sum rules. These moments are then corrected for temperature inhomogeneities in the scattering volume. The proposed interpretation of scattering data is compared with the RPA result and with the standard Bhatnagar-Gross-Krook collisional model for the dynamic structure factor. It is shown that the obtained electron temperature values are closer but not equal to local thermodynamic equilibrium temperature values extracted from spectroscopic measurements.

Abstract:

We present analytical expressions for the dynamic structure factor, or form factor S(k, omega), which is the quantity describing the inelastic x-ray cross section from a dense plasma or a simple liquid. Our results, based on the random phase approximation (RPA) for the treatment on the charged particle coupling, can be applied to describe scattering from either weakly coupled classical plasmas or degenerate electron liquids. Our form factor correctly reproduces the Compton energy downshift and the usual Fermi-Dirac electron velocity distribution for S(k, omega) in the case of a cold degenerate plasma. The results shown in this work can be applied to interpreting x-ray scattering in warm dense plasmas occurring in inertial confinement fusion experiments. We show that electron density, electron temperature and ionization state can be directly inferred from such measurements. Specifically, we present as an example, use the results of experiments performed at the Vulcan laser facility at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratories (UK) on a LiH target.