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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 721 records · Page 40
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2020

Fast electron transport dynamics and energy deposition in magnetized, imploded cylindrical plasma

Inertial confinement fusion approaches involve the creation of high-energy-density states through compression. High gain scenarios may be enabled by the beneficial heating from fast electrons produced with an intense laser and by energy containment with a high-strength magnetic field. Here, we report experimental measurements from a configuration integrating a magnetized, imploded cylindrical plasma and intense laser-driven electrons as well as multi-stage simulations that show fast electrons transport pathways at different times during the implosion and quantify their energy deposition contribution. The experiment consisted of a CH foam cylinder, inside an external coaxial magnetic field of 5 T, that was imploded using 36 OMEGA laser beams. Two-dimensional (2D) hydrodynamic modelling predicts the CH density reaches 9.0 g cm − 3 , the temperature reaches 920 eV and the external B-field is amplified at maximum compression to 580 T. At pre-determined times during the compression, the intense OMEGA EP laser irradiated one end of the cylinder to accelerate relativistic electrons into the dense imploded plasma providing additional heating. The relativistic electron beam generation was simulated using a 2D particle-in-cell (PIC) code. Finally, three-dimensional hybrid-PIC simulations calculated the electron propagation and energy deposition inside the target and revealed the roles the compressed and self-generated B-fields play in transport. During a time window before the maximum compression time, the self-generated B-field on the compression front confines the injected electrons inside the target, increasing the temperature through Joule heating. For a stronger B-field seed of 20 T, the electrons are predicted to be guided into the compressed target and provide additional collisional heating. This article is part of a discussion meeting issue ‘Prospects for high gain inertial fusion energy (part 2)’.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2025

Interface‐Induced Stability of Nontrivial Topological Spin Textures: Unveiling Room‐Temperature Hopfions and Skyrmions

Topological spin configurations, such as soliton-like spin texture and Dirac electron assemblies, have recently emerged in fundamental science and technology. Achieving stable topological spin textures at room temperature is crucial for their use as long-range information carriers. However, their creation and manipulation are hindered by multi-step field training and competing interactions. Thus, a spontaneous ground state for multidimensional topological spin textures is desirable, with skyrmions forming swirling, hedgehog-like spin structures in two dimensions and hopfions as their twisted 3D counterparts. Here, the first observation of robust and reproducible topological spin textures of hopfions and skyrmions observed at room temperature and in zero magnetic field is reported, which are stabilized by geometric confinement and protected by interfacial magnetism in a ferromagnet/topological insulator/ferromagnet trilayer heterostructure. These skyrmion-hopfion configurations are directly observed at room temperature with Lorenz transmission electron microscopy. Using micromagnetic modeling, the experimental observations of hopfion-skyrmion assemblies are reproduced. This model reveals a complete picture of how spontaneously organized skyrmion lattices encircled by hopfion rings are controlled by surface electrons, uniaxial anisotropy, and Dzyaloshinskii-Moriya interaction. This study provides evidence that topological chiral spin textures can facilitate the development of magnetic topological carriers, paving the way for ultralow-power and high-density information processing.

hopfions↗
DOE OSTI2025

Tokamak Disruption Simulation (Final Technical Report)

The Tokamak Disruption Simulation collaboration was a SciDAC (Scientific Discovery through Advanced Computing) program led by Xianzhu Tang of the Los Alamos National Laboratory but with separate grants to each institution. I was the PI for Columbia University and the only person at Columbia directly funded by this SciDAC. Disruptions are a sudden loss of confinement in tokamaks, and a reliable method of preventing disruptions must be developed before tokamak fusion power plants become feasible. A related plasma confinement concept, the stellarator, is the only way known way of preventing disruptions with the required reliability. The largest devices, both existing and under construction, for confining plasmas for fusion using magnetic fields are tokamaks, so it is important to solve their disruption issues. The sudden loss of confinement in tokamaks can be from a bit of material falling into the plasma, which causes the plasma energy to be quickly lost by radiation, or by an instability causing a breakup of the confining surfaces formed by the magnetic field. This breakup can occur more than a million times faster than one would naively think possible. The sudden breakup of surfaces is called a fast magnetic reconnection and also results in a sudden cooling of the plasma.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2016

