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Results for “COLD PLASMA”

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 91 records · Page 5
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2015

Biodeactivation of Lipopolysaccharide Correlates with Surface‐Bound NO 3 After Cold Atmospheric Plasma Treatment

Cold atmospheric plasma (CAP) treatment of biological surfaces results in important changes of biological functions, but little knowledge on specific surface‐chemical changes is available. We measured surface‐bound NO 3 on polymer and biomolecular films after CAP treatment. An O 2 /N 2 ‐based surface microdischarge was used to deactivate lipopolysaccharide (LPS), an immune‐stimulating biomolecule found in Gram negative bacteria. The observed LPS biodeactivation was highest for low N 2 concentrations in O 2 , increased roughly linearly with surface NO 3 , and then saturated. NO 3 was also observed after treatment by a very different source: an atmospheric pressure plasma jet operating with an Ar carrier gas. Thus, NO 3 formation is a generic surface chemical modification of these materials by CAP sources.

Bartis, Elliot A. J.↗
NASA NTRS1972

Nonlinear interaction of plasma waves in a cold magnetized plasma.

Coupling equations are derived for the general case of nonlinear coupling of any wave modes in a cold magnetized plasma with particle drift motions. Specifically, the transformation of electrostatic waves is studied in connection with solar type-III radiation. A relevant numerical analysis is also presented.

Chin, Y.-C.↗
NASA NTRS1994

Survey of plasma parameters in Earth's distant magnetotail with the Geotail spacecraft

The three-dimensional velocity distributions for both electrons and positive ions as determined with plasma instrumentation on board the Geotail spacecraft are used to compute number densities, ion bulk velocities, and electron and ion temperatures. We present a statistical survey of these plasma parameters for the magnetotail at distances from Earth in the range of 10 to 210 R(sub E) for the period 19 October 1992 through 10 July 1993. The ion temperature is used to discriminate 'hot' plasmas from 'cold' plasmas. The hot ion plasmas are frequently found to stream either towards or away from Earth and we identify these with the plasma sheet, plasma sheet boundary layer, and regions of acceleration. The cold ion plasmas are typically streaming away from Earth. These cold plasmas appear to be associated with the plasma mantle, the magnetosheath, and boundary layers interior to the magnetosheath, although the contribution from the ionosphere has not yet been evaluated.

Paterson, W. R.↗
NASA NTRS1981

Model exospheres of the ringed planets

The theory of rotating ion exospheres in dipolar magnetic field geometries is used to predict certain effects of the rings on the inner plasmaspheres of the ringed planets Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus. The analysis here assumes a purely ionospheric source. It is found that if rings affect only the trapped plasma, the cold plasma density at Saturn will be either reduced or increased by a factor of approximately 2 at L = 1.65, depending on whether the ring populates or empties the trapped trajectories. It is found that if all cold plasma particles on trapped orbits are absorbed and the rings are not a source of plasma, this simple exospheric theory can explain the ionospheric density profile inferred from the Pioneer 11 Saturn radio occultation experiment, in which a localized peak in the profile was observed on field lines threading the Guerin division between the C and D rings.

Luhmann, J. G.↗
DOE OSTI2017

Interchange Reconnection Associated with a Confined Filament Eruption: Implications for the Source of Transient Cold-dense Plasma in Solar Winds

The cold-dense plasma is occasionally detected in the solar wind with in situ data, but the source of the cold-dense plasma remains illusive. Interchange reconnections (IRs) between closed fields and nearby open fields are known to contribute to the formation of solar winds. We present a confined filament eruption associated with a puff-like coronal mass ejection (CME) on 2014 December 24. The filament underwent successive activations and finally erupted, due to continuous magnetic flux cancelations and emergences. The confined erupting filament showed a clear untwist motion, and most of the filament material fell back. During the eruption, some tiny blobs escaped from the confined filament body, along newly formed open field lines rooted around the south end of the filament, and some bright plasma flowed from the north end of the filament to remote sites at nearby open fields. The newly formed open field lines shifted southward with multiple branches. The puff-like CME also showed multiple bright fronts and a clear southward shift. All the results indicate an intermittent IR existed between closed fields of the confined erupting filament and nearby open fields, which released a portion of filament material (blobs) to form the puff-like CME. We suggest that the IR provides a possible source of cold-dense plasma in the solar wind.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2026

