# Influence of atomic kinetics on inverse Bremsstrahlung heating and non-local thermal transport

## TL;DR

This paper presents a self-consistent computational model combining kinetic electron physics and atomic processes to study their impact on inverse Bremsstrahlung heating and non-local thermal transport in plasmas.

## Contribution

It introduces a novel integrated model that captures atomic kinetics effects on laser absorption and heat flow, improving the understanding of plasma behavior under laser irradiation.

## Key findings

- Atomic kinetics influence non-linear IB absorption rates.
- Accurate non-local heat flow modeling requires self-consistent atomic kinetics.
- Ionization balance significantly affects plasma thermal conductivity.

## Abstract

This paper describes a computational model that self-consistently combines physics of kinetic electrons and atomic processes in a single framework. The formulation consists of a kinetic Vlasov- Boltzmann-Fokker-Planck equation for free electrons and a non-Maxwellian collisional-radiative model for atomic state populations. We utilize this model to examine the influence of atomic kinetics on inverse Bremsstrahlung (IB) heating and non-local thermal transport. We show that atomic kinetics affects non-linear IB absorption rates by further modifying the electron distribution in addition to laser heating. We also show that accurate modeling of non-local heat flow requires a self-consistent treatment of atomic kinetics, because the effective thermal conductivity strongly depends on the ionization balance of the plasma.