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Results for “Anisotropic plasmas”

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 55 records · Page 3
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2023

Direct Observation of Electron Temperature Anisotropy Localized to One Separatrix during Electron-Only Magnetic Reconnection in a Laboratory Plasma

Anisotropic electron heating, Te∥/Te⊥ > 1 (relative to the local magnetic field) during electron-only magnetic reconnection with a large guide field is directly measured in a laboratory plasma through multi-dimensional incoherent Thomson scattering measurements of the electron velocity distribution function. The preferentially parallel electron heating is localized to one separatrix in the reconnection plane and anisotropies of 1.5 are observed. The localization of the heating to one separatrix and the anisotropy are reproduced with a 2D particle-in-cell simulation. The characteristics of the anisotropic heating are consistent with predictions for electron energization by the parallel reconnection electric field under strong guide field. The effective electron temperature is found to increase throughout the outflow region, a possible indication of the effects of collisions and the fully 3D nature of magnetic reconnection in the experiment.

Peiyun Shi↗
NASA NTRS1971

Waves along a cylindrical 'grid-like' antenna in an anisotropic compressible plasma.

The dispersion equation is obtained analytically of waves along an infinitely long cylindrical ?grid-like' antenna in an anisotropic compressible homogeneous plasma. Numerical solutions of this equation show that an external static magnetic field has great influence upon the anomalously dispersive region of the dispersion relation around the plasma frequency.

Yu, W.↗
NASA NTRS1999

Whistler Solitons in Plasma with Anisotropic Hot Electron Admixture

The longitudinal and transverse modulation instability of whistler waves in plasma, with a small admixture of hot anisotropic electrons, is discussed. If the hot particles temperature anisotropy is positive, it is found that, in such plasma, longitudinal perturbations can lead to soliton formation for frequencies forbidden in cold plasma. The soliton is enriched by hot particles. The frequency region unstable to transverse modulation in cold plasma in the presence of hot electrons is divided by stable domains. For both cases the role of hot electrons is more significant for whistlers with smaller frequencies.

Khazanov, G. V.↗
NASA NTRS1999

Whistler Solitons in Plasma with Anisotropic Hot Electron Admixture

The longitudinal and transverse modulation instability of whistler waves in plasma, with a small admixture of hot anisotropic electrons, is discussed. If the hot particles temperature anisotropy is positive, it is found that, in such plasma, longitudinal perturbations can lead to soliton formation for frequencies forbidden in cold plasma. The soliton is enriched by hot particles. The frequency region unstable to transverse modulation in cold plasma in the presence of hot electrons is divided by stable domains. For both cases the role of hot electrons is more significant for whistlers with smaller frequencies.

Khazanov, G. V.↗
NASA NTRS1992

Birkeland currents in an anisotropic, magnetostatic plasma

The paper derives an expression for the parallel current density for a plasma characterized by negligible bulk flow (magnetostatic velocity and a two-component (anisotropic) pressure tensor by expanding the equilibrium Vlasov equation for each species in the adiabatic parameter until such point as a nonvanishing moment j-parallel = integral d-cubed vv-parallel f is identified. The result is a nonlocal one: it relates j-parallel at one point s along a field line to j-parallel at another (reference) point s0 plus an integral function of the pressure and magnetic field between them. The equation derived by Vasyliunas (1970) is generalized and extended to a plasma in which the pressure tensor is comprised of two separate elements, P-perpendicular and P-parallel. This equation follows when P-perpendicular is set equal to P-parallel and s and s0 are taken to be at the ionosphere and the equator. These results are compared to others in the literature.

Birmingham, Thomas J.↗
NASA NTRS1974

Electromagnetic instability in high-beta plasmas with generalized distribution functions

The electrostatic instabilities in an anisotropic plasma have been studied quite extensively, but the electromagnetic instabilities in high-beta plasmas, where they play an important role, have not been thoroughly investigated. Recently, Davidson and Wu (1970) looked into the ordinary mode electromagnetic instability which can arise in high-beta bi-Maxwellian plasmas. Here, the magnetic instability is discussed in (A, beta) space (A is the anisotropy in the temperature of the plasma species and beta is the ratio of the kinetic pressure to the magnetic pressure), which can occur in generalized non-Maxwellian plasmas with an inverted population of different species.

