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Results for “PLASMA INSTABILITY”

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
DOE OSTI2023

Validation of magnetized gas-jet experiments to investigate the effects of an external magnetic field on laser-plasma instabilities

Laser-plasma instabilities (LPI) play a detrimental role in energy coupling to the target in inertial confinement fusion (ICF). The recent development of applied strong magnetic fields for use in ICF and laboratory astrophysics experiments has opened opportunities to investigate the role of external magnetic fields on LPIs. Recent numerical studies have shown that stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) can be mitigated by external magnetic fields in the kinetic regime of the instability and warrant systematic experimental studies to validate modelling. To this end, we design experiments at the OMEGA-EP laser facility to investigate the effect of an external perpendicular B-field of 5–30 T on the backscattered light spectrum from a gas-jet target. We present measurements from a proof-of-principle experiment, where the backward-SRS (BSRS) is in the kinetic regime, for which the magnetization is expected to produce the greatest effects on instability growth. New simulations motivated by this experiment are used to inform the proposal of an upgraded experimental design. Our simulation predictions show that the new design is suited to experimentally demonstrating BSRS mitigation by an external magnetic field, despite the magnetization effects on the hydrodynamics, as well as the inherent temporal and spatial variations in plasma conditions.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2017

Importance of Resolving the Spectral Support of Beam-plasma Instabilities in Simulations

Many astrophysical plasmas are prone to beam-plasma instabilities. For relativistic and dilute beams, the spectral support of the beam-plasma instabilities is narrow, i.e., the linearly unstable modes that grow with rates comparable to the maximum growth rate occupy a narrow range of wavenumbers. This places stringent requirements on the box-sizes when simulating the evolution of the instabilities. We identify the implied lower limits on the box size imposed by the longitudinal beam plasma instability, i.e., typically the most stringent condition required to correctly capture the linear evolution of the instabilities in multidimensional simulations. We find that sizes many orders of magnitude larger than the resonant wavelength are typically required. Using one-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations, we show that the failure to sufficiently resolve the spectral support of the longitudinal instability yields slower growth and lower levels of saturation, potentially leading to erroneous physical conclusion.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2020

Laser-plasma instabilities in long scale-length plasmas relevant to shock-ignition

We present 2D particle-in-cell simulations of laser-plasma instabilities (LPI) performed using conditions relevant to experiments on the OMEGA and NIF laser facilities. The laser intensity used is 2×10 15 W cm -2 , which allows comparison with previous experiments and simulations investigating shock ignition, though this is a relatively low intensity for the scheme. We find that the large convective gain of the instabilities leads to dynamics that are largely controlled by pump depletion and to scattering or absorption by LPIs predominantly occurring away from the quarter-critical density. The two-plasmon decay (TPD) instability is dominant for OMEGA-type conditions and remains important at the NIF-scale. In both cases, most absorption from TPD occurs near its Landau cutoff density, and we examine its nonlinear dynamics in this region, focusing on the ion-acoustic waves responsible for saturation. For NIF-type conditions, stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) and stimulated Brillouin scattering divert significant fractions of laser energy, and we find that SRS backscatter can occur with high gain at low densities due to kinetic effects. An in-depth analysis of hot-electron production is performed to identify the main sources and their characteristic electron temperature. For both simulations presented, the overall hot-electron temperature lies between 30 and 35 keV. This is relatively low and will likely increase shock pressure; however, the distributions also contain a significant number of high-energy (E k >100 keV) electrons that would likely cause unacceptable preheat. We, therefore, suggest some strategies that may be utilized to minimize this high-energy component. I. INTROD

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2017

Mitigation of hot electrons from laser-plasma instabilities in high-Z, highly ionized plasmas

Intense lasers interacting with under-dense plasma can drive laser-plasma instabilities (LPIs) that generate largeamplitude electron plasma waves (EPWs). Suprathermal or “hot” electrons produced in the EPWs are detrimental to inertial confinement fusion (ICF), by reducing capsule implosion efficiency through preheat, and also present an unwanted source of background on x-ray diagnostics. Mitigation of hot electrons was demonstrated in the past by altering plasma conditions near the quarter-critical density, n c /4, with the interpretation of reduced growth of the twoplasmon decay (TPD) instability. Here, we present measurements of hot electrons generated in laser-irradiated planar foils of material ranging from low- to high-Z, where the fraction of laser energy converted to hot electrons, fhot was reduced by a factor of 10 3 going from CH to Au. This correlates with steepening density gradient length-scales that were also measured. Radiation hydrodynamic simulations produced electron density profiles in reasonable agreement with our measurements. According to the simulations, both multi-beam TPD and stimulated Raman scattering were predicted to be above threshold with linear threshold parameters that decreased with increasing Z due to steepening length-scales, as well as enhanced laser absorption and increased EPW collisional and Landau damping.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2025

