Non-local thermal transport in non-LTE plasmas*

Thermal transport and non-LTE kinetics are two important aspects in simulations of inertial confinement fusion (ICF) applications. Electron thermal transport in the presence of large temperature gradients requires a kinetic treatment which takes into account finite collision mean-free-paths. This problem can be simulated with Vlasov-Fokker-Planck (VFP) models, which evolve the distribution function in phase-space via transport, collisions, and interactions with the electromagnetic field. Although VFP simulations provide an accurate prediction of the heat flow, they require knowledge of the ionization state of the plasma. Non-LTE kinetics is simulated with a collisional-radiative (CR) model, which gives the ionization balance, opacities and equation of state. CR models using compact, screened hydrogenic atomic models have proven to be successful in simulating many experiments at the National Ignition Facility (NIF). In this study, we couple a VFP code with a non-Maxwellian, CR kinetics code to simulate electron thermal transport in a non-LTE plasma. The coupling of non-local transport and non-LTE kinetics is examined in detail.