Dirac R-matrix scattering calculations in support of plasma diagnostics

  • Nicole Dunleavy

Student thesis: Doctoral ThesisDoctor of Philosophy

Abstract

The atomic structure of singly ionised nickel (Ni II), singly ionised tungsten (W II) and doubly ionised germanium (Ge III) are thoroughly analysed and subsequently incorporated into scattering calculations. W II is needed to ensure reliable erosion diagnostics when investigating the influx of impurities into magnetically confined fusion plasmas. The atomic data for Ni II and Ge III provide more interest for astrophysical plasmas. In order to accurately represent the collisional processes for these species, scattering calculations are carried out using the relativistic Dirac R-matrix (DARC) and the semi-relativistic Breit-Pauli (BP) R-matrix codes. The results from these calculations, along with the atomic structure data, are incorporated into collisional-radiative model programs. These collisional-radiative models provide great insight for plasma diagnostics and spectral line identification.


Date of AwardDec 2021
Original languageEnglish
Awarding Institution
  • Queen's University Belfast
SponsorsScience & Technology Facilities Council
SupervisorCatherine Ramsbottom (Supervisor) & Connor Ballance (Supervisor)

Keywords

  • Scattering data
  • plasma
  • opacity
  • collisional
  • scattering
  • R-Matrix
  • atomic structure

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