Measurements of ion-electron equilibration utilizing low-velocity ion stopping in High Energy Density Plasmas at OMEGA

Adrian Patrick

PSFC

Tuesday, September 29, 2020

4:30pm

Remote

PSFC Student Seminars

Ion-electron (i-e) equilibration in high energy density plasmas (HEDP) has been studied for decades to advance basic plasma science and to correctly model energy partitioning in Inertial Confinement Fusion implosions. However, only a limited set of experimental data exists to test i-e equilibration theories for HEDP. To address this issue, we have developed and utilized a novel method for diagnosing i-e equilibration through low-velocity ion-stopping-power measurements. Precision measurements of ion-electron equilibration were conducted using 1-MeV tritons and 3.7-MeV alphas from DD and D3He reactions in D3He gas-filled implosion, respectively. These implosions were doped with a trace amount of argon to diagnose an electron density and temperature in the range of 3 × 10^23 – 2 × 10^24 /cc and 1.3 – 2.1 keV, respectively. The i-e equilibration rates observed in these experiments are consistent with theories that self consistently calculate the screened potential of ion-electron collisions, while theories that assume a Debeye-Huckle potential are slightly less accurate.

Zoom easy link:  https://mit.zoom.us/j/97594071409?pwd=RE9iKzNwMFNKN1ZQTEJCaVFYUmd2dz09