Exploring relaxation dynamics in warm dense plasmas by tailoring non-thermal electron distributions with a free electron laser

Abstract: Knowing the characteristic relaxation time of free electrons in a dense plasma is crucial to our understanding of plasma equilibration and transport. However, experimental investigations of electron relaxation dynamics have been hindered by the ultra-fast, sub-femtosecond time scales on which these interactions typically take place. Here we propose a novel approach that uses x-rays from a free electron laser to generate well-defined non-thermal electron distributions, which can then be tracked via emission spectroscopy from radiative recombination as they thermalize. Collisional radiative simulations reveal how this method can enable the measurement of electron relaxation time scales {\it in situ}, shedding light on the applicability and accuracy of the Coulomb Logarithm framework for modelling collisions in dense plasmas.