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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 235 records · Page 13
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2020

Hypervelocity impact flash expansion geometry under various spacecraft surface electrical conditions

A more congested space environment due to increasing space activities introduces new threats to spacecraft operators. Among these threats include hypervelocity impacts from microparticles (< 1 µg) in the form of meteoroids and space debris. These microparticles travel at speeds between 11.2 and 72.8 km/s with respect to the Earth and can impact spacecraft forming a small (~1 µm) and dense (~ 10 26 m -3 ) plasma. This plasma can generate a strong optical emission (impact flash) and a radio frequency (RF) emission. These emissions can lead to spacecraft electrical anomalies when the impacted spacecraft surface (target) carries high electrical potential due to various space weather effects. To understand the microparticle hypervelocity impact plasma and its associated threat to spacecraft electronics, we studied the hypervelocity impact flash expansion geometry under various spacecraft surface electrical conditions. Three high-speed broadband photomultiplier tubes (PMT) are used to capture the temporal evolution of the impact flash and the temporal evolution of the angular distribution of the impact flash expansion geometry in a 3 MV electrostatic dust accelerator during a ground-based experiment. Overall, results indicate that the impact surface electrical condition has a statistically significant influence on the impact flash geometry, and a strong similarity between the impact plasma and flash expansion geometry. Thus, this paper provides new experimental support for the impact flash origin from and connection with the impact plasma, and serves as the first impact flash expansion geometry characterization under various impact surface electrical conditions in a collisionless environment (< 10 -5 Torr).

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2023

The MOOSE electromagnetics module

The Multiphysics Object-Oriented Simulation Environment (MOOSE) electromagnetics module has been developed to increase MOOSE physics module capabilities, enabling standalone and coupled computational electromagnetics within the MOOSE multiphysics ecosystem. The module is actively being utilized in the areas of plasma physics and advanced manufacturing, and it currently provides initial demonstrated capability in multi-dimensional, complex-valued electromagnetic wave propagation, electrostatic contact, reflection and transmission, and electromagnetic eigenvalue problems. Two-dimensional wave propagation and one-dimensional wave reflection and transmission are showcased as examples in this work. The modularity, parallelism, and plug-in infrastructure for custom future development is inherited from MOOSE itself, and the module can be used with both MOOSE-based and external codes, giving great flexibility.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2022

Ion thermal transport in the H-mode edge transport barrier on DIII-D

The power balance ion heat flux in the pedestal region on DIII-D increases and becomes increasingly anomalous (above conventional neoclassical) in experiments with higher temperature and lower density pedestals where the ion collisionality ($v^*_i$) is lowered toward values expected on ITER. Direct measurements of the main-ion temperature are shown to be essential on DIII-D when calculating the ion heat flux due to differences between the temperature of $D^+$ and the more commonly measured $C^{6+}$ impurity ions approaching the separatrix. Neoclassical transport calculations from NEO and non-linear gyrokinetic calculations using CGYRO are consistent with these observations and show that while neoclassical transport plays an important role, the turbulent ion heat flux due to ion scale electrostatic turbulence is significant and can contribute similar or larger ion heat fluxes at lower collisionality. Beam emission spectroscopy and Doppler backscattering measurements in the steep gradient region of the H-mode pedestal reveal increased broadband, long-wavelength ion scale fluctuations for the low $v^*_i$ discharges at the radius where the non-linear CGYRO simulations were run. Taken together, increased fluctuations, power balance calculations, and gyrokinetic simulations show that the above neoclassical ion heat fluxes, including the increases at lower $v^*_i$, are likely due to weakly suppressed ion scale electrostatic turbulence. These new results are based on world first inferred ion and electron heat fluxes in the pedestal region of deuterium plasmas using direct measurements of the deuterium temperature for power balance across ion collisionalities covering an order of magnitude from high $v^*_i$ values of 1.3 down to ITER relevant $v^*_i$ ~0.1.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2022

