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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 271 records · Page 15
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1999

A New View of the Origin of the Solar Wind

This paper uses white-light measurements made by the SOHO LASCO coronagraph and HAO Mauna Loa Mk III K-coronameter to illustrate the new view of solar wind structure deduced originally from radio occultation measurements. It is shown that the density profile closest to the Sun at 1.15 Ro, representing the imprint of the Sun, is carried essentially radially into interplanetary space by small-scale raylike structures that permeate the solar corona and which have only been observed by radio occultation measurements. The only exception is the small volume of interplanetary space occupied by the heliospheric plasma sheet that evolves from coronal streamers within a few solar radii of the Sun. The radial preservation of the density profile also implies that a significant fraction of field lines which extend into interplanetary space originate from the quiet Sun, and are indistinguishable in character from those emanating from polar coronal holes. The white-light measurements dispel the long-held belief that the boundaries of polar coronal holes diverge significantly, and further support the view originally proposed that the fast solar wind originates from the quiet Sun as well as polar coronal holes.

Woo, Richard↗
DOE OSTI2020

Runaway electron beam dynamics at low plasma density in DIII-D: energy distribution, current profile, and internal instability

Parameters of the post-disruption runaway electron (RE) beam in the collisionless background plasma achieved after deuterium injection are investigated in DIII-D. The spatially resolved RE energy distribution function is measured for the first time during the RE plateau stage by inverting hard X-ray bremsstrahlung spectra. It has maximum energy up to 20 MeV and a non-monotonous feature at 5{6 MeV observed only in the core of the beam supporting the possibility of kinetic instabilities. The RE current profile is reconstructed for the first time using the spatially resolved RE energy distribution. It is found to be more peaked than the pre-disruption plasma current, with higher internal inductance, suggesting preferential formation of REs in the core plasma or potentially a radially inward motion of the REs. The accessed relatively low-current (180 kA) RE beam is found stable, likely due to its elevated q profile. From this base stable equilibrium, instability is accessed by ramping the solenoid current. Under a large applied accelerating loop voltage an internal kink mode is observed. The kink mode leads to sawtooth-like relaxation of the RE current profile, but drives no RE loss. Under conditions of a large decelerating voltage, chirping Alfvénic instabilities driven by REs during the RE plateau stage are observed for the first time. The low-frequency (0.1{7 MHz) Alfvénic instabilities, supposedly compressional Alfvén eigenmodes, are found to be correlated with a RE loss signal. Finally, this provides novel plasma conditions to study these instabilities and investigate opportunities to utilize them for RE control. Bifurcated electron cyclotron emission (ECE) spectrum is measured during the collisionless RE plateau, with a break point at ≈100 GHz suggesting resonant absorption of the ECE at low frequencies.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
NASA NTRS2001

Impact of Gas Heating in Inductively Coupled Plasmas

Recently it has been recognized that the neutral gas in inductively coupled plasma reactors heats up significantly during processing. The resulting gas density variations across the reactor affect reaction rates, radical densities, plasma characteristics, and uniformity within the reactor. A self-consistent model that couples the plasma generation and transport to the gas flow and heating has been developed and used to study CF4 discharges. A Langmuir probe has been used to measure radial profiles of electron density and temperature. The model predictions agree well with the experimental results. As a result of these comparisons along with the poorer performance of the model without the gas-plasma coupling, the importance of gas heating in plasma processing has been verified.

Hash, D. B.↗
DOE OSTI2014

Effect of Deuterium Gas Puff On The Edge Plasma In NSTX

This paper describes a detailed examination of the effects of a relatively small pulsed deuterium gas puff on the edge plasma and edge turbulence in NSTX. This gas puff caused little or no change in the line-averaged plasma density or total stored energy, or in the edge density and electron temperature up to the time of the peak of the gas puff. The radial profile of the Dα light emission and the edge turbulence within this gas puff did not vary significantly over its rise and fall, implying that these gas puffs did not significantly perturb the local edge plasma or edge turbulence. These measurements are compared with modeling by DEGAS 2, UEDGE, and with simplified estimates for the expected effects of this gas puff.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2023

Nanowire implosion under laser amplified spontaneous emission pedestal irradiation

