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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 37 records · Page 2
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2021

Saturation physics of threshold heat-flux reduction

The saturation physics of ion-temperature-gradient-driven turbulence is examined in relation to the temperature-gradient variation of the heat flux, which can exhibit an upshift of the critical gradient for significant flux relative to the linear instability threshold. Gyrokinetic measurements of saturation properties and spectral energy transfer, which will be defined in Sec. II, are presented, indicating that the physics of saturation is fundamentally unchanged on either side of the upshifted gradient. To analyze heat transport below and above the upshifted critical gradient, a fluid model for toroidal ion-temperature-gradient turbulence is modified to include the kinetic instability threshold. The model and the heat flux are rendered in the eigenmode decomposition to track the dominant mode-coupling channel of zonal-flow-catalyzed transfer to a conjugate stable mode. Given linear and nonlinear symmetries, the stable mode level and the cross-correlation of the unstable and stable mode amplitudes are related to the unstable mode level via linear physics. Here, the heat flux can then be written in terms of the unstable-mode level, which through a nonlinear balance depends on the eigenmode-dependent coupling coefficients and the triplet correlation time of the dominant coupled modes. Resonance in these quantities leads to suppressed heat flux above the linear threshold, with a nonlinear upshift of the critical gradient set by the resonance broadening of a finite perpendicular wavenumber and collisionality.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2024

Piecewise Omnigenous Stellarators

In omnigenous magnetic fields, charged particles are perfectly confined in the absence of collisions and turbulence. For this reason, the magnetic configuration is optimized to be close to omnigenity in any candidate for a stellarator fusion reactor. However, approaching omnigenity imposes severe constraints on the spatial variation of the magnetic field. In particular, the topology of the contours of constant magnetic field strength on each magnetic surface must be such that there are no particles transitioning between different types of wells. This, in turn, usually leads to complicated plasma shapes and coils. This Letter presents a new family of optimized fields that display tokamak-like collisional energy transport while having transitioning particles. This result radically broadens the space of accessible reactor-relevant configurations.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2025

Effects of midplane density gradient in the propagation of high-harmonic fast waves considering high temperature anisotropy in the scrape-off layer of NSTX-U

High-Harmonic Fast Wave (HHFW) heating experiments in NSTX have shown that up to 60% of the injected power can be lost in the Scrape-Off Layer (SOL) when the density is above the fast wave cutoff density in front of the antenna, for which the fast wave is able to propagate into the plasma. This work models HHFW propagation in the SOL plasmas of NSTX-U using a 2D divertor SOL profile derived from the pressure assumption and the finite element temperature solution, which accounts for the high anisotropy of heat conduction in a 2D axisymmetric geometry. In this work, the two-dimensional axisymmetric SOL temperature profile is first evaluated by solving the steady-state non-linear heat conduction equation, in which thermal conductivity depends on temperature, using a finite element approach in the Petra-M workbench. A 2D density profile is then obtained from a prescribed density profile at the outer midplane assuming pressure is uniform along a flux tube in the SOL. This approach results in density and temperature profiles in which the strong asymmetric nature of heat conduction between the parallel and perpendicular background magnetic field is successfully captured. Furthermore, this work focuses on investigating the effect of the SOL plasma density profile on parasitic HHFW propagation in the SOL. The simulation results show that the radial gradient of the density profile affects the wavefield propagation in the SOL. As the density profile broadens, the wavefield intensity and its poloidal extent are reduced in the SOL, and the core coupling increases. Similarly, as shown by collisional power deposition, a proxy for power absorption, the fraction of power deposited in the SOL decreases with a broadening profile.

HHFW↗
DOE OSTI2020

New H2O–H2O collisional rate coefficients for cometary applications

ABSTRACT We re-introduce a semiclassical methodology based on theories developed for the determination of broadening coefficients. We show that this simple and extremely fast methodology provides results that are in good agreement with results obtained using the more sophisticate MQCT approach. This semiclassical methodology could be an alternative approach which allows to provide large sets of collisional data for very complex molecular systems. It saves time both on the determination of potential energy surfaces and on the collisional dynamical calculations. In addition, this paper provides more complete sets of rotational de-excitation cross-sections and rate coefficients of H2O perturbed by a thermal average of water molecules. Those data can be used in the radiative transfer modelling of cometary atmospheres.

