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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 307 records · Page 17
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1967

Microwave Driven Magnetic Plasma Accelerator Studies (CYCLOPS)

A microwave-driven cyclotron resonance plasma acceleration device was investigated using argon, krypton, xenon, and mercury as propellants. Limited ranges of propellant flow rate, input power, and magnetic field strength were used. Over-all efficiencies (including the 65% efficiency of the input polarizer) less than 10% were obtained for specific impulse values between 500 and 1500 sec. Power transfer efficiencies, however, approached 100% of the input power available in the right-hand component of the incident circularly polarized radiation. Beam diagnostics using Langmuir probes, cold gas mapping, r-f mapping and ion energy analyses were performed in conjunction with an engine operating in a pulsed mode. Measurements of transverse electron energies at the position of cyclotron resonant absorption yielded energy values more than an order of magnitude lower than anticipated. The measured electron energies were, however, consistent with the low values of average ion energy measured by retarding potential techniques. The low values of average ion energy were also consistent with the measured thrust values. It is hypothesized that ionization and radiation limit the electron kinetic energy to low-values thus limiting the energy which is finally transferred to the ion. Thermalization by electron-electron collision was also identified as an additional loss mechanism. The use of light alkali metals, which have relatively few low lying energy levels to excite, with the input power to mass ratio selected so as to limit the electron energies to less than the second ionization potential, is suggested. It is concluded, however, that the over-all efficiency for such propellants would be less than 40 per cent.

CYCLOPS PLASMA ACCELERATOR↗
DOE OSTI2019

Overview of the JET preparation for deuterium–tritium operation with the ITER like-wall

For the past several years, the JET scientific programme (Pamela et al 2007 Fusion Eng. Des. 82 590) has been engaged in a multi-campaign effort, including experiments in D, H and T, leading up to 2020 and the first experiments with 50%/50% D–T mixtures since 1997 and the first ever D–T plasmas with the ITER mix of plasma-facing component materials. For this purpose, a concerted physics and technology programme was launched with a view to prepare the D–T campaign (DTE2). This paper addresses the key elements developed by the JET programme directly contributing to the D–T preparation. This intense preparation includes the review of the physics basis for the D–T operational scenarios, including the fusion power predictions through first principle and integrated modelling, and the impact of isotopes in the operation and physics of D–T plasmas (thermal and particle transport, high confinement mode (H-mode) access, Be and W erosion, fuel recovery, etc). This effort also requires improving several aspects of plasma operation for DTE2, such as real time control schemes, heat load control, disruption avoidance and a mitigation system (including the installation of a new shattered pellet injector), novel ion cyclotron resonance heating schemes (such as the three-ions scheme), new diagnostics (neutron camera and spectrometer, active Alfvèn eigenmode antennas, neutral gauges, radiation hard imaging systems...) and the calibration of the JET neutron diagnostics at 14 MeV for accurate fusion power measurement. The active preparation of JET for the 2020 D–T campaign provides an incomparable source of information and a basis for the future D–T operation of ITER, and it is also foreseen that a large number of key physics issues will be addressed in support of burning plasmas.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
NASA NTRS1978

Adiabatic modulation of equatorial pitch angle anisotropy

Particle measurements from the geostationary ATS 6 satellite reveal striking equatorial pitch-angle anisotropies. A study of seven days of data shows a diurnal variation in anisotropy with the particle flux at a pitch angle of 40 deg greater than that at 90 deg during times of low magnetic-field intensity on the nightside and vice versa during times of high magnetic-field intensity on the dayside. Six representative anisotropy events are studied in finer detail. The 32- to 51-keV electron anisotropies increase and decrease with the total magnetic-field intensity. The proton and higher-energy electron anisotropies do not show as much variation. The particle anisotropies are studied in light of adiabatic and cyclotron resonance theory; the results indicate that adiabatic effects are the dominant modulation mechanism of particle pitch-angle distributions in the outer radiation belt

Kaye, S. M.↗
NASA NTRS1982

Theory of the fine structure of auroral kilometric radiation

Recent data from ISEE 1 show auroral kilometric radiation (AKR) with finely separated bands in frequency. The observation that the AKR fine structure frequency separation is about equal to the ion cyclotron frequency at the AKR source is strong evidence for the interaction of AKR and electrostatic ion cyclotron (EIC) waves in the source, as proposed by Grabbe et al. (1980) to explain the origin of AKR. It is pointed out that no other wave of frequency close to the band separation is known to exist in the auroral source region. The fine structure observed in the source region AKR is the first evidence for EIC waves in the lower source region (3000 - 5000 km attitude), as required in the theory of Grabbe et al.

