Measurement of Charged-Particle Stopping in Warm Dense Plasma Article Swipe

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Warm dense matter Atomic physics Plasma Physics Electron Ionization Degenerate energy levels Charged particle Stopping power Particle (ecology) Nuclear physics Ion Quantum mechanics Geology Oceanography

A. B. Zylstra , J. A. Frenje , Paul Grabowski , C. K. Li , G. W. Collins , P. Fitzsimmons , S. H. Glenzer , Frank Graziani , Stephanie B. Hansen , S. X. Hu , M. Gatu Johnson , Paul Keiter , H. Reynolds , J. R. Rygg , F.H. Séguin , R. D. Petrasso ·

YOU? · · 2015 · Open Access · · DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevlett.114.215002 · OA: W1750767376

We measured the stopping of energetic protons in an isochorically heated solid-density Be plasma with an electron temperature of ∼32 eV, corresponding to moderately coupled [(e^{2}/a)/(k_{B}T_{e}+E_{F})∼0.3] and moderately degenerate [k_{B}T_{e}/E_{F}∼2] "warm-dense matter" (WDM) conditions. We present the first high-accuracy measurements of charged-particle energy loss through dense plasma, which shows an increased loss relative to cold matter, consistent with a reduced mean ionization potential. The data agree with stopping models based on an ad hoc treatment of free and bound electrons, as well as the average-atom local-density approximation; this work is the first test of these theories in WDM plasma.