Targeted Optimization of Quasi-Symmetric Stellarators

The proposed research focuses on targeted areas of plasma physics dedicated to improving the stellarator concept. Research was pursued in the technical areas of edge/divertor physics in 3D configurations, magnetic island physics in stellarators, the role of 3D shaping on microinstabilities and turbulent transport and energetic ion confinement in stellarators.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2016

Characterization of compact-toroid injection during formation, translation, and field penetration

We have developed a compact toroid (CT) injector system for particle refueling of the advanced beam-driven C-2U field-reversed configuration (FRC) plasma. The CT injector is a magnetized coaxial plasma gun (MCPG), and the produced CT must cross the perpendicular magnetic field surrounding the FRC for the refueling of C-2U. To simulate this environment, an experimental test stand has been constructed. A transverse magnetic field of ∼1 kG is established, which is comparable to the C-2U axial magnetic field in the confinement section, and CTs are fired across it. On the test stand we have been characterizing and studying CT formation, ejection/translation from the MCPG, and penetration into transverse magnetic fields.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2024

Electron cyclotron emission detection of neoclassical tearing modes for control for ITER

Successful operation of ITER requires control of magnetic instabilities including neoclassical tearing modes (NTMs) that can degrade confinement and lead to disruption. Low latency detection by electron cyclotron emission (ECE) diagnostics has been demonstrated in a few current experiments. Using a synthetic diagnostic, we demonstrate low latency NTM detection for ITER with plasmas described by ITER IMAS database scenarios and with realistic limitations imposed on the instrumentation by these high temperature scenarios. 2/1 NTMs are detected 430 ms after magnetic island seeding and before island locking. The radiometer configuration was optimized using simulation, and the smallest detectable island size was explored. Island sizes of ∼3 cm are detectable at the 2/1 surface. The simulated signals incorporate recent physics models for island growth and rotation, which show early locking and continued island growth after locking and before disruption. This work determines limits for ITER ECE spatial resolution imposed by relativistic broadening of channels, which informs hardware design. Real-time detection is demonstrated in hardware that is required by ITER, including on an NI PXI-7853R FPGA system. Development of a synthetic diagnostic and details of the hardware will be discussed.

Cyclotron radiation↗
DOE OSTI2019

Delayed Gamma Signature Accounting for Field Line Transport of Debris Ions after a Nuclear Explosion

Delayed gammas (DGs) are produced by the decay of radioactive fission fragments after a nuclear explosion. Currently, the time and energy profile of the delayed gamma signal is propagated in DIORAMA to the GEO satellite sensors by assuming a point source at the burst location for the production of the delayed gammas. However, in reality the production of delayed gammas is spread over some spatial extent. First, the debris ions are confined within an expanding region by the magnetic field and/or surrounding plasma. This expanding confinement bubble eventually collapses, at which point the debris ions can be trapped on magnetic field lines and transported away from the original burst location. In this work the effects of debris ion transport on the associated time profile of delayed gammas at a GEO satellite is presented. The first step was the development of the Delayed Gamma Source Model (DGSM), which is based on the analytical Electron Source Model (ESM) code developed at LANL that models the spatial distribution of energetic electrons produced after a high-altitude nuclear explosion (HANE) for use as a source term in LANL artificial belt diffusion code. This model creates a spatial grid in latitude, longitude, and altitude of the distribution of radioactive debris ions. The output of this code is combined with a separate analysis code also described, which produces the DG time profile signature at a GEO sensor faceplate when accounting for the spatial spread of delayed gamma production during field line transport. Some simple case studies are presented to show how the DG signature at GEO calculated with this higher-fidelity model and a simple point-source model, as is currently assumed in DIORAMA, compare.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Magnetic fields with general omnigenity

