Up-scattering of beam ions by nuclear elastic scattering and its effect on energy loss rate in thermonuclear plasmas

An expression for the average energy loss rate of beam ions due to nuclear elastic scattering (NES) in Maxwellian plasmas is derived, by taking into consideration the thermal motion of the background ions. The NES effect on deuterium beam injection plasma heating is examined using the expression derived. As a result of the scattering due to NES of the slowing down deuterons up to the higher energy range, the average energy loss rate due to NES of 1 MeV deuterons in 20 keV deuterium plasmas decreases by about 60% compared with the case of cold background plasmas. An examination is also made of the fraction of the beam energy deposited to ions. It is shown that when the beam energy is higher than 1 MeV, the increase in the fraction due to NES becomes appreciable.