Boursier, C.↗
DOE OSTI2021

Stability of superthermal strahl electrons in the solar wind

We present a kinetic stability analysis of the solar wind electron distribution function consisting of the Maxwellian core and the magnetic-field aligned strahl, a superthermal electron beam propagating away from the sun. We use an electron strahl distribution function obtained as a solution of a weakly collisional drift-kinetic equation, representative of a strahl affected by Coulomb collisions but unadulterated by possible broadening from turbulence. This distribution function is essentially non-Maxwellian and varies with the heliospheric distance. The stability analysis is performed with the Vlasov–Maxwell linear solver leopard. We find that depending on the heliospheric distance, the core-strahl electron distribution becomes unstable with respect to sunward-propagating kinetic-Alfvén, magnetosonic, and whistler modes, in a broad range of propagation angles. The wavenumbers of the unstable modes are close to the ion inertial scales, and the radial distances at which the instabilities first appear are on the order of 1 au. However, we have not detected any instabilities driven by resonant wave interactions with the superthermal strahl electrons. Instead, the observed instabilities are triggered by a relative drift between the electron and ion cores necessary to maintain zero electric current in the solar wind frame (ion frame). Contrary to strahl distributions modelled by shifted Maxwellians, the electron strahl obtained as a solution of the kinetic equation is stable. Our results are consistent with the previous studies based on a more restricted solution for the electron strahl.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Hot Spot Evolution Measured by High-Resolution X-Ray Spectroscopy at the National Ignition Facility

Evolution of the hot spot plasma conditions was measured using high-resolution x-ray spectroscopy at the National Ignition Facility. The capsules were filled with DD gas with trace levels of Kr and had either a high-density-carbon (HDC) ablator or a tungsten (W)-doped HDC ablator. Time-resolved measurement of the Kr He β spectra, absolutely calibrated by a simultaneous time-integrated measurement, allows inference of the electron density and temperature through observing Stark broadening and the relative intensities of dielectronic satellites. By matching the calculated hot spot emission using a collisional-radiative code to experimental observations, the hot spot size and areal density are determined. Here these advanced spectroscopy techniques further reveal the effect of W dopant in the ablator on the hot spot parameters for their improved implosion performance.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2023

How fluctuation intensity flux drives SOL expansion

Abstract Predictions of heat load widths λ q based on particle orbits alone are very pessimistic. This paper shows that pedestal peeling-ballooning (P-B) magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) turbulence broadens the stable scrape-off layer (SOL) by the transport, or spreading, of fluctuation energy from the pedestal. λ q is seen to increase with Γ ε , the fluctuation energy density flux. We elucidate the fundamental physics of the spreading process. Γ ε increases with pressure fluctuation correlation length. P-B turbulence is seen to be especially effective at spreading, on account of its large effective mixing length. Spreading is shown to be a multiscale process, which is enhanced by the synergy of large and small-scale modes. Pressure fluctuation skewness correlates well with the spreading flux–with the zero crossing of skewness and Γ ε spatially coincident–suggesting the role of coherent fluctuation structures and the presence of intermittency in λ q broadening. λ q ∼ B p − 1 scaling persists for the broadened SOL. We show that the spreading flux increases for increasing pedestal pressure gradient ∇ P 0 and for decreasing pedestal collisionality υ ped ∗ . This trend is due to the dominance of peeling modes for large ∇ P 0 and low υ ped ∗ . Ultimately, we see that a state of weak MHD turbulence, as for small ELMs, is very attractive for heat load management. Our findings have transformative implications for future fusion reactor designs and call for experimental investigations to validate the observed trends.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2020

High resolution X-ray spectroscopy of Supergiant HMXB 4U1700-37 during the compact object eclipse.