Omnigenity is a desirable property of toroidal magnetic fields that ensures confinement of trapped particles. Confining charged particles is a basic requirement for any fusion power plant design, but it can be difficult to satisfy with the non-axisymmetric magnetic fields used by the stellarator approach. Every ideal magnetohydrodynamic equilibrium previously found to approximate omnigenity has been either axisymmetric, quasi-symmetric or has poloidally closed contours of magnetic field strength $B$ . However, general omnigenous equilibria are a much larger design space than these subsets. A new model is presented and employed in the DESC stellarator optimization suite to represent and discover the full parameter space of omnigenous equilibria. Although exact omnigenity aside from quasi-symmetry is impossible, these results reveal that excellent particle confinement can be achieved in practice. Examples far from quasi-symmetry with poloidally, helically and toroidally closed $B$ contours are attained with DESC and shown to have low neoclassical collisional transport and fast particle losses.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2022

Magnetized ablative Rayleigh-Taylor instability in three dimensions

Three-dimensional extended-magnetohydrodynamics simulations of the magnetized ablative Rayleigh-Taylor instability are presented. Previous two-dimensional (2D) simulations claiming perturbation suppression by magnetic tension are shown to be misleading, as they do not include the most unstable dimension. For perturbation modes along the applied field direction, the magnetic field simultaneously reduces ablative stabilization and adds magnetic tension stabilization; the stabilizing term is found to dominate for applied fields > 5 T, with both effects increasing in importance at short wavelengths. Additionally, for modes perpendicular to the applied field, magnetic tension does not directly stabilize the perturbation but can result in moderately slower growth due to the perturbation appearing to be 2D (albeit in a different orientation to 2D inertial confinement fusion simulations). In cases where thermal ablative stabilization is dominant the applied field increases the peak bubble-spike height. Resistive diffusion is shown to be important for short wavelengths and long timescales, reducing the effectiveness of tension stabilization.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2019

Inferring fuel areal density from secondary neutron yields in laser-driven magnetized liner inertial fusion

A technique to infer the areal density ρR of compressed deuterium (D) in cylindrical implosions from the ratio of secondary D–T (deuterium–tritium) neutrons to primary D–D neutrons is described and evaluated. For ρR to be proportional to the ratio of D–T to D–D yield, the increase in the D–T fusion cross section with collisional slowing of the tritium must be small, requiring where TkeV is the electron temperature in keV. The technique is applied to results from laser-driven magnetized liner inertial fusion (MagLIF) targets on OMEGA, where ρR is certainly less than 4 mg/cm 2 . OMEGA MagLIF targets do not achieve a sufficiently high, radially integrated, axial magnetic field BR to confine the tritium, as occurs in Z MagLIF targets, because they are ~10× smaller in radius. The inferred areal densities show that fuel convergence is reduced by preheating, by an applied axial magnetic field, and by increasing the initial fuel density, which are key features of the MagLIF scheme. The results are compared with 1-D and 2-D magnetohydrodynamic simulations for nominal laser and target parameters, which predict areal densities 2× to 3× higher than the measurements.

Davies, J. R.↗
DOE OSTI2019

Fine-tuning of canted magnetization in stepped Fe films through thickness variation, Au capping, and quantum confinement

Here, we present a joint experimental and theoretical study that demonstrates how to efficiently control a canted state of magnetization in Fe films grown on Ag(001) vicinal surface and precisely characterize it with the magneto-optical Kerr effect. It is shown that by employing different mechanisms to tune the magnetization tilting angle, any magnetization orientation within the plane perpendicular to the step edges can be achieved. In particular, increasing the Fe film thickness leads to continuous rotation of the magnetization easy axis toward the film surface and the sense of this rotation in uncovered films is opposite to that in films covered with Au. Another tuning mechanism is provided by oscillatory changes of the tilting angle at low temperatures due to formation of quantum well states in Fe films. The observed canting of magnetization is explained within a phenomenological model by an interplay of the shape anisotropy and two magnetocrystalline anisotropy terms, perpendicular and step-induced anisotropies, which results in an effective uniaxial magnetic anisotropy. The fitted thickness dependencies of the anisotropy constants accurately reproduce experimental variations of the tilting angle with both Fe and Au thicknesses as well as transient changes of the magnetization orientation in ultrathin Fe films upon submonolayer Au coverage, observed with spin-polarized low-energy electron microscopy.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2024