Toward the core-edge coupling of delta-f and total-f gyrokinetic models

The coupling of core reduced delta-f and edge total-f gyrokinetic models could enable a significant speed-up of the whole device modeling simulations. It is thus interesting to compare these models in the core where they will be coupled. The main difference between these models is the presence of the zeroth order term on the right-hand side of the total-f gyrokinetic equation. This term is responsible for driving a radial electric field that is also associated with Geodesic acoustic mode-like oscillations. To investigate the coupling between these models, the subsequent large-scale gyrokinetic 3D turbulence simulations have been performed starting from an already saturated gyrokinetic axisymmetric equilibria (collisions are not included). This work has also been extended to couple different axisymmetric and turbulent models available in XGC. It is shown that the radial electric field and its drive have to be taken care of consistently while coupling different models together.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2023

A non-neutral generalized Ohm's law model for magnetohydrodynamics in the two-fluid regime

Here, a new non-neutral generalized Ohm's law (GOL) model for atomic plasmas is presented. This model differs from previous models of this type in that quasi-neutrality is not assumed at any point. Collisional effects due to ionization, recombination, and elastic scattering are included, and an expression for the associated plasma conductivity is derived. An initial set of numerical simulations are considered that compare the GOL model to a two-fluid model in the ideal (collisionless) case. The results demonstrate that solutions obtained from the two models are essentially indistinguishable in most cases when the ion–electron mass ratio is within the range of physical values for atomic plasmas. Additionally, some limitations of the model are discussed.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2024

The slow wave resonance cone in the collisional regime

In the low-density edge plasma of tokamaks, ion cyclotron range of frequencies actuators may parasitically emit slow waves. If the density is sufficiently low, which may be common in large future devices such as international thermonuclear experimental reactor (ITER), these slow waves take the form of so-called resonance cones. The traditional theoretical description of this wave mode relies on formally relating an electrostatic approximation of the frequency-domain wave equation to a time-domain wave equation and relating the cone angle to the wave speed in the time-domain wave equation. In the cold plasma collisional regime, that wave speed is complex. We investigate that scenario in this work.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2024

Anomalous transport of multi-species edge plasma with the generalized Hasegawa–Wakatani model and the FLR effects

Anomalous transport of multi-species plasma is considered with the generalized Hasegawa–Wakatani model [A. R. Knyazev and S. I. Krasheninnikov, Phys. Plasmas 31, 012502 (2024)] further extended to incorporate the Finite Larmor Radius (FLR) effects. By introducing the “associated” enstrophy, it is shown that with no FLR effects (where anomalous transport of all ion species is described as a transport of passive scalars in the turbulent fields of the electrostatic potential and electron density fluctuations) the fluctuating densities of ion species converge to the state where they are linearly proportional to electron density and vorticity fluctuations, which confirm previous numerical findings of [A. R. Knyazev and S. I. Krasheninnikov, Phys. Plasmas 31, 012502 (2024)]. However, in contrast to the “cold” ion approximation, with the FLR effects included, both the plasma turbulence and the dynamics of all ion species become interconnected. Therefore, for simplicity, the FLR effects in this work were considered only for a small “trace” impurity fraction. It is found that for light (neon) “trace” impurity, the FLR effects reduce both anomalous flux and density fluctuations. However, for heavy (tungsten) “trace” impurity, the FLR effects exhibit non-monotonic impact on anomalous transport.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2024

Energetic Particles - microturbulence interaction thrust (EP SIWG white paper)