Grabbe, C. L.↗
NASA NTRS1978

Spontaneous synchrotron emission from a plasma with an energetic runaway electron tail

The emissivity of spontaneous synchrotron radiation is computed for a plasma consisting of a background thermal plasma in addition to an energetic runaway electron component. The analysis is performed for both the ordinary and extraordinary modes, for frequencies in the vicinity of the electron plasma frequency and the higher harmonics of the electron gyrofrequency, and for the case when the electron plasma frequency is approximately the same as or smaller than the cyclotron frequency. The relativistic gyroresonance with the runaway electrons is found to result in a level of spontaneous emission which, for frequencies in the neighborhood of the electron plasma frequency, is significantly enhanced over the thermal radiation.

Freund, H. P.↗
NASA NTRS1998

An Unusual Rotationally Modulated Attenuation Band in the Jovian Hectometric Radio Emission Spectrum

A well-defined attenuation band modulated by the rotation of Jupiter has been found in the spectrum of Jovian hectometric radiation using data from the Galileo plasma wave instrument. The center frequency of this band usually occurs in the frequency range from about 1 to 3 MHz and the bandwidth is about 10 to 20 percent. The center frequency varies systematically with the rotation of Jupiter and has two peaks per rotation, the first at a system III longitude of about 50 deg, and the second at about 185 deg. It is now believed that the attenuation occurs as the ray path from a high-latitude cyclotron maser source passes approximately parallel to the magnetic field near the northern or southern edges of the Io L-shell. The peak at 50 deg system 3 longitude is attributed to radiation from a southern hemisphere source and the peak at 185 deg is from a northern hemisphere source. The attenuation is thought to be caused by coherent scattering or shallow angle reflection from field-aligned density irregularities near the Io L-shell. The narrow bandwidth indicates that the density irregularities are confined to a very narrow range of L values (Delta L = 0.2 to 0.4) near the Io L-shell.

Gurnett, D. A.↗
DOE OSTI2025

First measurement of symmetric cumulants of hexagonal flow harmonics in Pb-Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 5.02 TeV

Correlations between event-by-event fluctuations of anisotropic flow harmonics are measured in Pb-Pb collisions at a center-of-mass energy per nucleon pair of 5.02 TeV, as recorded by the ALICE detector at the LHC. This study presents correlations up to the hexagonal flow harmonic 𝑣 6 , which was measured for the first time. The magnitudes of these higher-order correlations are found to vary as a function of collision centrality and harmonic order. These measurements are compared to viscous hydrodynamic model calculations with EKRT initial conditions and to the iEBE-VISHNU model with T R ⁢ENTo initial conditions. The observed discrepancies between the data and the model calculations vary depending on the harmonic combinations. Due to the sensitivity of model parameters estimated with Bayesian analyses to these higher-order observables, the results presented in this work provide new and independent constraints on the initial conditions and transport properties in theoretical models used to describe the system created in heavy-ion collisions.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2021

Interaction of radio frequency waves with cylindrical density filaments: scattering and radiation pressure

The propagation of radio-frequency (RF) waves in tokamaks can be affected by filamentary structures, or blobs, that are present in the edge plasma and the scrape-off layer. The difference in the permittivity between the surrounding plasma and interior of a filament leads to reflection, refraction and diffraction of the waves. This, in turn, can affect the power flow into the core of the plasma and reduce the efficiency of heating and/or current generation. The scattering of RF waves, lower hybrid, helicon and ion cyclotron waves, by a single cylindrical filament, embedded in a background plasma, is studied using a full-wave analytical theory developed previously (Ram & Hizanidis, Phys. Plasmas , vol. 23, 2016, 022504). The theory assumes that the plasma in and around a filament is homogeneous and cold. A detailed scattering analysis reveals a variety of common features that exist among the three distinctly different RF waves. These common attributes can be inferred intuitively based on an examination of the cold plasma dispersion relation. The physical intuition is a useful step to understanding experimental observations on scattering, as well as results from simulations that include general forms of edge plasma turbulence. While a filament can affect the propagation of RF waves, the radiation force exerted by the waves can influence the filament. The force on a filament is determined using the Maxwell stress tensor. In 1905, Poynting was the first to evaluate and measure the radiation force on an interface separating two different dielectric media (Poynting, London Edinburgh Dublin Philos. Mag. J. Sci. , vol. 9, 1905, pp. 393–406). For ordinary light propagating in vacuum and incident on a glass surface, Poynting noted that the surface is ‘pulled’ towards the vacuum. In a magnetized cold plasma, there are two independent wave modes. Even if only one of these modes is excited by an RF antenna, a filament will couple power to the other mode: a consequence of electromagnetic boundary conditions. This facet of scattering has consequences on the radiation force that go beyond Poynting's seminal contribution. The direction of the force depends on the polarization of the incident wave and on the mode structure of the waves inside and in the vicinity of a filament. It can either pull the filament toward the RF source or push it away. For slow lower hybrid waves, filaments with densities greater than the ambient density are pulled in, while filaments with lower densities are pushed out, thereby enhancing the density in front of the antenna. In the case of fast helicon and ion cyclotron waves, the direction of the force depends on the plasma and wave parameters; in particular, on the ambient density. The radiation force, in all three frequency ranges, is large enough to affect the motion of a filament and could be measured experimentally. This also suggests the possibility of modifying the edge turbulence using RF waves.

