A unified self-consistent model for calculating ion stopping power in ICF plasma

Abstract

A new unified self-consistent ion stopping power model for use in ion-driven inertial confinement fusion (ICF) target design has been developed. This model includes sophisticated treatments for electron density distribution of an atom in plasmas and a full random phase approximation stopping function that extrapolates the zero temperature Lindhard stopping function to arbitrary temperatures. It is shown that this model provides accurate ion stopping power for cold materials, including both low-Z and high-Z elements. For finite temperature plasmas, the model accounts for the stopping effects due to electrons in ground states, excited states, resonance states, and continuum states in a self-consistent manner. There is no separation treatment for “bound” and “free” electrons. Hence, the model enables the calculations of ion stopping power to be made within a single model for a wide range of beam and target conditions relevant to ICF studies.