Interest of electron-ion bremsstrahlung for plasma physics

The achievements of Prof. Pratt are astounding, even when restricting the a ttention to electron bremsstrahlung. He has worked out refilled theories an d codes to determine the cross-sections in the relativistic regime, includi ng the dependences on angles and polarization. He has discussed the validit y of simpler calculations. His deep understanding and the data he and his c oworkers have tabulated have paved the way to many studies in plasma physic s. The features of bremsstrahlung of highly dense plasmas were identified. For less dense and most often non-Maxwellian plasmas, the spectra can be an alyzed to extract the electron distribution function. Examples are taken mo stly from laser plasmas and magnetized laboratory plasmas. (C) 2000 Elsevie r Science Ltd. All rights reserved.