Nanowire array targets exhibit high optical absorption when interacting with short, intense laser pulses. This leads to an increased yield in the production of accelerated particles for a variety of applications. However, these interactions are sensitive to the laser prepulse and could be significantly affected. Here, we show that an array of aligned nanowires is imploded when irradiated by an Amplified Spontaneous Emission pedestal of a 1 PW laser with an intensity on the order of 10 11 W cm –2 . Using radiation hydrodynamics simulations, we demonstrate that the electron density profile is radially compressed at the tip by the rocket-like propulsion of the ablated plasma. The mass density compression increases up to 2.9x when a more dense nanowire array is used. This is due to the ablation pressure from the neighboring nanowires. These findings offer valuable information for selecting an appropriate target design for experiments aimed at enhancing production of accelerated particles.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2018

Development of a multi-channel capacitive probe for electric field measurements with fine spatial and high time resolution

A capacitive probe is one of a few diagnostics that is directly sensitive to the plasma potential. Using this diagnostic technique, a Multi-channel Linear Capacitive Probe (MLCP) is developed herein for turbulence measurements. The MLCP has 10 spatial channels and provides 9 points of radial electric field measurements simultaneously with a spatial step of 7 mm. A new readout circuit and a correction technique for low frequency attenuation are also developed to achieve the required spatial and time resolution. A performance test of the MLCP using a reversed field pinch plasma confirms that the MLCP resolves sub-centimeter structures of the equilibrium radial electric field profile and fluctuations up to 680 kHz.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2019

Current channel evolution in ideal Z pinch for general velocity profiles

Recent diagnostic advances in gas-puff Z pinches at the Weizmann Institute for the first time allow the reconstruction of the current flow as a function of time and radius. These experiments show an unexpected radially-outward motion of the current channel, as the plasma moves radially-inward. In this paper, a mechanism that could explain this current evolution is described. Here, we examine the impact of advection on the distribution of current in a cylindrically symmetric plasma. In the case of metric compression, |v r | ∝ r, the current enclosed between each plasma fluid element and the axis is conserved, and so the current profile maintains its shape. We show that for more general velocity profiles, this simple behavior quickly breaks down, allowing for non-conservation of current in a compressing conductor, rapid redistribution of the current density, and even for the formation of reverse currents. In particular, a specific inward radial velocity profile is shown to result in radially-outward motion of the current channel, recovering the surprising current evolution discovered at the Weizmann Institute.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
NASA NTRSDate not supplied

High Altitude Re-entry Plasma Emulation Experiment (HARPEE)

A table-top apparatus has recently been constructed at the NASA Glenn Research Center to investigate potential solutions for the radio-frequency communication blackout problem -- experienced by landing modules during high-speed atmospheric entry. This customized plasma chamber was designed to emulate Earth-based atmospheric entry plasmas with electron densities in the range of 10^16 m^-3 to 10^19 m^-3. The system makes use of a 40-kHz, perforated coaxial electrode pair to generate a disk-shaped, static plasma with an approximate diameter and thickness of 405 mm and 100 mm, respectively. A translatable Langmuir probe was employed to characterize the radial profile of electron temperature and density as a function the 40-kHz power (< 1 kW) and dry-nitrogen flow rate (< 160 SCCM).

plasma↗
DOE OSTI2022

Control of internal transport barriers in magnetically confined tokamak burning plasmas

The initiation, termination, and control of internal transport barriers associated with E × B flow shear near local minima of magnetic shear are examined for burning plasmas to determine if the positive feedback loops between profiles, instability, transport, and flow shear operate in regimes with fusion self-heating. A five-field transport model for the evolution of profiles of density, ion and electron temperature, ion and electron fluctuations, and radial electric field is utilized to examine the efficacy of controls associated with external inputs of heat and particles, including neutral beam injection, RF, pellets, and gas puffing. The response of the plasma to these inputs is studied in the presence of self-heating. The latter is affected by the external inputs and their modification of profiles and is, therefore, not an external control. Provided sufficient external power is applied, internal transport barriers can be created and controlled, both in ion and electron channels. Barrier control is sensitive to the locations of power deposition and pellet ablation, as well as temporal sequencing of external inputs.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2023

Effects of collisional ion orbit loss on tokamak radial electric field and toroidal rotation in an L-mode plasma

