Benchmark Collisional-Radiative Modeling of Fusion-Relevant Plasmas

The collisional-radiative modeling of impurity elements relevant to magnetic fusion is a complex process involving an array of assumptions and methods with respect to atomic structure and processes. Data from such models exist, but ambiguities may form concerning approximations used within each model and to where resulting data is applicable. Out of these ambiguities arises the need for benchmarking studies detailing specific model methods and approximations, and where simplifications can be applied.



The Los Alamos Suite of Atomic Physics Codes is a robust suite of codes capable of modeling any atom or ion and their excited states, as well as calculating the associated collisional-radiative modeling data. In this study, we utilized the Los Alamos Suite and included atomic structure descriptions using the configuration-average and fine-structure approaches. Different approximations for calculating cross section data as well as atomic structure have been compared and disparities have been discussed and quantified.