Buti, B.↗
DOE OSTI2022

Dispersion relation and instability for an anisotropic nonuniform flowing plasma

A generalized formula for wave instability is developed for an anisotropic nonuniform plasma with finite flows and temperatures. Six-moment fluid equations are solved to give the analytic expression for wave instability in arbitrarily nonuniform plasmas. The analytic formula explicitly states the dependence of wave instability on the nonuniformities of number density, flow velocity, and anisotropic or isotropic pressure. The accuracy of the formalism is verified by a numerical calculation of implicit dispersion relations in complex Fourier space. The analysis shows that nonuniformity plays a critical role in plasma instability, while the flow velocity and anisotropic pressures determine the growth rate of the instability. Lastly, the instability diagram and associated instability criterion for anisotropy-driven instability are introduced as applications of the formalism.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2026

Interpretation of high-harmonic fast-wave propagation in the scrape-off layer of NSTX-U as a geometrically bounded-waveguide mode

This paper revisits the onset of high-harmonic fast-wave (HHFW) propagation in the scrape-off layer (SOL) plasma of the NSTX/NSTX-U spherical tokamak, motivated by past HHFW heating and current drive experiments and modelling. Previously, the fast-wave propagation in the SOL was correlated with the opening (suppression) of the fast-wave right-hand cutoff layer in front of the antenna. In this work, the SOL propagation is interpreted as a geometric waveguide mode guided by the SOL geometry, whose radial width can be comparable to the wave’s perpendicular wavelength in the HHFW regime. A two-dimensional circular model is first employed using full-wave solvers to characterise the poloidal eigenmode structures and to clarify their relationship to annulus resonance. By progressively adding a tokamak-like magnetic-field configuration, starting from a uniform axial field, the effects of magnetic-field gradients and pitch on the SOL waveguide mode are characterised. The poloidal mode numbers supported by the SOL plasma agree well with analytic estimates, indicating that an anisotropic plasma in a bounded geometry selectively supports and amplifies the resonant poloidal mode number. Additionally, two-dimensional axisymmetric NSTX-U simulations demonstrate that the SOL eigenmode features identified in the circular model persist in the experimentally relevant configurations. A control approach based on lengthening the wave perpendicular wavelength relative to the SOL width, including a higher magnetic (B)-field operation, is discussed. The analysis here shows the key role of a bounded geometry in interpreting HHFW eigenmode coupling and propagation in the NSTX-U SOL plasma.

plasma heating↗
NASA NTRS1977

Reduction of the equation for lower hybrid waves in a plasma to a nonlinear Schroedinger equation

Equations describing the nonlinear propagation of waves in an anisotropic plasma are rarely exactly soluble. However it is often possible to make approximations that reduce the exact equations into a simpler equation. The use of MACSYMA to make such approximations, and so reduce the equation describing lower hybrid waves into the nonlinear Schrodinger equation which is soluble by the inverse scattering method is demonstrated. MACSYMA is used at several stages in the calculation only because there is a natural division between calculations that are easiest done by hand, and those that are easiest done by machine.

Karney, C. F. F.↗
NASA NTRS1980

Radio propagation through solar and other extraterrestrial ionized media

The present S- and X-band communications needs in deep space are addressed to illustrate the aspects which are affected by propagation through extraterrestrial plasmas. The magnitude, critical threshold, and frequency dependence of some eight propagation effects for an S-band propagation path passing within 4 solar radii of the Sun are described. The theory and observation of propagation in extraterrestrial plasmas are discussed and the various plasma states along a near solar propagation path are illustrated. Classical magnetoionic theory (cold anisotropic plasma) is examined for its applicability to the path in question. The characteristics of the plasma states found along the path are summarized and the errors in some of the standard approximations are indicated. Models of extraterrestrial plasmas are included. Modeling the electron density in the solar corona and solar wind, is emphasized but some cursory information on the terrestrial planets plus Jupiters is included.

Smith, E. K.↗