title: Plasma adiabatic lapse rate.
abstract: The plasma analog of an adiabatic lapse rate (or temperature variation with height) in atmospheric physics is obtained. A new source of plasma temperature gradient in a binary ion species mixture is found that is proportional to the concentration gradient ∇α and difference in average ionization states Z(2)-Z(1). Application to inertial-confinement-fusion implosions indicates a potentially strong effect in plastic (CH) ablators that is not modeled with mainline (single-fluid) simulations. An associated plasma thermodiffusion coefficient is derived, and charge-state diffusion in a single-species plasma is also predicted.
authors.affiliation: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, California 94551, USA.
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Amendt
authors.forename: Claudio
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bellei
authors.forename: Scott
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wilks