Abstract
Already some years ago, Langdon [] proposed that inverse bremsstrahlung absorption in plasmas drives free electrons into non-Maxwellian distributions. Radiation-hydrodynamic simulations of plasma-based light sources, however, often (implicitly) assume Maxwellian-distributed electrons. In this paper, we quantify the effect of non-Maxwellian distributions on laser absorption and thermal conduction in laser-driven plasma light sources. For irradiation conditions Ilasλlas2∈[1011,1013]Wcm−2µm2 and plasma parameters Zeff/Te∈[0.2,0.6]eV−1, the electron distributions are predicted to be super-Gaussian of order m≃2.2–2.4. As a result, laser absorption is calculated to be 10–20% lower than plasmas with Maxwellian-distributed electrons. A ∼10–30% reduction of the Spitzer-Härm thermal conduction coefficient is also predicted. Published by the American Physical Society 2025
Published Version
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