A future of inertial confinement fusion without laser-plasma instabilities

From the beginning of inertial confinement fusion (ICF) research, laser-plasma instabilities excited by narrowband lasers have limited the hydrodynamic design space of all laser-based approaches to inertial fusion energy (IFE). With advances in broadband laser technologies, the next generation of ICF drivers will likely have large bandwidth that is engineered to mitigate laser-plasma instabilities, thereby expanding the hydrodynamic design space to include both robust high yields (>200−MJ) with large-energy laser systems (>4 MJ) and high gains (>10) with moderate-energy laser facilities (<2 MJ). State-of-the-art simulations indicate that laser bandwidths of a few percent are required to mitigate instabilities for IFE-relevant conditions. To test these models and demonstrate that high-bandwidth lasers mitigate laser-plasma instabilities, the Fourth-generation Laser for Ultrabroadband eXperiments will be used with the OMEGA Laser System. The goal is to provide the community with the confidence to invest in a multiple-beam high-bandwidth laser facility that will demonstrate the necessary ablation pressures for robust direct-drive ignition without detrimental levels of hot electrons that degrade the implosion performance. It is important to recognize that the highest performing ICF implosions will likely never be completely LPI free because of the significant advantages to maximizing the laser intensity.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2017

Effects of laser-plasma instabilities on hydro evolution in an OMEGA-EP long-scale-length experiment

Laser-plasma instabilities and hydro evolution of the coronal plasma in an OMEGA EP long-scale-length experiment with planar targets were studied with particle-in-cell (PIC) and hydrodynamic simulations. Plasma and laser conditions were first obtained in a two-dimensional DRACO hydro simulation with only inverse-bremsstrahlung absorption. Using these conditions, an OSIRIS PIC simulation was performed to study laser absorption and hot-electron generation caused by laser-plasma instabilities (LPIs) near the quarter-critical region. The obtained PIC information was subsequently coupled to another DRACO simulation to examine how the LPIs affect the overall hydrodynamics. Lastly, the results showed that the LPI-induced laser absorption increased the electron temperature but did not significantly change the density scale length in the corona.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2026

Effects of a magnetic field on hot electron generation from laser-plasma instabilities

We performed two-dimensional simulations of turbulent laser-plasma instabilities in the presence and absence of external magnetic fields using the Laser Plasma Simulation Environment (LPSE) code. The results demonstrate that, in the presence of a magnetic field, the transition from ballistic to gyrating electron motion enhances the energy transfer from electron plasma waves to the electron population. Although stronger magnetic fields produce a larger population of hot electrons, these electrons tend to remain confined near the quarter-critical density, where the instabilities also localize, thereby reducing the potential for hot electron transport deeper into the target. Additionally, we present a scaling analysis that quantifies hot electron generation as a function of plasma electron temperature, density scale length, and applied magnetic field strength. These findings may have important applications for controlling hot electron flux and mitigating preheat in inertial confinement fusion targets.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2021

Analytic quasi-steady evolution of marginally unstable kinetic plasma instabilities in the presence of drag and scattering

The 1D bump-on-tail problem is studied in order to determine the influence of drag on quasi-steady solutions near marginal stability (1-γ d /γ L << 1) when effective collisions are much larger than the instability growth rate (ν>>γ). In this common tokamak regime, it is rigorously shown that the paradigmatic Berk–Breizman cubic equation for the nonlinear mode evolution reduces to a much simpler differential equation, dubbed the time-local cubic equation, which can be solved directly. It is found that in addition to increasing the saturation amplitude, drag introduces a shift in the apparent oscillation frequency by modulating the saturated wave envelope. Furthermore, excellent agreement is found between the analytic solution for the mode evolution and both the numerically integrated Berk–Breizman cubic equation and fully nonlinear 1D Vlasov simulations. Experimentally isolating the contribution of drag to the saturated mode amplitude for verification purposes is explored but complicated by the reality that the amount of drag cannot be varied independently of other key parameters in realistic scenarios. While the influence of drag is modest when the ratio of effective drag to effective scattering α/ν is very small, it can become substantial when α/ν ≳ 0.5, suggesting that drag should be accounted for in quantitative models of fast-ion-driven instabilities in fusion plasmas.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2022