Collision operator for electron runaway in cold weakly ionised plasmas

In cold weakly ionised plasmas, the Dreicer generation mechanism can be non-diffusive as demonstrated in a recent study. By expanding the previous letter, we present the detailed description of a proper collision operator to precisely account for the non-diffusive electron kinetics. The operator appropriately combines the Fokker–Planck operator and Boltzmann operator where free-bound collision cross-sections are valid in the low-energy region. The proposed operator is envisaged to predict runaway electron generation in cold weakly ionised plasmas, particularly to design a runaway-free reactor tokamak start-up.

fusion plasma↗
DOE OSTI2016

Broadband wide-angle absorption enhancement due to mode conversion in cold unmagnetized plasmas with periodic density variations

We study theoretically the mode conversion and the associated resonant absorption of p-polarized electromagnetic waves into longitudinal plasma oscillations in cold, unmagnetized and stratified plasmas with periodic spatial density variations. We consider sinusoidal density configurations for which the frequency band where mode conversion occurs is well included within a transmission band of the one-dimensional plasma photonic crystal. We calculate the mode conversion coefficient, which measures the fraction of the electromagnetic wave energy absorbed into the plasma, and the spatial distribution of the magnetic field intensity for various values of the wave frequency and the incident angle using the invariant imbedding theory of mode conversion. We find that the absorption is greatly enhanced over a wide range of frequency and incident angle due to the interplay between the mode conversion and the photonic band structure. The enhancement occurs because for frequencies within a transmission band, the wave reflection is strongly suppressed and the waves penetrate more deeply into the inhomogeneous region, thereby increasing the possibility for them to reach many resonance points where the dielectric permittivity vanishes.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2016

Cold atmospheric plasma jet in an axial DC electric field

Cold atmospheric plasma (CAP) jet is currently intensively investigated as a tool for new and potentially transformative cancer treatment modality. However, there are still many unknowns about the jet behavior that requires attention. In this paper, a helium CAP jet is tested in an electrostatic field generated by a copper ring. Using Rayleigh microwave scattering method, some delays of the electron density peaks for different ring potentials are observed. Meanwhile, a similar phenomenon associated with the bullet velocity is found. Chemical species distribution along the jet is analyzed based on the jet optical emission spectra. The spectra indicate that a lower ring potential, i.e., lower DC background electric field, can increase the amount of excited N{sub 2}, N{sub 2}{sup +}, He, and O in the region before the ring, but can decrease the amount of excited NO and HO almost along the entire jet. Combining all the results above, we discovered that an extra DC potential mainly affects the temporal plasma jet properties. Also, it is possible to manipulate the chemical compositions of the jet using a ring with certain electric potentials.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2015

Physics of the interaction of ultra intense laser pulses with cold collisional plasma using large scale kinetic simulations

We present a set of 2D collisional particle-in-cell simulations of the interaction of ultra-intense laser pulses with over-dense cold collisional plasmas. The size of these simulations is about 100 times as large as those previously published. This allows studying the transport of energetic particles on time scale of the order of 400 fs without perturbations due to the influence of boundary effects and performing a very detailed analysis of the physics of the transport. We confirm the existence of a threshold in intensity close to the relativistic threshold above which the beam of energetic particles diverges when it penetrates the cold plasma. We also study the applicability of Ohm's law to compute the electric field, which is the method commonly used in hybrid codes. The heating of the cold plasma is then studied and we show that half of the heating is anomalous, i.e., not given by standard Joule effect. We discuss the previously published results in the light of these new simulations.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
NASA NTRS1978

On the relation between phase path, group path and attenuation in a cold absorbing plasma

Consideration is given to a cold absorbing plasma in which the collision frequency is zero. Expressions are developed which relate the attenuation and the group and phase refractive indices. It is found that because the expressions for the group and phase refractive indices and the imaginary part of the refractive index are closely related in form, the attenuation is related to the difference between the group and phase paths. Numerical calculations have derived approximations which significantly increase the range of known approximations of this type.

Bennett, J. A.↗