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Results for “Electrostatic 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 19 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS1989

Electrostatic Plasma Accelerator (EPA)

The Electrostatic Plasma Accelerator (EPA) is a thruster concept which promises specific impulse levels between low power arcjets and those of the ion engine while retaining the relative simplicity of the arcjet. The EPA thruster produces thrust through the electrostatic acceleration of a moderately dense plasma. No accelerating electrodes are used and the specific impulse is a direct function of the applied discharge voltage and the propellant atomic mass. The goal of the present program is to demonstrate feasibility of the EPA thruster concept through experimental and theoretical investigations of the EPA acceleration mechanism and discharge chamber performance. Experimental investigations will include operating the test bed ion (TBI) engine as an EPA thruster and parametrically varying the thruster geometry and operating conditions to quantify the electrostatic plasma acceleration effect. The theoretical investigations will include the development of a discharge chamber model which describes the relationships between the engine size, plasma properties, and overall performance. For the EPA thruster to be a viable propulsion concept, overall thruster efficiencies approaching 30% with specific impulses approaching 1000 s must be achieved.

Brophy, John R.↗
DOE OSTI2026

Local reduced-order modeling for electrostatic plasmas by physics-informed solution manifold decomposition

Despite advancements in high-performance computing and modern numerical algorithms, computational cost remains prohibitive for multi-query kinetic plasma simulations. Here, in this work, we develop data-driven reduced-order models (ROMs) for collisionless electrostatic plasma dynamics, based on the kinetic Vlasov-Poisson equation. Our ROM approach projects the equation onto a linear subspace defined by the proper orthogonal decomposition (POD) modes. We introduce an efficient tensorial method to update the nonlinear term using a precomputed third-order tensor. We capture multiscale behavior with a minimal number of POD modes by decomposing the solution manifold into multiple time windows and creating temporally local ROMs. We consider two strategies for decomposition: one based on the physical time and the other based on the electric field energy. Applied to the 1D1V Vlasov–Poisson simulations, that is, prescribed E-field, Landau damping, and two-stream instability, we demonstrate that our ROMs accurately capture the total energy of the system both for parametric and time extrapolation cases. The temporally local ROMs are more efficient and accurate than the single ROM. In addition, in the two-stream instability case, we show that the energy-windowing reduced-order model (EW-ROM) is more efficient and accurate than the time-windowing reduced-order model (TW-ROM). With the tensorial approach, EW-ROM solves the equation approximately 90 times faster than Eulerian simulations while maintaining a maximum relative error of 7.5% for the training data and 11% for the testing data.

Electrostatic plasmas↗
NASA NTRS1986

Experimental identification of electrostatic plasma waves within ion conic acceleration regions

The identification of electrostatic modes in the ionospheric and magnetospheric plasma is a difficult process. Some success has been achieved with electrostatic hydrogen cyclotron waves where Doppler broadening is insignificant and with zero-frequency turbulence where the spectrum is entirely Doppler shifted. However, it is not yet possible to identify specific modes in regions of transverse ion acceleration. If the modes are assumed to exist, some limits can be placed on their electric field amplitudes. An experimental technique to measure wavelength directly, thereby circumventing problems created by Doppler shifting, is reviewed.

Kintner, P. M.↗
NASA NTRS1971

Conversion of electrostatic plasma waves into electromagnetic waves - Numerical calculation of the dispersion relation for all wavelengths.

The dispersion curves have been computed for a wide range of wavelengths from electromagnetic waves to electrostatic waves in a magnetoactive warm plasma with a Maxwellian velocity distribution function. The computation was carried out mainly for the perpendicular propagation mode. The upper hybrid resonance is the connection point of the electrostatic waves and the electromagnetic waves. The electrostatic waves not associated with the upper hybrid resonance are subjected to electron cyclotron damping when the wavelength becomes long. Oblique propagation is allowed for the electrostatic waves in a frequency range from the plasma frequency to the upper hybrid resonance frequency in the long-wavelength region where Landau damping can be neglected and where the electrostatic mode smoothly connects to the electromagnetic X-mode. In a slightly inhomogeneous plasma, the Bernstein-mode electrostatic wave can escape by being converted into the O-mode electromagnetic wave; two reflections take place during this escape process.

Oya, H.↗
DOE OSTI2024

Formulation of a one-dimensional electrostatic plasma model for testing the validity of kinetic theory

Here, we present a one-dimensional (1-D) model composed of aligned, electrostatically interacting charged disks, conceived to address in a computable model the validity of the Bogoliubov assumption on the decay of particle correlations in the Born–Bogoliubov–Green–Kirkwood–Yvon hierarchy. This assumption is a basic premise of plasma kinetic theory. The disk model exhibits spatially 1-D features at short distances, but retains 3-D features at large distances. Here the collective dynamics of this model plasma is investigated by solving the corresponding Vlasov equation. In addition, the implementation of the model for the numerical validation of the Bogoliubov assumption is formulated.

1-D plasma model↗
DOE OSTI2025

Similarity for downscaled kinetic simulations of electrostatic plasmas: Reconciling the large system size with small Debye length

A simple similarity has been proposed for kinetic (e.g., particle-in-cell) simulations of plasma transport that can effectively address the long-standing challenge of reconciling the tiny Debye length with the vast system size. This applies to both transport in unmagnetized plasma and parallel transport in magnetized plasmas, where the characteristics length scales are given by the Debye length, collisional mean free paths, and the system or gradient lengths. The controlled scaled variables are the configuration space, x/L, and an artificial Coulomb Logarithm, L ln Λ, for collisions, while the scaled time, t/L, and electric field, LE, are automatic outcomes. The similarity properties are examined, demonstrating that the macroscopic transport physics is preserved through a similarity transformation while keeping the microscopic physics at its original scale of Debye length. To showcase the utility of this approach, two examples of 1D plasma transport problems were simulated using the VPIC code: the plasma thermal quench in tokamaks [Li et al., Nuclear Fusion 63, 066030 (2023)] and the plasma sheath in the high-recycling regime [Li et al., Physics of Plasmas 30, 063505 (2023)].

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
NASA NTRS1989

Theory of the pulse response from a small antenna in a magnetized plasma

The electrostatic plasma response to a small pulsed antenna in a magnetic field is analyzed. The ringing of the plasma at three discrete frequencies--the upper-hybrid frequency and two resonance cone branch frequencies--is evidenced, and the amplitudes of these frequency responses is determined as a function of the characteristic plasma frequencies, the angle of observation with respect to the magnetic field, and the pulse length. Applications to plasma diagnostics are discussed. It is shown that the upper hybrid response and the response at either of the resonance cone branch frequencies is adequate information to determine the plasma density, and the magnetic field magnitude and angle.

Grabbe, Crockett L.↗