In this work, we present an analysis of the first observation of the iconic High Mass X-ray Binary 4U 1700-37 with the Chandra High Energy Transmission Gratings during an X-ray eclipse. The goal of the observation was to study the structure/physical conditions in the clumpy stellar wind through high resolution spectroscopy. We find that: a) emission line brightness from K shell transitions, corresponding to near neutral species, directly correlates with continuum illumination. However, these lines do not greatly diminish during eclipse. This is readily explained if fluorescence Kα emission comes from the bulk of the wind. b) The highly ionised Fe xxv and Fe xxvi Lyα diminish during eclipse. Thus, they must be produced in the vicinity of the compact object where log ξ > 3. c) to describe the emission line spectrum, the sum of two self consistent photo ionisation models with low ionisation (log ξ ~ -1) and high ionisation (log ξ ~2.4) is required. From their emission measures, the clump-to-interclump density ratio can be estimated to be nc/ni ~ 300. To fit the complex He-like Si xiii profile, the plasma requires a broadening with vbulk ~ 840 km s-1. Reproducing the observed r ≈ f line fluxes requires the addition of a third collisionally ionised plasma. d) Emission lines widths appear unresolved at the hetg gratings resolution with exception of Silicon. There is no clear radial segregation between (quasi)neutral and ionised species, consistent with cold wind clumps interspersed in a hot rarefied interclump medium.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Turbulence driven widening of the near-SOL power width in ASDEX Upgrade H-Mode discharges

Divertor heat flux data from infra red (IR) from various tokamaks in H-Mode regime show that the power width, $\lambda_{q}$, scales approximately like 1.6 $(R/a) ρ_{s,pol}$. However, the IR based scaling comes with the restriction that only discharges were considered with attached divertor conditions. Here we set up a new data base covering low edge density data but also including high density plasmas reaching the H-mode density limit. We use Thomson-scattering to measure the electron temperature decay length which will set the near-SOL power width through parallel heat conduction. We present scaling results for the density, temperature and pressure separatrix fall-off lengths. As the principal result we derive a generalized power width scaling which reads as $\lambda_{q}\propto\,\rho_{s,pol}\cdot(1+2.1\alpha_{t}^{1.7})$ where $\alpha_{t}$ describes a normalized collisionality ($\alpha_{t} = 3\cdot\,10^{-18}\,R\,q^2\,n\,Z_{eff}T^{-2}$). The parameter $\alpha_{t}$ describes the relative importance of the interchange effect on drift-wave turbulence as proposed by Scott and is found to be closely linked to the diamagnetic parameter αd introduced by Rogers, Drake and Zeiler (RDZ). The edge operational space for ASDEX Upgrade displays a boundary qualitatively in agreement with the region labelled as density limit in the edge plasma phase space proposed by RDZ. The data base shows in the limit of low edge densities ($\alpha_{t}\simeq\,0.2$) accurate agreement to the IR based power width scaling. At elevated separatrix densities ($\alpha_{t}\simeq\,1$) the power width is broadened by a factor of up to about three accompanied by a reduction of the $\text{H}_{98,y2}$ confinement factor. Finally, plasmas with higher triangularity show higher values for $\text{H}_{98,y2}$ in the same range of normalized collisionality.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2024

Broadening of the Divertor Heat Flux Profile in High Confinement Tokamak Fusion Plasmas with Edge Pedestals Limited by Turbulence in DIII-D

Multimachine empirical scaling predicts an extremely narrow heat exhaust layer in future high magnetic field tokamaks, producing high power densities that require mitigation. Here, in the experiments presented, the width of this exhaust layer is nearly doubled using actuators to increase turbulent transport in the plasma edge. This is achieved in low collisionality, high confinement edge pedestals with their gradients limited by turbulent transport instead of large-scale, coherent instabilities. The exhaust heat flux profile width and divertor leg diffusive spreading both double as a high frequency band of turbulent fluctuations propagating in the electron diamagnetic direction doubles in amplitude. The results are quantitatively reproduced in electromagnetic XGC particle-in-cell simulations which show the heat flux carried by electrons emerges to broaden the heat flux profile, directly supported by Langmuir probe measurements.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2025

Piecewise omnigenous stellarators with zero bootstrap current

Until now, quasi-isodynamic magnetic fields have been the only known stellarator configurations that, at low collisionality, give small radial neoclassical transport and zero bootstrap current for arbitrary plasma profiles, the latter facilitating control of the magnetic configuration. The recently introduced notion of piecewise omnigenous fields has enormously broadened the space of stellarator configurations with small radial neoclassical transport. Here, in this Letter, the existence of piecewise omnigenous fields that give zero bootstrap current is proven analytically and confirmed numerically. These results establish piecewise omnigenity as an alternative approach to stellarator reactor design.