This white paper outlines a strategic approach to Energetic Particle (EP) research, aimed at applying the results to the future burning devices such as ITER. Our goal is to deepen the understanding of the interplay between plasma background microturbulence and diverse species of energetic ions in burning plasma devices. This strategy is poised to advance our knowledge in this crucial area of fusion science, paving the way for significant breakthroughs in plasma physics and fusion energy research. We consider the confinement of energetic ions such as auxiliary heating beams, minority ions from ICRH, and fusion product alpha particles. Recent studies have underscored the potential of EP/microturbulence interaction to enhance fusion plasma performance by stabilizing microturbulence. However, it also poses risks, such as exacerbating Alfvénic eigenmode (AE) instabilities, which could compromise the sustainability of plasma discharge by causing EP losses. The interplay between EPs and background microturbulence is evident in the phenomenon of effective pitch angle scattering, a crucial aspect of the quasilinear (QL) theory. This theory is integral to developing numerically-efficient yet comprehensive and self-consistent approaches, recently employed to investigate the relaxation of energetic particle populations in the holistic modeling of fusion-grade plasmas. The primary objectives of this white paper thrust encompass a dual focus. First is that we need to delve into the mechanisms through which microturbulence engenders effective pitch angle scattering. This investigation will entail the examination of the presence of known or self-consistently predicted spectra of modes accountable for microturbulence. In these explorations, electrostatic microturbulence serves as a logical initial stride towards achieving the trust's objectives. This endeavor is anticipated to yield formulations expressing the parametric dependencies of the effective pitch angle scattering frequency on variables such as thermal plasma electron and/or ion temperatures, as well as their respective thermal conductivities. In our second objective, we aim to delve into the intricate formation of zonal flow (ZF) structures amidst the complex interplay of microturbulence and Alfvenic eigenmodes (AEs). This endeavor poses greater challenges as we seek to unravel the macroscopic manifestations influenced by microturbulence, termed as zonal structures (ZS), stemming from microturbulence-induced ZF. Drawing from this understanding, we anticipate employing a QL approach to yield comprehensive insights into the distribution function of energetic particles (EP) within phase space. This method entails resolving the dominant multidimensional phase space diffusion processes while effectively averaging over the rapid ballistic responses. Nevertheless, substantial strides remain imperative to realize a comprehensive whole-device modeling framework. This entails meticulous verification and validation exercises against experimental observations, as well as rigorous benchmarking against theoretical frameworks and numerical simulations.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2020

Neutral gas analysis for JET DT operation

Neutral gas analysis, the measurement and evaluation of total and partial pressures, is a key technique to study the impact of neutral gas dynamics on retention, recycling and release processes of fuel or impurity species in fusion devices. At JET, the experiment closest to ITER in terms of operating parameters and size, various detectors and techniques for partial pressure and total pressure measurements are deployed together to characterise neutral gas dynamics during and after plasma operation on various toroidal and poloidal locations. An extensive modification of JET's sub-divertor neutral gas diagnostic system aims at retaining and extending established measurement capabilities in the forthcoming Deuterium-Tritium (DT) experiments (DTE2). To achieve DT compatibility, a separation of radiation-sensitive electronics from the sensor and adequate radiation shielding is required, as well as utilisation of a DT compatible differential pumping system with adjustable throughput to account for the strong pressure variation in the sub-divertor region. Finally, the sub-divertor neutral gas diagnostic will be equipped with multiple Residual Gas Analysers (RGAs), utilising quadrupole mass spectrometry and electrostatic ion-trap-principles, all operating with remote electronics located behind the biological radiation shield. These RGAs will record data in a fast selected discrete mass mode during plasma pulses (cycle ~2 s) and will automatically switch back to continuous data recording (cycle ~100 s) afterwards. They will be complemented by a newly improved Penning gauge spectroscopy configuration in particular supporting the He and D 2 separation relevant for DT operation. The distance between these devices and their associated control unit is typically 15m . A newly developed RGA with a cable length of 80 m, compatible with the ITER environment, will also be employed for the first time. Finally, this set-up and its operation in DTE2 will provide vital input to the development of the ITER divertor RGA in the most relevant environment currently available.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
DOE OSTI2024

System and method for alfvenic reconnecting plasmoid plasma acceleration

According to various embodiments, a system for using magnetic reconnection to accelerate plasma is disclosed. The system includes a pair of electrodes including two concentric rings separated by an electrode gap and held at different electrostatic potential by applying a voltage to generate an inter-electrode electric field. The system further includes a plurality of magnetic coils configured to produce magnetic field lines that connect the pair of electrodes. The system additionally includes a gas injector configured to inject gas into the electrode gap, the injected gas being partially ionized by the inter-electrode electric field to generate a poloidal current that flows along open magnetic field lines across the electrode gap. A total Lorentz force causes oppositely directed magnetic field lines to be expanded around a region of the gas injector to further create an azimuthal current in the form of an axially elongated current sheet that is unstable such that the axially elongated current sheet reconnects and breaks into plasmoids.