Physics↗
DOE OSTI2022

Interaction of radio frequency waves with cylindrical density filaments -- scattering and radiation pressure

The propagation of radio-frequency (RF) waves in tokamaks can be affected by filamentary structures, or blobs, that are present in the edge plasma and the scrape-off layer. The difference in the permittivity between the surrounding plasma and interior of a filament leads to reflection, refraction and diffraction of the waves. This, in turn, can affect the power flow into the core of the plasma and reduce the efficiency of heating and/or current generation. The scattering of RF waves, lower hybrid, helicon and ion cyclotron waves, by a single cylindrical filament, embedded in a background plasma, is studied using a full-wave analytical theory developed previously (Ram & Hizanidis, Phys. Plasmas, vol. 23, 2016, 022504). The theory assumes that the plasma in and around a filament is homogeneous and cold. A detailed scattering analysis reveals a variety of common features that exist among the three distinctly different RF waves. These common attributes can be inferred intuitively based on an examination of the cold plasma dispersion relation. The physical intuition is a useful step to understanding experimental observations on scattering, as well as results from simulations that include general forms of edge plasma turbulence. While a filament can affect the propagation of RF waves, the radiation force exerted by the waves can influence the filament. The force on a filament is determined using the Maxwell stress tensor. In 1905, Poynting was the first to evaluate and measure the radiation force on an interface separating two different dielectric media (Poynting, London Edinburgh Dublin Philos. Mag. J. Sci., vol. 9, 1905, pp. 393–406). For ordinary light propagating in vacuum and incident on a glass surface, Poynting noted that the surface is ‘pulled’ towards the vacuum. In a magnetized cold plasma, there are two independent wave modes. Even if only one of these modes is excited by an RF antenna, a filament will couple power to the other mode: a consequence of electromagnetic boundary conditions. This facet of scattering has consequences on the radiation force that go beyond Poynting's seminal contribution. The direction of the force depends on the polarization of the incident wave and on the mode structure of the waves inside and in the vicinity of a filament. It can either pull the filament toward the RF source or push it away. For slow lower hybrid waves, filaments with densities greater than the ambient density are pulled in, while filaments with lower densities are pushed out, thereby enhancing the density in front of the antenna. In the case of fast helicon and ion cyclotron waves, the direction of the force depends on the plasma and wave parameters; in particular, on the ambient density. The radiation force, in all three frequency ranges, is large enough to affect the motion of a filament and could be measured experimentally. This also suggests the possibility of modifying the edge turbulence using RF waves.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2020

Millimeter-Wave Imaging Technology Development for Real-Time 2D and 3D Fusion Plasma Diagnostics

Including a one year No-Cost Extension, The University of California, Davis has been funded since 2020 to advance innovative millimeter-wave diagnostics for fusion plasma research. This work includes: (1) Developing and applying cutting-edge System-on-Chip millimeter wave Integrated Circuit (IC) technology for Electron Cyclotron Emission Imaging (ECEI) and Microwave Imaging Reflectometry (MIR) on the DIII-D tokamak and the NSTX-U spherical tokamak. (2) Development of radiation-hardened millimeter-wave chip for diagnostics in harsh environments, utilizing wide bandgap Gallium Nitride (GaN) semiconductors. (3) Integrating forward-modeling synthetic diagnostics to enable advanced, real-time plasma prediction and feedback control. Originally planned as a three-year program (2020–2023), the project was granted a one-year no-cost extension, extending its duration through the end of 2024.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
NASA NTRS1984

Experimental evidence for beta-decay as a source of chirality by enantiomer analysis

Earlier experiments testing the Vester-Ulbricht beta-decay hypothesis for the origin of molecular chirality are reviewed, followed by descriptions of experiments involving attempted asymmetric radiolysis of DL-amino acids using quantitative gas chromotography as a probe for optical activity. The radiation sources included Sr-90-Y-90, C-14, and P-32 Bremsstrahlen, longitudinally polarized electrons from a linear accelerator and longitudinally polarized protons from a cyclotron. With the possible exception of the linear accelerator irradiations, these experiments failed to produce g.c.-detectable enantiomeric excesses, even at 50-70 percent gross radiolysis. Thus no unambiguous support for the Vester-Ulbricht hypothesis is found in any of the attempted asymmetric radiolyses performed to date. Radioracemization, a possible reason for these failures, is discussed.