Calvo, Iván [Research Centre for Energy, Environme↗
DOE OSTI2022

Measurements of the imploding plasma sheath in triple-nozzle gas-puff z pinches

Gas-puff z-pinch implosions are characterized by the formation of a dense annular plasma shell, the sheath, that is driven to the axis by magnetic forces and therefore subject to the magneto-Rayleigh–Taylor instability. Here, the conditions within these sheaths are measured on the 1-MA COBRA generator at Cornell University for various gas species and initial fill densities. The gas-puff loads are initialized by a 7 cm diameter triple-nozzle gas valve assembly with concentric outer and inner annular nozzles and a central gas jet. Thomson scattering and laser interferometry provide spatially resolved flow, temperature, and electron density profiles midway through the implosion, while extreme ultraviolet pinhole cameras record the evolution of the plasma column and photoconducting diodes measure x-ray emission. Analysis of the scattering spectra includes a means of discriminating between thermal and non-thermal broadening to test for the presence of hydrodynamic turbulence. Two types of sheath profiles are observed, those with sharp discontinuities at the leading edge and those with smooth gradients. In both cases, non-thermal broadening is generally peaked at the front of the sheath and exhibits a characteristic decay length that roughly scales with the sheath ion mean free path. Here, we demonstrate that this non-thermal broadening term is inconsistent with laminar velocity gradients and is more consistent with dissipative turbulence driven by unstable plasma waves in a collisionless shock. The resulting differences in sheath profile are then set by the sheath ion collisionality in a manner consistent with recent 1D kinetic simulations.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2020

Femtosecond electronic structure response to high intensity XFEL pulses probed by iron X-ray emission spectroscopy

We report the time-resolved femtosecond evolution of the K-shell X-ray emission spectra of iron during high intensity illumination of X-rays in a micron-sized focused hard X-ray free electron laser (XFEL) beam. Detailed pulse length dependent measurements revealed that rapid spectral energy shift and broadening started within the first 10 fs of the X-ray illumination at intensity levels between 10 17 and 10 18 W cm -2 . We attribute these spectral changes to the rapid evolution of high-density photoelectron mediated secondary collisional ionization processes upon the absorption of the incident XFEL radiation. These fast electronic processes, occurring at timescales well within the typical XFEL pulse durations (i.e., tens of fs), set the boundary conditions of the pulse intensity and sample parameters where the widely-accepted ‘probe-before-destroy’ measurement strategy can be adopted for electronic-structure related XFEL experiments.

99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Direct measurement of the electron turbulence-broadening edge transport barrier to facilitate core–edge integration in tokamak fusion plasmas

Abstract The integration of a high-performance core and a dissipative divertor, or the so-called ‘core–edge integration,’ has been widely identified as a critical gap in the design of future fusion reactors. In this letter, we report, for the first time, direct experimental evidence of electron turbulence at the DIII-D H-mode pedestal that correlates with the broadening of the pedestal and thus facilitates core–edge integration. In agreement with gyrokinetic simulations, this electron turbulence is enhanced by high η e ( η e = L n / L T e , where L n is the density scale length and L T e is the electron temperature scale length), which is due to a strong shift between the density and temperature pedestal profiles associated with a closed divertor. The modeled turbulence drives significant heat transport with a lower pressure gradient that may broaden the pedestal to a greater degree than the empirical and theoretically predicted pedestal width scalings. Such a wide pedestal, coupled with a closed divertor, enables us to achieve a good core–edge scenario that integrates a high-temperature low-collisionality pedestal (pedestal top temperature T e,ped > 0.8 keV and a pedestal top collisionality ν * ped < 1) under detached divertor conditions. This paves a new path toward solving the core–edge integration issue in future fusion reactors.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2026

XRISM Finds the Changing-look Active Galactic Nucleus NGC 1365 in an Extended Low State: A Dense, Highly Ionized Outflow Obscures the Central Source

We present the first XRISM/Resolve observations of the active galactic nucleus NGC 1365, obtained in 2024 February and July. NGC 1365 is known for rapid transitions between Compton-thick and Compton-thin states, along with strong absorption from a highly ionized wind. During our observations, the source was found in a persistent low-flux state, characterized by a decrease in hard-X-ray luminosity and significant line-of-sight obscuration. In this state, XRISM/Resolve reveals clear Fe XXV and Fe XXVI absorption lines together with, for the first time in this source, corresponding emission lines. These features may arise either from reemission from a photoionized wind (P Cygni profile) or from collisionally ionized gas associated with outflow-driven shocks in the interstellar medium. We estimate the wind launch radius to be approximately 10 16 cm (∼10 4 R g ), consistent with the location of the X-ray broadline region. We also resolve a broadened Fe Kα line by σ ∼ 1300 km s −1 , placing it at similar scales to the wind, consistent with radii inferred from disk-broadening models and the variability of the Fe Kα broad line. The similarity of the Fe Kα profile to the Hβ wing and broad Paα width indicates that the X-ray-emitting region is likely cospatial with the optical/infrared broadline region and originates from the same gas.

