title: Thomson scattering from a three-component plasma.
abstract: A model for a three-component plasma consisting of two distinct ionic species and electrons is developed and applied to study x-ray Thomson scattering. Ions of a specific type are assumed to be identical and are treated in the average-atom approximation. Given the plasma temperature and density, the model predicts mass densities, effective ionic charges, and cell volumes for each ionic type, together with the plasma chemical potential and free-electron density. Additionally, the average-atom treatment of individual ions provides a quantum-mechanical description of bound and continuum electrons. The model is used to obtain parameters needed to determine the dynamic structure factors for x-ray Thomson scattering from a three-component plasma. The contribution from inelastic scattering by free electrons is evaluated in the random-phase approximation. The contribution from inelastic scattering by bound electrons is evaluated using the bound-state and scattering wave functions obtained from the average-atom calculations. Finally, the partial static structure factors for elastic scattering by ions are evaluated using a two-component version of the Ornstein-Zernike equations with hypernetted chain closure, in which electron-ion interactions are accounted for using screened ion-ion interaction potentials. The model is used to predict the x-ray Thomson scattering spectrum from a CH plasma and the resulting spectrum is compared with experimental results obtained by Feltcher et al. [Phys. Plasmas 20, 056316 (2013)].
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, 225 Nieuwland Science Hall, University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Indiana 46556, USA.
authors.forename: W R
authors.initials: WR
authors.lastname: Johnson
authors.affiliation: Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California 94551, USA.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Nilsen
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D003198:Computer Simulation; D004583:Electrons; D008956:Models, Chemical; D058626:Plasma Gases / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000528:radiation effects*; D014961:X-Ray Diffraction / Q000379:methods*
chemical_list: D058626:Plasma Gases