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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 73 records · Page 4
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2020

Recent progress in microscale modeling of RF sheaths

The microscale properties of RF sheaths in the ion cyclotron range of frequencies (ICRF) are investigated by means of analytical theory, nonlinear fluid and particle-in-cell (PIC) code modeling. Previous work that parametrized RF sheath properties, specifically the RF sheath impedance and the rectified (DC) sheath potential, is generalized to include the effect of net DC current flow through the sheath. Analytical results are presented in the low frequency limit where the displacement current is negligible, and tested against results from a fluid numerical model. Here, it is shown that when the sheath draws DC electron current, the voltage rectification is reduced from the zero current case, and the electron admittance is increased. In separate but related work on the microscale model, selected cases have been simulated with PIC codes to validate, further illuminate and extend fluid model results and their parametrizations. Quantitative agreement in trends for voltage rectification and sheath admittance vs. RF driving voltage is found.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
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 OSTI2019

Structure of the Wall Sheath in a Gas-Discharge Plasma for an Arbitrary Orientation of a Flat Probe Relative to the Electric Field in the Plasma

We investigate the structure of the wall sheath of a gas discharge near a flat surface at a negative potential for high mean electron energy. It is shown that in the conditions where the mean energy of ions in the plasma is much lower than the mean electron energy, the parameters of the wall sheath weakly depend on the mutual orientation of the normal to the surface and the electric field in the plasma for an arbitrary ratio of the Debye radius to the ion mean free path relative to the resonant charge exchange process. It is found that for inert gases (He, Ar) for ratio E/P of the electric field to pressure exceeding 10 V/(cm Torr) in the plasma, the disregard of ionization in the perturbed wall sheath can lead to substantial errors in the calculation of its parameters. It is shown that the ionization leads to an increase in the electric field in the wall sheath and, as a consequence, to an increase in the mean velocity of ions at the boundary between the quasi-neutral presheath and the part of the perturbed wall sheath in which quasi-neutrality is substantially violated. The parameters of the wall sheath where quasi-neutrality is significantly violated depend on the ionization rate much less strongly than the corresponding parameters of the quasi-neutral presheath. We have determined the relation for concentration of charged particles in the unperturbed plasma from the ion saturation current considering the actual ion energy distribution function in the plasma as well as ionization in the presheath and the part of the perturbed wall sheath in which quasi-neutrality is violated significantly.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2019

Influence of the inverse sheath on divertor plasma performance in tokamak edge plasma simulations

Recently, it was shown that strong electron thermionic emission from material walls could result in the formation of an “inverse sheath”, which prevents the flow of cold ions to the wall. Such regimes look very favorably from the point of view of plasma-material interactions at the edge of magnetic fusion devices, where the problem of the erosion of plasma facing components under ion irradiation is one of the key issues for developing of future magnetic fusion reactors. However, it is not clear whether such regimes are compatible with edge plasma parameters and heat removal requirements in fusion reactors.To address the issue of practicality of the “inverse sheath” regime for edge tokamak plasma conditions, we perform a set of numerical simulations with 2D edge plasma transport code UEDGE for a DIII-D-like geometry and magnetic configuration.To describe both “standard” and “inverse sheath” conditions within the framework of the UEDGE code (which does not consider the sheath region per se), at the material surfaces, we apply effective boundary conditions which emulate both “standard” and“inverse sheath” regimes. We demonstrate that for the same input parameters, spatial distributions of edge plasma parameters corresponding to detached divertor and“inverse sheath” regimes are similar, with only a few minor differences. We discuss the compatibility of “inverse sheath” regimes with core plasma parameters.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2025

Efficient 15 N hyperpolarization of [ 15 N 3 ]metronidazole antibiotic via spin-relayed pulsed SABRE-SHEATH

