Stopping power: Effect of the projectile deceleration

Abstract

The stopping force is the force exerted on a charged projectile by the excess charge of the wake generated by the projectile in the surrounding plasma. Since the wake does not instantly adjust to the projectile velocity, the stopping force should be affected by the projectile deceleration caused by the stopping force itself. We address this effect by deriving the corresponding correction to the stopping force in a cold plasma. We find that if the projectile is an ion, the correction is small when the stopping force is due to the plasma electrons, but can be significant when the stopping force is due to the ions.

Pushing microscopic matter in plasma with an electron beam

“…where λ g =0.182 is a constant, Z, A and ρ are the atomic number, atomic mass and density of the material, respectively, and E 0 is the EB energy [26,27]. The stopping power is important in dusty plasmas for evaluating the deceleration of a fast test charge crossing a plasma crystal, such as an ion, a projectile or an assembly of projectiles with mass comparable with that of the MPs [28][29][30][31]. The range R CSDA of an electron as it continuously slows down to rest in the material is obtained from the relation ( ) Ar -10 7 g cm −3 .…”

Reduction of the Coulomb logarithm due to electron-neutral collisions

“…Its relevance to the collisionless regime is, however, less evident and will be discussed separately. The effect of electron deceleration on the frictional force [9] is neglected.…”