Semiclassical inelastic electron-ion collisional excitations in nonideal plasmas

Abstract

Semiclassical electron-hydrogenic ion collisional excitation cross sections for 1s→2s and 1s→2p0 in nonideal plasmas are obtained. An effective pseudopotential model taking into account the plasma screening and collective effects is applied to describe the electron-ion interaction potential in a classical nonideal plasma. The semiclassical straight-line trajectory approximation is applied to the motion of the projectile electron in order to investigate the variation of the total inelastic scattering cross section as a function of the projectile energy, nonideal plasma parameter, and Debye length. It is found that the transition probabilities in ideal plasmas described by the Debye–Hückel potential model are greater than those in nonideal plasmas described by the pseudopotential model. The maximum position of the transition probability gets closer to the target core as the projectile energy increases. It is also found that the scaled cross section decreases when the nonideal plasma parameter (γ) is increased, i.e., the nonideality of plasmas reduces the electron-ion collision cross section.