Energy deposition by fast ions in pellet fusion targets

The energy loss of energetic ions in heavy metal targets is calculated at temperatures and densitities of interest for pellet fusion. The contributions of bound and free electrons to the stopping power are considered. It is found that in the temperature range of interest the increase of the number of free electrons in the target plasma causes range shortening with increasing temperatures and specific volumes. In order to study this effect on the ablation process, a one dimensional calculation of the hydrodynamic flow with energy deposition was carried out. (author)