Plasma adiabatic lapse rate

Phys Rev Lett. 2012 Aug 17;109(7):075002. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.109.075002. Epub 2012 Aug 16.

Abstract

The plasma analog of an adiabatic lapse rate (or temperature variation with height) in atmospheric physics is obtained. A new source of plasma temperature gradient in a binary ion species mixture is found that is proportional to the concentration gradient ∇α and difference in average ionization states Z(2)-Z(1). Application to inertial-confinement-fusion implosions indicates a potentially strong effect in plastic (CH) ablators that is not modeled with mainline (single-fluid) simulations. An associated plasma thermodiffusion coefficient is derived, and charge-state diffusion in a single-species plasma is also predicted.