Results on the energy-relaxation rates of dense two-temperature aluminum, carbon, and silicon plasmas close to liquid-metal conditions - art. no. 035401

We present results for the electron-ion energy relaxation coupling constant s g(ei)(T-e, T-i, kappa) for aluminum, carbon, and silicon plasmas at sever al electron and ion temperatures T-i, T-e of experimental interest. The cal culations use the Fermi golden rule and the Landau-Spitzer model valid at w eak electron-ion coupling, as well as the coupled-mode approach suitable fo r strong coupling. A physically motivated simple derivation of the coupled- mode energy relaxation formula for two-component charged fluids is presente d. While the commonly used weak-coupling theories predict relaxation consta nts relatively independent of the ion temperature, the strong-coupling theo ry predicts energy relaxation constants that become smaller by an order of magnitude as the ion temperature is lowered.