Independent-hot-spot approach to multibeam laser-plasma instabilities

The independent-hot-spot model is used to develop an analytic formulation for multibeam laser-plasma instabilities in inhomogeneous plasmas. The model is applied to the absolute two-plasmon-decay instability and shows good agreement with simulations and experiments. Furthermore, the success of the model indicates the emergence of single-speckle behavior for sufficiently large speckles sizes.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2023

Evolution and hot electron generation of laser–plasma instabilities in direct-drive inertial confinement fusion

A series of 2D in-plane plane wave particle-in-cell simulations find distinctive paths of laser-plasma instability evolution in OMEGA-scale implosions, depending on the initial electron temperature. At low temperatures, two-plasmon decay (TPD) dominates in both initial growth and the steady state. At high temperatures, the initial dominant modes switch to stimulated Raman scattering, but TPD still dominates a steady state characterized by cavitation and Langmuir turbulence. A hot electron scaling is also obtained from the simulations that, when combined with laser/plasma conditions from hydro simulations, can predict hot electron generation in implosions that do not employ smoothing-by-spectral-dispersion (SSD). It also shows that under the same laser/plasma conditions, SSD can reduce hot electron generation.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2017

Nonlinear dynamics of beam–plasma instability in a finite magnetic field

The nonlinear dynamics of beam–plasma instability in a finite magnetic field is investigated numerically. In particular, it is shown that decay instability can develop. Special attention is paid to the influence of the beam−plasma coupling factor on the spectral characteristics of a plasma relativistic microwave accelerator (PRMA) at different values of the magnetic field. It is shown that two qualitatively different physical regimes take place at two values of the external magnetic field: B{sub 0} = 4.5 kG (Ω ~ ωB{sub p}) and 20 kG (Ω{sub B} ≫ ω{sub p}). For B{sub 0} = 4.5 kG, close to the actual experimental value, there exists an optimal value of the gap length between the relativistic electron beam and the plasma (and, accordingly, an optimal value of the coupling factor) at which the PRMA output power increases appreciably, while the noise level decreases.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2020

Pair plasma instability in homogeneous magnetic guide fields

Pair plasmas, collections of both matter and antimatter particles of equal mass, represent a paradigm for the study of basic plasma science, and many open questions exist regarding these unique systems. They are found in many astrophysical settings, such as gamma-ray bursts, and have recently also been produced in carefully designed laboratory experiments. A central research topic in plasma physics is instability; however, unlike their more common ion–electron siblings, pair plasmas are generally thought to be stable to cross field pressure gradients in homogeneous magnetic fields. It is shown here by means of kinetic full-f simulations that, when a pressure gradient is first established, the Gradient-driven Drift Coupling mode is destabilized and becomes turbulent. Force balance is eventually achieved by a combination of flattened pressure profiles due to turbulent transport and establishment of a magnetic field gradient, saturating the growth. During the unstable phase, key physics can be captured by a δf gyrokinetic description, where it is shown analytically and numerically that parallel particle motion results in a coupling of all electromagnetic field components. A fluid model derived therefrom accurately predicts linear eigenmodes and is used to resolve global profile effects. For laser-based electron–positron plasma experiments, prompt instability is predicted with growth times much shorter than plasma lifetimes. Similarly, growth rates are calculated for the planned APEX experiment as well as gamma-ray burst scenarios, suggesting that the instability may contribute to the early evolution of these systems.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2024

Tailoring tokamak error fields to control plasma instabilities and transport

A tokamak relies on the axisymmetric magnetic fields to confine fusion plasmas and aims to deliver sustainable and clean energy. However, misalignments arise inevitably in the tokamak construction, leading to small asymmetries in the magnetic field known as error fields (EFs). The EFs have been a major concern in the tokamak approaches because small EFs, even less than 0.1%, can drive a plasma disruption. Meanwhile, the EFs in the tokamak can be favorably used for controlling plasma instabilities, such as edge-localized modes (ELMs). Here we show an optimization that tailors the EFs to maintain an edge 3D response for ELM control with a minimized core 3D response to avoid plasma disruption and unnecessary confinement degradation. We design and demonstrate such an edge-localized 3D response in the KSTAR facility, benefiting from its unique flexibility to change many degrees of freedom in the 3D coil space for the various fusion plasma regimes. This favorable control of the tokamak EF represents a notable advance for designing intrinsically 3D tokamaks to optimize stability and confinement for next-step fusion reactors.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2025

Plasma instabilities dominate radioactive transients magnetic fields: the self-confinement of leptons in Type Ia and core-collapse supernovae, and kilonovae