Ebrahimi, Fatima Arezu↗
DOE OSTI2025

Simulation of an inductively coupled plasma with a two-dimensional Darwin particle-in-cell code

A two-dimensional particle-in-cell code for the simulation of low-frequency electromagnetic processes in laboratory plasmas has been developed. The code uses the Darwin method omitting the electromagnetic wave propagation. The Darwin method separates the electric field into solenoidal and irrotational parts. The solenoidal electric field is calculated with a new algorithm based on the equation for the electric field vorticity. The system of linear equations in the new algorithm is readily solved using a standard iterative method. The irrotational electric field is the electrostatic field calculated with the direct implicit algorithm. The code is verified by reproducing the two-stream instability, electron electromagnetic waves, and shear Alfvén waves. The code is applied to simulate an inductively coupled plasma with the driving current flowing around the plasma region. In this simulation, a ring of dense plasma forms at the initial stage but then the density becomes maximal in the center and decays monotonically toward the walls. The skin effect is in the transitional mode between local and non-local, and the electron velocity distribution function is non-Maxwellian.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2021

Recent progress on neoclassical impurity transport in stellarators with implications for a stellarator reactor

Accumulation of impurities in the core of the plasma is a potential problem for any fusion reactor, and is thought to be especially problematic for stellarators. We use the collisional transport code SFINCS to calculate, in a reactor stellarator scenario, the effects of flux-surface electrostatic potential variation on tungsten transport. The potential variation is found to have a large effect on the transport, reversing the sign of the transport coefficients related to the radial electric field and the bulk ion temperature gradient, and also increasing the magnitude of the former by two orders of magnitude. We optimize the electrostatic potential variation to minimize impurity accumulation, resulting in a 20%–50% reduction of the inward impurity flux. Furthermore, we investigate whether the electrostatic potential variation caused by fast particles due to ion-cyclotron resonance heating can be used to reduce the impurity accumulation, but find the effect to be small in the cases considered.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2023

Quantum algorithm for the linear Vlasov equation with collisions

The Vlasov equation is a nonlinear partial differential equation that provides a first-principles description of the dynamics of plasmas. Its linear limit is routinely used in plasma physics to investigate plasma oscillations and stability. In this paper, we present a quantum algorithm that simulates the linearized Vlasov equation with and without collisions, in the one-dimensional electrostatic limit. Rather than solving this equation in its native spatial and velocity phase space, we adopt an efficient representation in the dual space yielded by a Fourier-Hermite expansion. For a given simulation time, the Fourier-Hermite representation is exponentially more compact, thus yielding a classical algorithm that can match the performance of a previously proposed quantum algorithm for this problem. Further, this representation results in a system of linear ordinary differential equations (ODEs) which can be solved with well-developed quantum algorithms: a Hamiltonian simulation in the collisionless case, and quantum ODE solvers in the collisional case. In particular, we demonstrate that a quadratic speedup in system size is attainable.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2023

Linear instabilities in the hot-ion regime in a high-field spherical tokamak

Abstract The present operating high-field compact spherical tokamak ST40 is an important step toward an ST-based fusion reactor (Gryaznevich and Asunta 2017 Fusion Eng. Des. 123 177; McNamara 2023 Nucl. Fusion 63 054002). Temperature and density profiles and their uncertainties in recent hot ion ST40 plasmas with central ion temperatures exceeding 8.6 keV, have been inferred using an integrated analysis of several diagnostics including line-of-sight integration and volume average measurements, as well as limited profile information from a charge-exchange-recombination spectrometer. A linear gyrokinetic stability analysis has been carried out to identify the most unstable micro-instabilities in these hot ion plasmas. In one of these plasmas, it is found that linear growth rates of both ion- and electron-scale ( k θ ρ s ⩾ 0.2 where k θ is the poloidal wavenumber and ρ s is the ion gyro-radius with sound speed) modes decrease from the edge toward the core of the plasma (i.e. from ρ = 0.8 to 0.3 where ρ is the square root of the normalized magnetic flux), while the change of linear growth rates at k θ ρ s < 0.2 is non-monotonic. In particular, at ρ = 0.3 no unstable mode was found at k θ ρ s > 5 , and about an order of magnitude reduction in the maximum linear growth rate in the ion-scale wavenumber range of 0.2 ⩽ k θ ρ s < 1 is seen at ρ = 0.3 compared with the ρ = 0.8 location. It is found through parametric scans that while the ion temperature gradient (ITG) mode/trapped electron mode (TEM) and kinetic ballooning mode (KBM)/kinetic shear Alfvén (KSA) mode are more important in the plasma core, ubiquitous mode (UM) is found to be the important ion-scale instability at ρ ⩾ 0.6 . At ρ = 0.8, two instabilities are found at the electron scale, with one being the typical electrostatic electron temperature gradient (ETG) mode at ρ e scale and beyond and the other being an unidentified low-real-frequency instability (at the intermediate scale between electron and ion gyroradii) which can propagate in the ion direction and is driven by ETG. The existence of UM at the ion scale and the low-real-frequency instability and ETG mode at the electron scale at ρ = 0.8 is supported by an extensive linear gyrokinetic stability analysis of another ST40 hot ion plasma in a wider parametric range, taking into account the uncertainties in the experimental profiles.

