Species separation and kinetic effects in collisional plasma shocks
- Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, 7000 East Avenue, Livermore, California 94550 (United States)
- Plasma Science and Fusion Center, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02139 (United States)
The properties of collisional shock waves propagating in uniform plasmas are studied with ion-kinetic calculations, in both slab and spherical geometry and for the case of one and two ion species. Despite the presence of an electric field at the shock front—and in contrast to the case where an interface is initially present [C. Bellei et al., Phys. Plasmas 20, 044702 (2013)]—essentially no ion reflection at the shock front is observed due to collisions, with a probability of reflection ≲10{sup −4} for the cases presented. A kinetic two-ion-species spherical convergent shock is studied in detail and compared against an average-species calculation, confirming effects of species separation and differential heating of the ion species at the shock front. The effect of different ion temperatures on the DT and D{sup 3}He fusion reactivity is discussed in the fluid limit and is estimated to be moderately important.
- OSTI ID:
- 22252816
- Journal Information:
- Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 21, Issue 5; Other Information: (c) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1070-664X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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