Signal Amplification by Reversible Exchange in SHield Enables Alignment Transfer to Heteronuclei (SABRE-SHEATH) is an NMR hyperpolarization technique that relies of the simultaneous exchange of parahydrogen and a to-be-hyperpolarized molecule on the metal center of a polarization-transfer catalyst in a microtesla magnetic field. Until recently, this method has been understood to perform hyperpolarization by establishing level anti-crossings between the nuclear spins of the parahydrogen derived hydrides (acting as a source of hyperpolarization) and those of the substrate. Recently, the application of highly non-intuitive pulse sequences (comprising pulses of microtesla DC fields) was predicted to hyperpolarize nuclear spins more efficiently than the canonical (static-field) SABRE-SHEATH approach. Here we show that by employing a basic “on-off” pulse sequence of rectangular microtesla pulses, it is possible to improve the hyperpolarization efficiency for SABRE-SHEATH of [ 15 N 3 ]metronidazole, an FDA-approved antibiotic (in non-enriched and non-hyperpolarized form) and potential hypoxia sensing molecule. Specifically, we demonstrate that 15N polarization of 18.5 % can be obtained in 80 s of parahydrogen bubbling parahydrogen through a solution containing 20 mM [ 15 N 3 ]metronidazole. In practice, (1.32 ± 0.14)-fold improvements in P 15N was obtained with the pulsed method described here compared to static field technique variant. These results show that pulsed SABRE-SHEATH was successfully applied to 15 N-labeled biologically relevant molecule. Moreover, we also demonstrate that although the pulsed SABRE-SHEATH sequence was designed for polarization transfer from parahydrogen derived hydrides to the metronidazole’s 15 N catalyst-binding site, all three 15 N sites of [ 15 N 3 ]metronidazole attained the hyperpolarized state. This spin-relayed polarization transfer becomes possible due to the 15 N relay network established by their spin-spin J-couplings. The feasibility of the spin-relayed polarization transfer is demonstrated here for the first time for pulsed SABRE-SHEATH (as opposed to the static-field SABRE-SHEATH reported previously) and it paves the way to broad applicability of the technique.

Hyperpolarization↗
DOE OSTI2014

Mitigating impact of thermal and rectified radio-frequency sheath potentials on edge localized modes

The mitigating impact of thermal and rectified radio frequency (RF) sheath potentials on the peeling-ballooning modes is studied non-linearly by employing a two-fluid three-field simulation model based on the BOUT++ framework. Additional shear flow and the Kelvin-Helmholtz effect due to the thermal and rectified RF sheath potential are induced. It is found that the shear flow increases the growth rate while the K-H effect decreases the growth rate slightly when there is a density gradient, but the energy loss of these cases is suppressed in the nonlinear phase. The stronger external electrostatic field due to the sheaths has a more significant effect on the energy loss suppression. From this study, it is found the growth rate in the linear phase mainly determines the onset of edge-localized modes, while the mode spectrum width in the nonlinear phase has an important impact on the turbulent transport. The wider mode spectrum leads to weaker turbulent transport and results in a smaller energy loss. Due to the thermal sheath and rectified RF sheath potential in the scrape-off-layer, the modified shear flow tears apart the peeling-ballooning filament and makes the mode spectrum wider, resulting in less energy loss. The perturbed electric potential and the parallel current near the sheath region is also suppressed locally due to the sheath boundary condition.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2025

Bulk Motions in the Black Hole Jet Sheath as a Candidate for the Comptonizing Corona

Abstract Using two-dimensional general relativistic resistive magnetohydrodynamic simulations, we investigate the properties of the sheath separating the black hole jet from the surrounding medium. We find that the electromagnetic power flowing through the jet sheath is comparable to the overall accretion power of the black hole. The sheath is an important site of energy dissipation as revealed by the copious appearance of reconnection layers and plasmoid chains. About 20% of the sheath power is dissipated between 2 and 10 gravitational radii. The plasma in the dissipative sheath moves along a nearly paraboloidal surface with transrelativistic bulk motions dominated by the radial component, whose dimensionless 4-velocity is ∼1.2 ± 0.5. In the frame moving with the mean (radially dependent) velocity, the distribution of stochastic bulk motions resembles a Maxwellian with an “effective bulk temperature” of ∼100 keV. Scaling the global simulation to Cygnus X-1 parameters gives a rough estimate of the Thomson optical depth across the jet sheath, ∼0.01–0.1, and it may increase in future magnetohydrodynamic simulations with self-consistent radiative losses. These properties suggest that the dissipative jet sheath may be a viable “coronal” region, capable of upscattering seed soft photons into a hard, nonthermal tail, as seen during the hard states of X-ray binaries and active galactic nuclei.

