Related Experiment Video
Updated: Aug 7, 2026

Non-equilibrium Microwave Plasma for Efficient High Temperature Chemistry
Published on: August 1, 2017
Very-high-temperature molecular dynamics
Flavien Lambert1, Jean Clérouin, Gilles Zérah
1Département de Physique Théorique et Appliquée, CEA/DAM le-de-France, BP12, 91680 Bruyères-le-Châtel Cedex, France.
Abstract:
It is shown that a modified scheme of density functional theory, using the Thomas-Fermi kinetic energy functional for the electrons, is well suited to perform very-high-temperature molecular dynamics simulations on high-Z elements. As an example, iron on the principal Hugoniot is simulated up to 5 keV and 5 times the normal density, giving an equation of state in agreement with current models. Ionic structure is obtained and is given to an excellent level of precision by the structure of the one-component plasma computed for a coupling parameter corresponding to Thomas-Fermi ionization.
Related Concept Videos
Phase Transitions: Melting and Freezing
Effects of Temperature on Free Energy
High-Resolution Mass Spectrometry (HRMS)
¹H NMR of Conformationally Flexible Molecules: Variable-Temperature NMR
Heat Capacities of an Ideal Gas III
Atomic Spectroscopy: Effects of Temperature
At thermal equilibrium, the relative populations of excited and ground state atoms can be estimated using the Maxwell–Boltzmann distribution. For example, an increase in temperature from...