The light curves of radioactive transients, such as supernovae and kilonovae, are powered by the decay of radioisotopes, which release high-energy leptons through $\beta ^+$ and $\beta ^-$ decays. These leptons deposit energy into the expanding ejecta. As the ejecta density decreases during expansion, the plasma becomes collisionless, with particle motion governed by electromagnetic forces. In such environments, strong or turbulent magnetic fields are thought to confine particles, though the origin of these fields and the confinement mechanism have remained unclear. Using fully kinetic particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations, we demonstrate that plasma instabilities can naturally confine high-energy leptons. These leptons generate magnetic fields through plasma streaming instabilities, even in the absence of pre-existing fields. The self-generated magnetic fields slow lepton diffusion, enabling confinement, and transferring energy to thermal electrons and ions. Our results naturally explain the positron trapping inferred from late-time observations of thermonuclear and core-collapse supernovae. Furthermore, they suggest potential implications for electron dynamics in the ejecta of kilonovae. We also estimate synchrotron radio luminosities from positrons for Type Ia supernovae and find that such emission could only be detectable with next-generation radio observatories from a Galactic or local-group supernova in an environment without any circumstellar material.

instabilities↗
DOE OSTI2022

The role of plasma instabilities in relativistic radiation-mediated shocks: stability analysis and particle-in-cell simulations

ABSTRACT Relativistic radiation-mediated shocks are likely formed in prodigious cosmic explosions. The structure and emission of such shocks are regulated by copious production of electron–positron pairs inside the shock-transition layer. It has been pointed out recently that substantial abundance of positrons inside the shock leads to a velocity separation of the different plasma constituents, which is expected to induce a rapid growth of plasma instabilities. In this paper, we study the hierarchy of plasma microinstabilities growing in an electron-ion plasma loaded with pairs and subject to a radiation force. Linear stability analysis indicates that such a system is unstable to the growth of various plasma modes which ultimately become dominated by a current filamentation instability driven by the relative drift between the ions and the pairs. These results are validated by particle-in-cell simulations that further probe the non-linear regime of the instabilities, and the pair-ion coupling in the microturbulent electromagnetic field. Based on this analysis, we derive a reduced-transport equation for the particles via pitch-angle scattering in the microturbulence and demonstrate that it can couple the different species and lead to non-adiabatic compression via a Joule-like heating. The heating of the pairs and, conceivably, the formation of non-thermal distributions, arising from the microturbulence, can affect the observed shock-breakout signal in ways unaccounted for by current single-fluid models.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2024

Developing nonlinear laser-plasma instability models for high-fidelity, multi-physics simulation capability for ICF/HED (IC Report) [Slides]

Modeling nonlinear effects of laser plasma instabilities (LPI) is critically important for ICF/HED experiments. Our project has the following goals: • Develop physics-based nonlinear LPI models using PIC simulations • Couple the nonlinear LPI effects to macroscopic modeling of ICF/HED exp. through laser ray-tracing (LRT).

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2026

Demonstration of Control of Laser-Plasma Instabilities in the Laboratory Using STUD Pulses (Spike Trains of Uneven Duration and Delay)

The success of laser Driven Inertial Fusion Technology (LaDrIFT) hinges on controlling laser-plasma instabilities (LPI) for effective and non-deleterious energy coupling, together with the control of implosion hydrodynamic instabilities (IHI) for target integrity. Conventional approaches ignore LPI and focus on IHI. LPI control suggests the use of low intensities, short wavelengths, and thus the slow implosions of thinner shells, while IHI control calls for thicker shells, fast implosions and thus at higher laser intensities and ablation pressures. These contradicting requirements severely restrict LaDrIFT design space, flexibility and scalability. This program demonstrates, with theoretical designs and their preliminary experimental realizations, that STUD pulses (Spike Trains of Uneven Duration and Delay) can control LPI in high-energy-density (HED) laser-created plasmas and explore this physics for the first time with high repetition (rep) rate lasers.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2023

Effect of overlapping laser beams and density scale length in laser-plasma instability experiments on OMEGA EP

Experiments have been conducted on the OMEGA EP laser facility to study the effect of density scale length and overlapping beam geometry on laser-plasma instabilities near and below the quarter-critical density. Experiments were conducted in both planar geometry (density scale length L n ~ 190 to 300 μm) and spherical geometry (L n ~ 150 μm) with up to four overlapping beams and were designed to have overlapped intensities and density scale lengths comparable to OMEGA spherical experiments, but with many fewer beams. In comparison with previous experiments on OMEGA and National Ignition Facility, it is confirmed that shorter density scale lengths favor the two-plasmon decay (TPD) instability, while longer density scale lengths favor stimulated Raman scattering (SRS). In addition, for experiments at the same scale length and overlapped laser intensity, higher single-beam intensities favor SRS, while a larger number of overlapping beams favor TPD.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