Abstract Ion orbit loss has been used to model the formation of a strong negative radial electric field E r in the tokamak edge, as well as edge momentum transport and toroidal rotation. To quantitatively measure ion orbit loss, an orbit-flux formulation has been developed and numerically applied to the gyrokinetic particle-in-cell code XGC. We study collisional ion orbit loss in an axisymmetric DIII-D L-mode plasma using gyrokinetic ions and drift-kinetic electrons. Numerical simulations, where the plasma density and temperature profiles are maintained through neutral ionization and heating, show the formation of a quasisteady negative E r in the edge. We have measured a radially outgoing ion gyrocenter flux due to collisional scattering of ions into the loss orbits, which is balanced by the radially incoming ion gyrocenter flux from confined orbits on the collisional time scale. This suggests that collisional ion orbit loss can shift E r in the negative direction compared to that in plasmas without orbit loss. It is also found that collisional ion orbit loss can contribute to a radially outgoing (counter-current) toroidal-angular-momentum flux, which is not balanced by the toroidal-angular-momentum flux carried by ions on the confined orbits. Therefore, the edge toroidal rotation shifts in the co-current direction on the collisional time scale.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2014

Trapped energetic electron driven modes with second stable regime in tokamak plasmas

Features of fishbone-like trapped energetic electrons driven modes (TEEMs), which are a particular manifestation of the fishbone gap modes, are investigated taking into account model radial profile and the pitch angle distribution of the energetic electrons (EEs). The TEEMs are found unstable only when the beta values of EEs β{sub h} (=pressure of the energetic electrons/pressure of magnetic field) are higher than certain critical values which are proportional to perturbed energy δW{sup ^}{sub c} of background plasma and much lower than that for traditional fishbone modes. In addition, TEEMs become stable again and enter a second stable regime when β{sub h} values are higher than second critical values. Furthermore, the modes can only be excited in plasmas which are stable for MHD instabilities. The real frequency and growth rate of the modes are approximately linear and parabolic functions of β{sub h}, respectively. The real frequency is very low but not zero in the vicinity of lower beta region, whereas it is comparable to the toroidal precession frequency of the EEs in higher critical beta region. The numerical results show that the second stable regime is easy to form when q = 1 flux surface is close to the magnetic axis. Suitable density gradient of EEs and magnetic shear are other two necessary conditions for excitation of the TEEMs.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2019

A reduced model of neutral-plasma interactions in the edge and scrape-off-layer: Verification comparisons with kinetic Monte Carlo simulations

The 2D scrape-off-layer turbulence code (SOLT) is extended to include neutral-plasma interactions. A Boltzmann equation is derived for the evolution of the bi-normally-averaged neutral distribution function, G( x ,vx,t), in the radial dimension, and this evolution is included in the new code (nSOLT). Neutral-plasma interactions are mediated by charge-exchange (CX) and ionization rates based on poloidally-averaged plasma density and temperature. Good agreement is obtained between asymptotically stationary neutral density profiles from nSOLT simulations and those previously obtained from the Monte Carlo neutral transport code DEGAS 2, for time-averaged NSTX H-mode plasma profiles. The sensitivity of the nSOLT neutral profiles to atomic physics parameters, with and without CX physics, is included in the comparison. In addition, nSOLT simulations that evolve the plasma in 1D, using radial diffusion as a proxy for turbulent (blob) transport, illustrate the convergence to a self-consistent neutral-plasma equilibrium sustained by a neutral source at the far-SOL boundary and plasma heating in the core; equilibria consistent with typical NSTX Ohmic L-mode plasmas are described.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2021

Investigating profile stiffness and critical gradients in shaped TCV discharges using local gyrokinetic simulations of turbulent transport

The experimental observation made on the TCV tokamak of a significant confinement improvement in plasmas with negative triangularity ( δ < 0) compared to those with standard positive triangularity has been interpreted in terms of different degrees of profile stiffness (Sauter et al. Phys. Plasmas 21 055906, 2014) and/or different critical gradients. Employing the Eulerian gyrokinetic code GENE (Jenko et al. Phys. Plasmas 7 1904, 2000), profile stiffness and critical gradients are studied under TCV relevant conditions. For the considered experimental discharges, trapped electron modes (TEMs) and electron temperature gradient (ETG) modes are the dominant microinstabilities, with the latter providing a significant contribution to the non-linear electron heat fluxes near the plasma edge. Two series of simulations with different levels of realism are performed, addressing the question of profile stiffness at various radial locations. Retaining finite collisionality, impurities and electromagnetic effects, as well as the physical electron-to-ion mass ratio are all necessary in order to approach the experimental flux measurements. However, flux-tube simulations are unable to fully reproduce the TCV results, pointing towards the need to carry out radially nonlocal (global) simulations, i.e. retaining finite machine size effects, in a future study. Some conclusions about the effect of triangularity can nevertheless be drawn based on the flux-tube results. In particular, the importance of considering the sensitivity to both temperature and density gradient is shown. The flux tube results show an increase of the critical gradients towards the edge, further enhanced when δ < 0, and they also appear to indicate a reduction of profile stiffness towards plasma edge.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2013