Sridhar, Navin (ORCID:0000000255199550)↗
NASA NTRS1979

Plasma sheath effects and voltage distributions of large high-power satellite solar arrays

Knowledge of the floating voltage configuration of a large array in orbit is needed in order to estimate various plasma-interaction effects. The equilibrium configuration of array voltages relative to space depends on the sheath structure. The latter dependence for an exposed array is examined in the light of two finite-sheath effects. One effect is that electron currents may be seriously underestimated. The other is that a potential barrier for electrons can occur, restricting electron currents. A conducting surface is assumed on the basis of a conductivity argument. Finite-sheath effects are investigated. The results of assuming thin-sheath and thick-sheath limits on the floating configuration of a linearly connected array are studied. Sheath thickness and parasitic power leakage are estimated. Numerically computed fields using a 3-D code are displayed in the thick-sheath limit.

Parker, L. W.↗
NASA NTRS2001

Numerical Model of the Plasma Sheath Generated by the Plasma Source Instrument Aboard the Polar Satellite

The plasma sheath generated by the operation of the Plasma Source Instrument (PSI) aboard the Polar satellite is studied by using a three-dimensional particle-in-cell (PIC) code. When the satellite passes through the region of low-density plasma, the satellite charges to positive potentials as high as 40-50 V, owing to the photoelectron emission. In such a case, ambient core ions cannot accurately be measured or detected. The goal of the onboard PSI is to reduce the floating potential of the satellite to a sufficiently low value so that the ions in the polar wind become detectable. When the PSI is operated, ion-rich xenon plasma is ejected from the satellite, such that the floating potential of the satellite is reduced and is maintained at approximately 2 V. Accordingly, in our three-dimensional PIC simulation we considered that the potential of the satellite is 2 V as a fixed bias. Considering the relatively high density of the xenon plasma in the sheath (10-10(exp 3)/cc), the ambient plasma of low density (<1/cc) is neglected. In the simulations the electric fields and plasma dynamics are calculated self-consistently. We found that an 'apple'-shape positive potential sheath forms surrounding the satellite. In the region near the PSI emission a high positive potential hill develops. Near the Thermal Ion Dynamics Experiment detector away from the PSI, the potentials are sufficiently low for the ambient polar wind ions to reach it. In the simulations it takes only about a couple of tens of electron gyroperiods for the sheath to reach a quasi steady state. This time is approximately the time taken by the heavy Xe(+) ions to expand up to about one average Larmor radius of electrons from the satellite surface. After this time the expansion of the sheath in directions transverse to the ambient magnetic field slows down because the electrons are magnetized. Using the quasi steady sheath, we performed trajectory calculations to characterize the detector response to a highly supersonic polar wind flow. The detected ions' velocity distribution shows significant deviations from a shifted Maxwellian in the ambient polar wind population. The deviations are caused by the effects of electric fields on the ions' motion as they traverse the sheath.

Singh, N.↗
NASA NTRS2000

Ion Dynamics Model for Collisionless Radio Frequency Sheaths

Full scale reactor model based on fluid equations is widely used to analyze high density plasma reactors. It is well known that the submillimeter scale sheath in front of a biased electrode supporting the wafer is difficult to resolve in numerical simulations, and the common practice is to use results for electric field from some form of analytical sheath model as boundary conditions for full scale reactor simulation. There are several sheath models in the literature ranging from Child's law to a recent unified sheath model [P. A. Miller and M. E. Riley, J. Appl. Phys. 82, 3689 (1997)l. In the present work, the cold ion fluid equations in the radio frequency sheath are solved numerically to show that the spatiotemporal variation of ion flux inside the sheath, commonly ignored in analytical models, is important in determining the electric field and ion energy at the electrode. Consequently, a semianalytical model that includes the spatiotemporal variation of ion flux is developed for use as boundary condition in reactor simulations. This semianalytical model is shown to yield results for sheath properties in close agreement with numerical solutions.