Bonner, W. A.↗
NASA NTRS1986

One- and two-photon Compton scattering in strong magnetic fields

Calculations are made of the Compton scattering cross section in a very strong magnetic field, such as encountered in pulsars, for arbitrary photon and electron energies. The effect of the vacuum polarization in the weak-field limit is included as well as the plasma polarizability. Radiative transitions between any pair of Landau levels are included as well as two-photon scattering. The latter process, due to the presence of the cyclotron resonance, becomes comparable to nonresonant one-photon scattering when excited final states are allowed, and acts as a source of photons which is more important than bremsstrahlung at low plasma densities.

Bussard, R. W.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Magnetic two-photon scattering and two-photon emission - Cross sections and redistribution functions

The magnetic two-photon scattering cross section is discussed within the framework of QED, and the corresponding scattering redistribution function for this process and its inverse, as well as the scattering source function are calculated explicitly. In a similar way, the magnetic two-photon emission process which follows the radiative excitation of Landau levels above ground is calculated. The two-photon scattering and two-photon emission are of the same order as the single-photon magnetic scattering. All three of these processes, and in optically thick cases also their inverses, are included in radiative transport calculations modeling accreting pulsars and gamma-ray bursters. These processes play a prominent role in determining the relative strength of the first two cyclotron harmonics, and their effects extend also to the higher harmonics.

Alexander, S. G.↗
NASA NTRS2017

Looking at A 0535+26 at Low Luminosities with NuSTAR

We report on two NuSTAR observations of the high-mass X-ray binary A 0535+26 taken toward the end of its normal 2015 outburst at very low 3-50 keV luminosities of approximately 1.4 times x 10 (sup 36) ergs per second and approximately 5 times x 10 (sup 35) ergs per second, which are complemented by nine Swift observations. The data clearly confirm indications seen in earlier data that the source's spectral shape softens as it becomes fainter. The smooth exponential rollover at high energies seen in the first observation evolves to a much more abrupt steepening of the spectrum at 20-30 keV. The continuum evolution can be nicely described with emission from a magnetized accretion column, modeled using the compmag model modified by an additional Gaussian emission component for the fainter observation. Between the two observations, the optical depth changes from 0.75 plus or minus 0.04 to 0.56 plus 0.01 (sup) minus 0.04 (sub), the electron temperature remains constant, and there is an indication that the column decreases in radius. Since the energy-resolved pulse profiles remain virtually unchanged in shape between the two observations, the emission properties of the accretion column reflect the same accretion regime. This conclusion is also confirmed by our result that the energy of the cyclotron resonant scattering feature (CRSF) at approximately 45 keV is independent of the luminosity, implying that the magnetic field in the region in which the observed radiation is produced is the same in both observations. Finally, we also constrain the evolution of the continuum parameters with the rotational phase of the neutron star. The width of the CRSF could only be constrained for the brighter observation. Based on Monte Carlo simulations of CRSF formation in single accretion columns, its pulse phase dependence supports a simplified fan beam emission pattern. The evolution of the CRSF width is very similar to that of the CRSF depth, which is, however, in disagreement with expectations.

Ballhausen, Ralf↗
NASA NTRS1988

Plasma wave observations with the Dynamics Explorer 1 spacecraft

This paper reviews the results from the plasma wave instrument on the Dynamics Explorer 1 (DE-1) spacecraft. The DE-1 spacecraft was launched on August 3, 1981, into an elliptical polar orbit with initial perigee and apogee radial distances of 1.09 and 4.65 earth radii. In the roughly six years since the launch of the spacecraft, DE-1 has provided basic new information on a wide variety of magnetospheric plasma wave phenomena. These include auroral kilometric radiation, auroral hiss, Z mode radiation, narrow-band electromagnetic emissions associated with equatorial upper hybrid waves, whistler mode emissions, wave-particle interactions stimulated by ground VLF transmitters, equatorial ion-cyclotron emissions, ion Bernstein-mode emissions, and electric field turbulence along the auroral field lines. A brief review of the basic plasma wave modes that can exist in the equatorial and polar regions of the magnetosphere is first given. After the basic terminology is established, each of the above areas of plasma wave research is discussed in detail, first by reviewing the state of knowledge at the time of the DE-1 launch, and then by describing the contribution made by DE-1 in the six years since the spacecraft was launched.

Gurnett, D. A.↗