Ion heating and short wavelength fluctuations in a helicon plasma source

For typical helicon source parameters, the driving antenna can couple to two plasma modes; the weakly damped 'helicon' wave, and the strongly damped, short wavelength, slow wave. Here, we present direct measurements, obtained with two different techniques, of few hundred kHz, short wavelength fluctuations that are parametrically driven by the primary antenna and localized to the edge of the plasma. The short wavelength fluctuations appear for plasma source parameters such that the driving frequency is approximately equal to the lower hybrid frequency. Measurements of the steady-state ion temperature and fluctuation amplitude radial profiles suggest that the anomalously high ion temperatures observed at the edge of helicon sources result from damping of the short wavelength fluctuations. Additional measurements of the time evolution of the ion temperature and fluctuation profiles in pulsed helicon source plasmas support the same conclusion.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2014

Effect of neutral gas heating on the wave magnetic fields of a low pressure 13.56 MHz planar coil inductively coupled argon discharge

The axial and radial magnetic field profiles in a 13.56 MHz (radio frequency) laboratory 6 turn planar coil inductively coupled plasma reactor are simulated with the consideration of the effect of neutral gas heating. Spatially resolved electron densities, electron temperatures, and neutral gas temperatures were obtained for simulation using empirically fitted electron density and electron temperature and heuristically determined neutral gas temperature. Comparison between simulated results and measured fields indicates that neutral gas heating plays an important role in determining the skin depth of the magnetic fields.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2022

Effects of external kink and fishbone-like modes on energetic particle transport in tokamak plasmas

Transport and loss of beam injected energetic particles (EPs) due to three-dimensional perturbations, associated with the external kink (XK) instability and fishbone-like mode (FLM), are numerically investigated utilizing the guiding center following code ORBIT for static toroidal plasmas in HL-2A. The perturbation structure for the XK is computed by the MARS-F code and then mapped to the Boozer coordinates as defined in ORBIT. The simulation shows that the EP profile experiences a significant change in the middle of the plasma column, when the XK-induced radial magnetic field perturbation amplitude, normalized by the equilibrium field, exceeds a threshold value of about 10 -2 . The EP transport is found to be dominated by a diffusion process instead of convection. Furthermore, by scanning the perturbation frequency as a free parameter while maintaining the XK mode structure (thus mimicking the FLM as observed in DIII-D and JT-60U tokamaks), redistribution and loss of EPs are found to be substantially enhanced due to strong resonances between the FLM and EPs, when the mode frequency exceeds a threshold value of ~2 kHz for the case considered. For either XK or FLM, the response of passing EPs to the perturbation is dominant due to the assumed tangential neutral beam injection. Most lost EPs due to these instabilities are initially passing particles but are eventually lost through trapped orbits.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2023

Scaling approach to nuclear structure in high-energy heavy-ion collisions

In high-energy heavy-ion collisions, the initial condition of the produced quark-gluon plasma (QGP) and its evolution are sensitive to collective nuclear structure parameters describing the shape and radial profiles of the nuclei. Here, we find a general scaling relation between these parameters and many experimental observables such as elliptic flow, triangular flow, and particle multiplicity distribution. In particular, the ratios of observables between two isobar systems depend only on the differences of these parameters, but not on the details of the final state interactions, hence offering a new way to constrain the QGP initial condition. Using this scaling relation, we show how the structure parameters of $^{96}_{44}$Ru and $^{96}_{40}$Zr conspire to produce the rich centrality dependences of these ratios, as measured by the STAR Collaboration. Our scaling approach demonstrates that isobar collisions are a precision tool to probe the initial condition of heavy-ion collisions, as well as the collective nuclear structures, including the neutron skin, of the atomic nuclei across energy scales.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2013

Cylindrically confined pair-ion-electron and pair-ion plasmas having axial sheared flow and radial gradients

The linear and nonlinear dynamics of pair-ion (PI) and pair-ion-electron plasmas (PIE) have been investigated in a cylindrical geometry with a sheared plasma flow along the axial direction having radial dependence. The coupled linear dispersion relation of low frequency electrostatic waves has been presented taking into account the Guassian profile of density and linear gradient of sheared flow. It is pointed out that the quasi-neutral cold inhomogeneous pure pair ion plasma supports only the obliquely propagating convective cell mode. The linear dispersion relation of this mode has been solved using boundary conditions. The nonlinear structures in the form of vortices formed by different waves have been discussed in PI and PIE plasmas.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