QUASI-MOLECULAR EMISSION FROM HIGHLY CORRELATED PLASMAS

The present work reports results on quasi-molecular emission from hot dense plasmas. Results from Molecular Dynamics simulations are first p resented which show that a treatment of bound states in terms of two-c entre wavefunctions is possible in plasmas under specific conditions. A theoretical model for describing the transient molecular behaviour i n hot dense plasmas is then proposed and applied to the case of a tran sient F8+/F9+ molecular ion. We demonstrate that two electronic transi tions (namely, using the spherical quantum numbers, 541(g)-210(u) and 650(u)-100(g)) related to this transient structure can be exhibited in experimental spectra from laser-produced plasmas implying high densit y conditions. These predictions are shown to be in excellent agreement with results from colliding foil experiments which have led to the ex hibition of a low-energy satellite-like feature on the profile of the FLy beta line having no explanation in terms of standard line profile theories. (C) 1997 Published by Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reser ved.