ELECTRIC MICROFIELD DISTRIBUTION IN NEUTRAL-ION PLASMAS

Abstract

The knowledge of the electric microfield distribution in multicomponent plasmas is a necessary condition to the solution of several problems. In particular, the calculation of the spectral line shapes for an ion, taken as radiator in a plasma consisting of neutrals and ions is one of these problems requiring such a distribution. In this work, we are interested in the electric microfield distribution in a two-component plasma. To reach this goal, we used a useful method based on”cluster expansion”, widely known in statistical mechanics. Here we only use the first term of the Baranger- Mozer formalism (the independent particle approximation). The system we deal with consists of ions and neutrals immersed in a uniform neutralizing background. The total system is assumed to be in thermal equilibrium and neutral at all points. The main interactions used are ion-ion and ion-neutral interactions.