Pressure Ionization in Nonideal Alkali Plasmas

A system of electrons (e) and ions (i) is considered in which beside the Coulomb interaction short range forces are taken into account, i.e. for the e-i interaction a pseudopotential is used, and for the (classical) ions crystallographic radii are used. For a Cesium plasma the thermodynamic properties are calculated quantumstatistically in a wide temperature-density region. Degeneration effects are taken into account approximately. In the region with bound states the ionization equilibrium is discussed, and the Mott-Transition is investigated critically. A phase transition occurs in the framework of the model chosen at T_c ≈ 4500 K and n^c ≈ 4.10²⁰ cm^?3.