Influence of low-temperature resistivity on fast electron transport in solids: scaling to fast ignition electron beam parameters

The role of low-temperature electrical resistivity in defining the transport properties of mega-Ampere currents of fast (MeV) electrons in solids is investigated using 3D hybrid particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations. By considering resistivity profiles intermediate to the ordered (lattice) and disordered forms of two example materials, lithium and silicon, it is shown that both the magnitude of the resistivity and the shape of the resistivity-temperature profile at low temperatures strongly affect the self-generated resistive magnetic fields and the onset of resistive instabilities, and thus the overall fast electron beam transport pattern. The scaling of these effects to the giga-Ampere electron currents required for the fast ignition scheme for inertial fusion is also explored.

This publication relates to the EPSRC funded project Advanced laser-ion acceleration strategies towards next generation healthcare (EP/K022415/1) and the EPSRC funded research fellowship Multi-PetaWatt laser-Plasma Interactions: A New Frontier in Physics (EP/J003832/1). This publication also relates to the dataset 'Data set for McKenna_PPCF_2015': https://pure.strath.ac.uk/portal/en/datasets/data-set-for-mckennappcf2015(19c2dd8f-4b3b-4155-b7eb-1d6c8f2874b9).html