Bose, Deepak↗
DOE OSTI2012

Instability, collapse, and oscillation of sheaths caused by secondary electron emission

The Debye sheath is shown to be unstable under general conditions. For surface materials with sufficient secondary electron emission (SEE) yields, the surface's current-voltage characteristic has an unstable branch when the bulk plasma temperature (T{sub e}) exceeds a critical value, or when there are fast electron populations present. The plasma-surface interaction becomes dynamic where the sheath may undergo spontaneous transitions or oscillations. Using particle-in-cell simulations, we analyze sheath instabilities occurring in a high T{sub e} plasma slab bounded by walls with SEE. As the plasma evolves, whenever the sheath enters an unstable state, its amplitude rapidly collapses, allowing a large flux of previously trapped electrons to hit the wall. These hot electrons induce more than one secondary on average, causing a net loss of electrons from the wall. The sheath collapse quenches when the surface charge becomes positive because the attractive field inhibits further electrons from escaping. Sheath instabilities influence the current balance, energy loss, cross-B-field transport and even the bulk plasma properties. Implications for discharges including Hall thrusters are discussed. More generally, the results show that common theories that treat emission as a fixed (time-independent) 'coefficient' do not capture the full extent of SEE effects.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2013

Numerical solutions of sheath structures in front of an electron-emitting electrode immersed in a low-density plasma

The exact theoretical expressions involved in the formation of sheath in front of an electron emitting electrode immersed in a low-density plasma have been derived. The potential profile in the sheath region has been calculated for subcritical, critical, and supercritical emissions. The potential profiles of critical and supercritical emissions reveals that we must take into account a small, instead of zero, electric field at the sheath edge to satisfy the boundary conditions used to integrate the Poisson's equation. The I-V curves for critical emission shows that only high values of plasma-electron to emitted-electron temperature ratio can meet the floating potential of the emissive electrode. A one-dimensional fluid like model is assumed for ions, while the electron species are treated as kinetic. The distribution of emitted-electron from the electrode is assumed to be half Maxwellian. The plasma-electron enters the sheath region at sheath edge with half Maxwellian velocity distribution, while the reflected ones have cut-off velocity distribution due to the absorption of super thermal electrons by the electrode. The effect of varying emitted-electron current on the sheath structure has been studied with the help of a parameter G (the ratio of emitted-electron to plasma-electron densities)

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2014

Measurement of effective sheath width around cutoff probe in low-pressure plasmas

Previous studies indicated that the measurement results of microwave probes can be improved by applying the adequate sheath width to their measurement models, and consequently the sheath width around the microwave probe tips has become very important information for microwave probe diagnostics. In this paper, we propose a method for measuring the argon plasma sheath width around the cutoff probe tips by applying the circuit model to the cutoff probe phase spectrum. The measured sheath width of the cutoff probe was found to be in good agreement with the floated sheath width calculated from the Child-Langmuir sheath law. The physical reasons for a discrepancy between the two measurements are also discussed.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2014

