Resistivity of non-crystalline carbon in the 1-100 eV range

Abstract

A resistivity model for non-crystalline, solid-density carbon and hydrocarbons is presented for such materials heated by short-pulse, ultra-intense lasers. Electron-impact excitation of C atoms and ions was included in this model, and calculation of resistivity curves with and without accounting for excitations indicates that excitations contribute >50% of the resistivity in the 3-20 eV range. This implies that electron-impact excitations make a similar contribution to electron-ion scattering, and thus models not accounting for electron-impact excitation may underestimate the resistivity of dense plasmas in this temperature range.