Abstract
Abstract
It is argued that the electronic stopping power in a plasma should be expected to exhibit significant differences in the presence of effects that shift the electron distribution function away from a Maxwellian. This is potentially important for nuclear reactions produced by laser-driven ion beams, where non-Maxwellian effects may have to be considered. We have calculated the electronic stopping power for a number of model distributions. Importantly, comparisons with the Maxwellian are done under the condition of energy density parity. ‘Hollow’ electron distribution functions (e.g.
f
∝
v
n
f
max
) could be expected to show a reduced stopping power (when
v
i
/
v
t
<
1
). We show that this is indeed the case and that the difference can become a factor of 70. The super-Gaussian electron distribution function, on the other hand, will always show a higher stopping power than the Maxwellian for orders greater than 2.