A comparison of kinetic and multifluid simulations of laser-produced colliding plasmas

The amount of interpenetration and stagnation in counterstreaming laser-produced plasmas is investigated via a kinetic model and a multifluid model in one-dimensional planar geometry. Each of these models can evolve multiple ion species in the self-consistent electrostatic field with Coulomb collisional interaction. The two approaches are applied to various colliding plasma systems, ranging from simple homogeneous slowing-down and temperature-equilibration problems to colliding plasmas characteristic of laser irradiated thin foils and thick disks. In particular, direct comparisons are made between the kinetic formulation and the multifluid model with various approximations for the multifluid collisional coupling coefficients. copyright 1995 American Institute of Physics