Effects of emitted electron temperature on the plasma sheath

It has long been known that electron emission from a surface significantly affects the sheath surrounding that surface. Typical fluid theory of a planar sheath with emitted electrons assumes that the plasma electrons follow the Boltzmann relation and the emitted electrons are emitted with zero energy and predicts a potential drop of 1.03T{sub e}/e across the sheath in the floating condition. By considering the modified velocity distribution function caused by plasma electrons lost to the wall and the half-Maxwellian distribution of the emitted electrons, it is shown that ratio of plasma electron temperature to emitted electron temperature significantly affects the sheath potential when the plasma electron temperature is within an order of magnitude of the emitted electron temperature. When the plasma electron temperature equals the emitted electron temperature the emissive sheath potential goes to zero. One dimensional particle-in-cell simulations corroborate the predictions made by this theory. The effects of the addition of a monoenergetic electron beam to the Maxwellian plasma electrons were explored, showing that the emissive sheath potential is close to the beam energy only when the emitted electron flux is less than the beam flux.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2015

Photoelectric sheath formation around small spherical objects in space

The formation of a photoelectron sheath around positively charged small (∼cm) spherical objects roaming in near earth space due to the solar radiation (with continuous spectrum) and the solar wind plasma has been investigated. The sheath structure has been derived, taking into account anisotropic photoelectron flux with the Poisson equation, spherical geometry of the object, and half Fermi Dirac distribution of photoelectron velocities. Two cases, viz., when the object is illuminated by (i) isotropic or (ii) unidirectional (parallel beam) radiation, have been analyzed. The analysis predicts a spherically symmetric sheath in case of isotropic illumination, while a symmetry in sheath about a θ=π/4 is seen in case of parallel beam illumination; θ is the angle of incidence which is the angle made by the normal to a surface element with the direction of incidence of solar radiation. The radial and angular profiles of the electric potential and electron density in the photoelectron sheath have been evaluated and illustrated graphically; the dependence of the sheath structure on the solar wind plasma parameters, material properties of the spherical object, and its size have been discussed.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2015

Model and particle-in-cell simulation of ion energy distribution in collisionless sheath

In this paper, we propose a self-consistent theoretical model, which is described by the ion energy distributions (IEDs) in collisionless sheaths, and the analytical results for different combined dc/radio frequency (rf) capacitive coupled plasma discharge cases, including sheath voltage errors analysis, are compared with the results of numerical simulations using a one-dimensional plane-parallel particle-in-cell (PIC) simulation. The IEDs in collisionless sheaths are performed on combination of dc/rf voltage sources electrodes discharge using argon as the process gas. The incident ions on the grounded electrode are separated, according to their different radio frequencies, and dc voltages on a separated electrode, the IEDs, and widths of energy in sheath and the plasma sheath thickness are discussed. The IEDs, the IED widths, and sheath voltages by the theoretical model are investigated and show good agreement with PIC simulations.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2015

Polarization force-induced changes in the dust sheath formation

The modifications arising in the dusty plasma sheath structure due to the presence of polarization forces acting on the dust grains are investigated. The corresponding appropriate Bohm criterion for sheath formation is obtained. It is found that the critical Mach number, beyond which the dusty plasma electrostatic sheath sets in, decreases whenever the polarization effects become important. In addition, when the polarization force dominates over the electrical one, the dust plasma sheath cannot set in. This happens whenever the dust grain size exceeds a critical threshold. Moreover, the sheath electrostatic potential-gradient becomes abruptly steep, and the sheath thickness becomes broader as the polarization force effects strengthen.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2015

The sheath effect on the floating harmonic method

The floating harmonic method biases sinusoidal voltage to a probe sheath, and as its response, harmonic currents can be obtained. These currents can be used to determine the plasma parameters. However, different shapes of probes have different shapes of sheaths that can affect the diagnostic results. However, no research has been done on the sheath effect on the floating harmonic method. Therefore, we investigate the effect of the sheath during floating harmonic diagnostics by comparing cylindrical and planar probes. While the sinusoidal voltages were applied to a probe, because the sheath oscillated, the time variant ion current and their harmonic currents were added to the electron harmonic currents. In the floating harmonic method, the harmonic currents are composed of only the electron harmonic currents. Therefore, the ion harmonic currents affect the diagnostic results. In particular, the electron temperature obtained by the small probe tip was higher than that of the large probe tip. This effect was exacerbated when the ratio of the probe tip radius to the sheath length was smaller.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