Plasma screening effects on inelastic Compton scattering of photons
by bound atomic electrons of hydrogenic target ions in weakly coupled plasmas
are investigated. The particle interaction potential in weakly coupled plasmas
is obtained using the Debye–Hückel model. The screened wave functions and
energy eigenvalues for the ground and excited states of the target ion are
obtained using the Ritz variational method. The expression for the lowest-order
transition matrix element is obtained from a two-photon process associated
with terms quadratic in the vector potential A. The inelastic Compton
scattering cross-section from the 1s ground state to the 2p excited state is
obtained as a function of the incident photon energy, including plasma
screening effects. It is found that plasma screening effects significantly reduce
the inelastic Compton scattering cross-section.