Thomson scattering in the average-atom approximation

TL;DR

This paper applies the average-atom model to analyze Thomson scattering in warm-dense matter, focusing on bound electron contributions, and offers a simplified diagnostic method for x-ray scattering measurements across various elements.

Contribution

It introduces a method to evaluate the dynamic structure function using the average-atom model, accounting for bound electrons in Thomson scattering analysis.

Findings

Bound states significantly modify the scattering spectrum for titanium.

The model provides parameters for the dynamic structure function from average-atom calculations.

Application to multiple elements demonstrates the method's versatility.

Abstract

The average-atom model is applied to study Thomson scattering of x-rays from warm-dense matter with emphasis on scattering by bound electrons. Parameters needed to evaluate the dynamic structure function (chemical potential, average ionic charge, free electron density, bound and continuum wave-functions and occupation numbers) are obtained from the average-atom model. The resulting analysis provides a relatively simple diagnostic for use in connection with x-ray scattering measurements. Applications are given to dense hydrogen, beryllium, aluminum and titanium plasmas. In the case of titanium, bound states are predicted to modify the spectrum significantly.