Photoionization of H-like C[formula omitted] ion in the presence of a strongly coupled plasma environment

Abstract

We have developed a model (namely EPPP) within the relativistic framework to calculate the photoionization process of highly charged ions in the presence of a strongly coupled plasma environment. The ion-sphere (IS) potential, including the screening on nuclear charge and the effect of confinement due to the neighbouring ions, is used to incorporate the plasma effects. Energies and wave functions of the (bound) continuum states are determined by solving the modified Dirac equations. As an application, we determine the bound and continuum state wave functions, energy levels, and transition parameters for plasma density ranges of Ne=1020–1024 cm−3, taking the H-like C5+ ion as an illustration example. The photoionization cross sections in the dipole approximation are calculated through the bound-free transition matrix elements. In addition, a theoretical attempt, based on the multiconfiguration Dirac-Fock approximation incorporating the same potential is presented for the atomic structure to serve as an independent check of the EPPP values and the results show fairly good agreement with the EPPP ones. Comparison of our calculated data with the results of other authors, when available, is made. Some interesting behaviors of the respective properties concerning the screening strength are noted. The present results are useful for line identification, plasma modeling and diagnostics in laser-produced plasmas and astrophysical plasmas.