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X-Ray Thomson Scattering

Understanding X-ray Thomson Scattering in dense plasma diagnostics

Exploring elastic scattering and temperature measurement in dense matter

X-ray Thomson scattering is a commonly used diagnostic for dense plasmas.  It can be used to determine the temperature of a plasma.  Usually a model is needed to extract this information.

Elastic Scattering Feature

In x-ray scattering experiments the static elastic contribution (W (k)) to the measured electron-electron dynamic structure factor can be approximated as which is the pseudoatom density multipled by the ion-ion structure factor.  

Both which are natural ouputs of our PAMD model. A direct application of this model to measurements by Fetcher et al revealed good agreement for the Kohn-Sham version of the PAMD model. However, using the Thomas-Fermi version, the model did not agree. This shows the breakdown of the Thomas-Fermi method.

Thomas Fermi Method for Dense Plasma Modeling, Wk Fletcher

This work was published in the AP Physical Review Journal, 2015.

References

  • Models of the elastic x-ray scattering feature for warm dense aluminum

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