Electron - atom bremsstrahlung

Thesis/Dissertation · Wed Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1986

OSTI ID:5188508

Kim, L

Features of bremsstrahlung radiation from neutral atoms and atoms in hot dense plasmas are studied. Predictions for the distributions of electron-atom bremsstrahlung radiation for both the point-Coulomb potential and screened potentials are obtained using a classical numerical method. Results agree with exact quantum-mechanical partial-wave results for low incident electron energies in both the point-Coulomb and screened potentials. In the screened potential, the asymmetry parameter of a spectrum is reduced from the Coulomb values. The difference increases with decreasing energy and begins to oscillate at very low energies. The scaling properties of bremsstrahlung spectra and energy losses were also studied. It was found that the ratio of the radiative energy loss for positrons to that for electrons obeys a simple scaling law, being expressible fairly accurately as a function only of the quantity T/sub 1//Z/sup 2/. This scaling is exact in the case of the point-Coulomb potential, both for classical bremsstrahlung and for the nonrelativistic dipole Sommerfeld formula. Bremsstrahlung from atoms in hot dense plasmas were also studied describing the atomic potentials by the temperature-and-density dependent Thomas-Fermi mode. Gaunt factors were obtained with the relativistic partial-wave method for atoms in plasmas of various densities and temperatures.

• Research Organization: Pittsburgh Univ., PA (USA)
• OSTI ID: 5188508
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

640304* -- Atomic
Molecular & Chemical Physics-- Collision Phenomena
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700103 -- Fusion Energy-- Plasma Research-- Kinetics
74 ATOMIC AND MOLECULAR PHYSICS
ATOM COLLISIONS
ATOMIC MODELS
BREMSSTRAHLUNG
CLASSICAL MECHANICS
COLLISIONS
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
ELECTRON COLLISIONS
ELECTRON-ATOM COLLISIONS
EMISSION SPECTRA
ENERGY LOSSES
HOT PLASMA
LOSSES
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
MECHANICS
PLASMA
POTENTIALS
RADIATIONS
SPECTRA
THOMAS-FERMI MODEL