Exploring relaxation dynamics in warm dense plasmas by tailoring non-thermal electron distributions with a free electron laser
Knowing the characteristic relaxation time of free electrons in a dense plasma is crucial to our understanding of plasma equilibration and transport. However, experimental investigations of electron relaxation dynamics have been hindered by the ultra-fast, sub-femtosecond timescales on which these i...
Main Authors: | , , , , |
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Format: | Journal article |
Language: | English |
Published: |
AIP Publishing
2024
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Summary: | Knowing the characteristic relaxation time of free electrons in a dense plasma is crucial to our understanding of plasma equilibration and transport. However, experimental investigations of electron
relaxation dynamics have been hindered by the ultra-fast, sub-femtosecond timescales on which these
interactions typically take place. Here we propose a novel approach that uses x-rays from a free electron laser to generate well-defined non-thermal electron distributions, which can then be tracked
via emission spectroscopy from radiative recombination as they thermalize. Collisional radiative
simulations reveal how this method can enable the measurement of electron relaxation timescales
in situ, shedding light on the applicability and accuracy of the Coulomb Logarithm framework for
modelling collisions in dense plasmas.
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