Vicinage Effects for a Nitrogen Molecular Cluster in Plasmas

Abstract

The vicinage effects are studied for a fast nitrogen diatomic molecular cluster in a high-density plasma target. A variety of plasma parameters are discussed with regard to stopping power ratio, molecular axis deflection and Coulomb explosion. Emphasis is placed on the vicinage effects on Coulomb explosion and stopping power for a nitrogen cluster in plasmas. The results indicate that vicinage effects influence the correlation between ions in the cluster, and the Coulomb explosion will proceed faster with higher projectile speed, lower plasma density and higher plasma temperature. Comparing hydrogen and nitrogen molecular ions for Coulomb explosion and deflection angle under the same set of parameters, one can find that the nitrogen ion has faster Coulomb explosion and stronger deflection of molecular axis due to the contribution of charge. In the initial stage of the Coulomb explosion the stopping power ratio has a higher value due to enhanced vicinage effects while in the later stage the stopping power ratio approaches one, indicating that the vicinage effects disappear and the ions in the cluster simply behave as independent atomic ions in the plasma.