https://doi.org/10.1051/epjap:1999209
Ion-acoustic wakefields and molecular ions in dense plasmas
Université Pierre et Marie Curie,
T 12, E 3, case courrier 93,
4 place Jussieu, 75252 Paris
Corresponding author: bobin@ccr.jussieu.fr
Received:
10
April
1998
Revised:
2
April
1999
Accepted:
17
May
1999
Published online: 15 August 1999
It is shown, both analytically and through one-dimensional numerical computations, that highly charged ions propagating through a plasma with thermal or faster than thermal velocities, drive significant ion-acoustic wakefields. By a mechanism similar to electron pairing in superconductors, such wakefields may contribute to the formation of transient molecular ions. Comparison is made with the results of experiments in which dense high temperature plasmas are created by laser irradiated colliding foils.
PACS: 34.90.+q – Other topics in atomic and molecular collision processes and interactions / 52.35.Fp – Electrostatic waves and oscillations (e.g., ion-acoustic waves)
© EDP Sciences, 1999
