Ionization potential depression and ionization balance in dense plasmas

TL;DR

This paper introduces a quantum statistical model for ionization potential depression and ionization balance in dense plasmas, accounting for quantum effects and plasma correlations systematically.

Contribution

It presents a novel quantum statistical approach using dynamical structure factors and self-energy concepts to model plasma ionization properties.

Findings

Accurate calculations of ionization potential depression for various elements.

Determination of charge state distributions in aluminium plasmas at different conditions.

Incorporation of quantum exchange and dynamical correlation effects in plasma modeling.

Abstract

Theoretical modelling of ionization potential depression and the related ionization equilibrium in dense plasmas, in particular in warm/hot dense matter, represents a significant challenge due to ionic coupling and electronic degeneracy effects. We present a quantum statistical model based on dynamical structure factors for the ionization potential depression, where quantum exchange and dynamical correlation effects in plasma environments are consistently and systematically taken into account in terms of the concept of self-energy. Under the condition of local thermodynamic equilibrium, the charge state distribution (or ionic fraction) characterized by the ionization balance is obtained by solving the coupled Saha equations. Calculations for the ionization potential depression of different chemical elements are performed with the electronic and ionic structure factors. The ionic structure factors are determined by solving the Ornstein-Zernike equation in combination with the hypernetted-chain equation. As a further application of our approach, we present results for the charge state distribution of aluminium plasmas at several temperatures and densities.