Astronomy and AstroPhysics↗
DOE OSTI2020

Impact of plasma density/collisionality on divertor heat flux width

Both ASDEX-Upgrade (AUG) data and the generalized HD (GHD) model showed that the scrape-off width broadens as the density/collisionality increases [1, 2]. A series of BOUT++ transport simulations are performed to study the physics of the scaling characteristics of the divertor heat flux width vs density/collisionality via a plasma density scan with either fixed pressure profile or fixed temperature profile inside separatrix. Additionally, the simulations show that even in the drift dominated regime, the divertor heat flux width can be broadened due to the transition of the SOL residence time from the parallel particle flow time to the enhanced parallel conduction time as the collisionality/density increases as posited in the GHD model. In addition, the heat flux width is found to be proportional to the square root of ion mass for low collisionality while it has a weakly dependence on ion mass for high collisionality. Furthermore, our simulations show that as the density increases, the radial electric field (E r ) well shallows, which potentially weakens E r × B flow shear stabilization of turbulence at high density.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2022

Study of Stark broadening of krypton helium-$\beta$ lines and estimation of electron density and temperature in NIF compressed capsules

Here the National Ignition Facility (NIF) diagnostic instrument manipulator (DIM) - based high resolution (dHIRES) x-ray spectrometer was used to measure the time evolution of the electron density (n e ) and temperature (T e ) in the hot spot of four NIF compressed capsules with 25 ps time resolution during the 'stagnation' phase. The electron density was inferred by comparing the measured Stark broadening of the krypton (Kr) Heβ spectral complex with theoretical calculations that include ion dynamic effects, and the electron temperature was inferred by comparing the measured ratio of the intensity of a dielectronically excited Li-like Kr line to the intensity of the Kr Heβ resonance line with calculations using the spectroscopic collisional radiative atomic model (SCRAM) and CRETIN collisional-radiative models. The inferred, time averaged n e values mainly agree with n e values from neutron diagnostics within uncertainties, but the neutron time-of-flight values of T ion are consistently higher than dHIRES T e values by 200–700 eV. The dHIRES measurements and measurement techniques, method of uncertainty analysis, and discussion of comparisons with measurements from neutron diagnostics are presented.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2023

Ab initio quantum scattering calculations and a new potential energy surface for the HCl( X 1Σ+)–O2(X3Σg−) system: Collision-induced line shape parameters for O2-perturbed R(0) 0–0 line in H35Cl

The remote sensing of abundance and properties of HCl—the main atmospheric reservoir of Cl atoms that directly participate in ozone depletion—is important for monitoring the partitioning of chlorine between “ozone-depleting” and “reservoir” species. Such remote studies require knowledge of the shapes of molecular resonances of HCl, which are perturbed by collisions with the molecules of the surrounding air. In this work, we report the first fully quantum calculations of collisional perturbations of the shape of a pure rotational line in H35Cl perturbed by an air-relevant molecule [as the first model system we choose the R(0) line in HCl perturbed by O2]. The calculations are performed on our new highly accurate HCl(X1Σ+)–O2(X3Σg−) potential energy surface. In addition to pressure broadening and shift, we also determine their speed dependencies and the complex Dicke parameter. This gives important input to the community discussion on the physical meaning of the complex Dicke parameter and its relevance for atmospheric spectra (previously, the complex Dicke parameter for such systems was mainly determined from phenomenological fits to experimental spectra and the physical meaning of its value in that context is questionable). We also calculate the temperature dependence of the line shape parameters and obtain agreement with the available experimental data. We estimate the total combined uncertainties of our calculations at 2% relative root-mean-square error in the simulated line shape at 296 K. This result constitutes an important step toward computational population of spectroscopic databases with accurate ab initio line shape parameters for molecular systems of terrestrial atmospheric importance.

Chemistry↗