Axial confinement of wire array Z-pinch precursor plasmas by a pulsed magnetic mirror field

A novel wire-array Z-pinch platform has been developed to study the effect of a pulsed magnetic mirror field on a collisional high energy density plasma. The mirror is driven in series with the Z-pinch target and, therefore, scales with driver current. Axial confinement is observed based on visible imaging and axial flow velocity measurements. The presence of axial compressing J xB force is determined indirectly based on Thomson scattering and interferometry measurements and corroborated by three-dimensional extended-MHD simulations. Compared to non-magnetized wire array Z-pinch, a modified pulsed mirror configuration is observed to increase precursor plasma thermal energy density by about 30%. If optimized, such a configuration could potentially improve magnetized liner inertial fusion performance by reducing axial plasma end loss.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2019

Perovskite magnet with quantum mechanical glassiness

Magnetic materials of strongly correlated origin are at the forefront of research in the exploration of new quantum mechanical properties involving spin and charges. Quantum magnetic material with certain intrinsic functionalities, such as continuously fluctuating spins to the lowest accessible temperature - reminiscing a liquid pattern, is argued to form a new phase of matter. Envisaging a phenomenon where the continuously fluctuating spins are also randomly frozen in space, can diminish the distinction between the two opposite extremes of quantum and classical magnetism. Here, we report new evidence in this regard where the coexistence of quantum spin continuum with a spin glass order in Co-doped CaRuO3 perovskite is demonstrated. In experimental investigations of Co-doped CaRuO3 perovskite, we find that (a) a continuum spectrum in the energy-momentum space, due to the uncorrelated spin fluctuations, persists across the weak spin glass transition at T G ≃ 23 K and (b) the quantum fluctuation of magnetic moment is spatially confined to individual sites only, thereby making it an extremely local event. Thus, the fluctuating spins, at a given time, are also randomly frozen macroscopically. The experimental observations suggest the discovery of a new magnetic phase at the cross-road of classical and quantum physics in strongly correlated perovskite materials.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2019

Confined electron states in two-dimensional HgTe in magnetic field: Quantum dot versus quantum ring behavior

We investigate the electron states and optical absorption in square- and hexagonal-shaped two-dimensional (2D) HgTe quantum dots and quantum rings in the presence of a perpendicular magnetic field. The electronic structure is modeled by means of the sp3d5s∗ tight-binding method within the nearest-neighbor approximation. Both bulklike and edge states appear in the energy spectrum. The bulklike states in quantum rings exhibit Aharonov-Bohm oscillations in magnetic field, whereas no such oscillations are found in quantum dots, which is ascribed to the different topology of the two systems. When magnetic field varies, all the edge states in square quantum dots appear as quasibands composed of almost fully flat levels, whereas some edge states in quantum rings are found to oscillate with magnetic field. However, the edge states in hexagonal quantum dots are localized like in rings. The absorption spectra of all the structures consist of numerous absorption lines, which substantially overlap even for small line broadening. The absorption lines in the infrared are found to originate from transitions between edge states. It is shown that the magnetic field can be used to efficiently tune the optical absorption of HgTe 2D quantum dot and quantum ring systems. © 2019 American Physical Society.

