Proton Stopping Power of Different Density Profile Plasmas

TL;DR

This paper analyzes the energy loss of ions in different plasma density profiles using dielectric functions and interpolation methods, highlighting the impact of density variations on stopping power.

Contribution

It introduces a combined approach using RPA dielectric function and interpolation formulas to evaluate ion stopping in plasmas with varying density profiles.

Findings

Stopping power depends on plasma density profile.

Methodology compares different plasma configurations.

Density profile significantly influences energy loss.

Abstract

In this work, the stopping power of a partially ionized plasma is analyzed by means of free electron stopping and bound electron stopping. For the first one, the RPA dielectric function is used, and for the latter one, an interpolation of high and low projectile velocity formulas is used. The dynamical energy loss of an ion beam inside a plasma is estimated by using an iterative scheme of calculation. The Abel inversion is also applied when we have a plasma with radial symmetry. Finally, we compare our methods with two kind of plasmas. In the first one, we estimate the energy loss in a plasma created by a laser prepulse, whose density is approximated by a piecewise function. For the latter one, a radial electron density is supposed and the stopping is obtained as function of radius from the calculated lateral points. In both cases, the dependence with the density profile is observed.