Stopping of relativistic electrons in a partially degenerate electron fluid

Abstract

The stopping mechanisms of relativistic electron beams in superdense and partially degenerate electron fluid targets are investigated in the framework of the fast ignitor concept for inertial confinement fusion. In order to comply with specific demands in this area, we focus attention on the target partial degeneracy parameter theta= T(e) / T(f) , in terms of the thermal to Fermi temperature ratio. The target electron fluid is thus modeled very accurately with a random phase approximation dielectric function. The stopping results are shown to be very weakly theta dependent. However, a quantum target description is needed to recover their correct increasing trend with increasing projectile energy. The ranges and effective penetration depths in precompressed thermonuclear fuels are shown to be nearly a factor of 2 shorter than earlier classical estimates in the same conditions. The overall conclusions pertaining to the feasibility of fast ignition thus remain unchanged.