60 APPLIED LIFE SCIENCES↗
DOE OSTI2019

Micro-aligned 1 Tesla Solenoid for High-energy Bunched-beam Electron Cooling

Electron cooling of ion beams requires precise alignment of the electron beam with the equilibrium trajectory of the ion bunch. In magnetized cooling the cooling rate is enhanced by transverse confinement of each electron on a magnetic line of force. The magnetic lines of force must therefore be aligned with the ion bunch trajectory everywhere along the extent of the solenoid. For the parameters required for JLEIC, a solenoid with bore field ~1 T, length ~30 m, and rms alignment of ~micro-radian is required. Such alignment has never been accomplished. The design of a micro-aligned solenoid is presented. A gap-separated stack of thin steel washers is located along the bore of the solenoid. The flux plate stack shields transverse magnetic fields from the interior, so that axial alignment is enhanced by a factor of ~10.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2019

Constructing stellarators with quasisymmetry to high order

Here, a method is given to rapidly compute quasisymmetric stellarator magnetic fields for plasma confinement, without the need to call a three-dimensional magnetohydrodynamic equilibrium code inside an optimization iteration. The method is based on direct solution of the equations of magnetohydrodynamic equilibrium and quasisymmetry using Garren & Boozer’s expansion about the magnetic axis ( Phys Fluids B, vol. 3, 1991, p. 2805), and it is several orders of magnitude faster than the conventional optimization approach. The work here extends the method of Landreman et al. ( J. Plasma Phys. , vol. 85, 2019, 905850103), which was limited to flux surfaces with elliptical cross-section, to higher order in the aspect-ratio expansion. As a result, configurations can be generated with strong shaping that achieve quasisymmetry to high accuracy. Using this construction, we give the first numerical demonstrations of Garren and Boozer’s ideal scaling of quasisymmetry breaking with the cube of the inverse aspect ratio. We also demonstrate a strongly non-axisymmetric configuration (vacuum rotational transform $\unicode[STIX]{x1D704} >0.4$ ) in which symmetry-breaking mode amplitudes throughout a finite volume are ${<}2\times 10^{-7}$ , the smallest ever reported. To generate boundary shapes of finite-minor-radius configurations, a careful analysis is given of the effect of substituting a finite minor radius into the near-axis expansion. In conclusion, the approach here can provide analytic insight into the space of possible quasisymmetric stellarator configurations, and it can be used to generate good initial conditions for conventional stellarator optimization.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2022

Features of relaxation modes in soft magnetic metallic glasses and their correlation with magnetic ordering

Although the anneal-induced relaxation process of Fe-based metallic glasses has been widely reported, there is a lack of a systematic description of the relaxation modes of atoms. Here, in this work, the relaxation modes of FeSiBPC metallic glasses and their relationship with magnetic ordering have been investigated. A two-stage relaxation behavior has been observed, and the pinning effect of Curie temperature is found in the first stage. The short-range ordering involved in the β relaxation in the first stage is confined and facilitated by magnetic ordering. It causes a smaller E β compared to that of non-magnetic metallic glasses. In the second stage, the pinning effect disappears. It is mainly the medium-range rearrangements involved in α relaxation that begins to yield the influence on magnetic ordering. This work uncovers the inner magnet-influenced β relaxation in Fe-based metallic glasses and provides insights into the interaction between structural arrangement during relaxation and magnetic ordering.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2016

NMR relaxation of molecules confined inside the cement paste pores under partially saturated conditions

Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) relaxation studies of liquids confined inside cement samples mostly refer to water molecules and saturated pores. Here we extend these studies to the ethanol and cyclohexane molecules partially saturating a white cement paste. The two filling liquids were selected as representatives of polar and nonpolar molecules which should experience different interactions with the surface containing OH groups. The results on these two molecules are compared with those obtained on water filled sample. The transverse relaxation measurements, performed at different saturation degrees, clearly revealed three pore reservoirs in cement paste: intra-C-S-H sheet pores, inter-C-S-H gel pores and capillary pores. A two phase exchange model, describing the effective relaxation rate under partially saturated conditions, is also considered. The model allows finding of a relationship between the relaxation time distribution, the filling degree of the pores and the liquid morphology inside these pores.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