AVERAGE-ION MODEL FOR CALCULATING THE STATE OF A MULTICOMPONENT TRANSIENT NONEQUILIBRIUM HIGHLY-CHARGED ION-PLASMA

The ionization kinetics of a transient nonequilibrium highly charged i on plasma are investigated in the average-ion approximation. Approxima tions of a hydrogenic ion, whose energy levels depend either on the pr incipal quantum number alone or on the principal and orbital angular m omentum quantum numbers, are considered as atom models. The results of calculations of various plasma characteristics performed within this model are presented, and a comparison with previously published data, as well as with calculations in the chemical-bond approximation, is pe rformed. It is shown that the average-ion model satisfactorily describ es the spectral characteristics of a nonideal plasma. (C) 1997 America n Institute of Physics.