ubiquitous mode↗
DOE OSTI2020

Optimization of laser-target parameters for the production of stable lithium beam

A laser ion source coupled with a radio frequency quadrupole linac accelerator is being proposed as a suitable system for the production of a low energy, high-current stable lithium beam. In order to maximize the lithium yield, plasmas generated by laser ablation of different materials based on lithium (Li, LiOH, and LiNbO3) have been characterized by using a Faraday cup and an electrostatic ion analyzer in the time of flight configuration. A wide range of laser power density has been investigated (109–1012 W/cm2) using two Nd:YAG lasers operating at different wavelengths (1064 nm and 532 nm), pulse durations (6 ns and 17 ns), and maximum energies (1400 mJ and 210 mJ). This paper outlines the pros and cons of the investigated materials by studying how the ion energy, yields, and charge state distributions are modified when the laser power density is changed. Considerable attention has been paid to the higher charge states of oxygen, which may occur with the same mass-to-charge ratio of Li3+. The analysis has evidenced that LiNbO3 represents a valid target since it allows minimizing the O6+/7Li3+ ratio down to 2.5% by using a laser power density of 1.8 × 1010 W/cm2. For such a condition, a Li3+ current of 1.4 mA/cm2 has been measured.

Cannavò, A. (ORCID:0000000309759630)↗
DOE OSTI2020

Driven electrostatic phase space vortices in a 1D weakly dissipative Vlasov–Poisson system

In this paper, the effect of collisions on driven electrostatic phase space vortices is analyzed by means of Eulerian simulation for two different collision models. It was demonstrated recently that in the absence of collisions, at late times, steady state phase space vortices manifest to form a plateau in the resonant region of the particle velocity distribution function, due to trapping of particles supporting multiextrema giant phase space vortices (PSVs). In the presence of collisions, over long time, this multiextrema plateau are found to smooth out, since collisions drive the velocity distribution toward Maxwellian, irrespective of how weak the collisions are as long as they are non-zero. In these conditions, kinetic processes and collisionality are found to be in competition, and the evolution of the plasma is found, therefore, to be a result of nontrivial combination of these two effects. An attempt has been made by means of numerical simulations to study the effect of weak collisionality on the electrostatic driven phase space vortices with two types of collision operators: (1) Bhatnagar–Gross–Krook (Krook) collision operator, where the colliding particles can be treated as isolated pairs and, (2) Fokker–Planck (FP) type collision operator (Zakharov–Karpman) in one dimension, where many weak collisions lead to particle diffusion in velocity space. It is shown that depending on the collision model used, the nature of smoothing in velocity space of giant PSVs results in qualitatively very different phase space structures. However, irrespective of the collision model used, excess density fractions over 10% are retained.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2021

Probe measurements of electric field and electron density fluctuations at megahertz frequencies using in-shaft miniature circuits

In this work, a four-tip electrostatic probe is constructed to measure high-frequency (0.1–10 MHz) fluctuations in both the electric field (one component) and electron density in a laboratory plasma. This probe also provides data for the local electron temperature and density. Circuits for high-frequency measurements are fabricated on two miniature boards, which are embedded in the probe shaft, near the tips to minimize the pickup of common-mode signals. The amplitude and phase response of two circuits to sinusoidal test signals are measured and compared with results from modeling. For both circuits, the phase shift between input and output signals is relatively small (<30°). The performance of the probe is verified in a high-density (~10 13 cm –3 ) and low-temperature (≲10 eV) plasma. The probe successfully measures high-frequency (~2 MHz) fluctuations in the electric field and density, which are associated with lower hybrid drift waves. This probe can provide information on the wave-associated anomalous drag, which can be compared with the classical resistivity.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