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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 595 records · Page 33
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2026

Surface Segregation of Liquid Metal Plasma-Facing Component Alloys: A ReaxFF Investigation

Engineering liquid metal alloys offers a transformative pathway for plasma-facing components by enabling chemically tailored surfaces that can simultaneously optimize plasma-material interactions, reduce divertor heat flux, and enhance core plasma confinement, thereby advancing the commercial viability of nuclear fusion power plants. This study, employing an atomistic simulation approach, provides direct evidence that incorporating nonmetal surface-active agents (such as O and H, or their combination) enables strong surface segregation. This capability makes tin−aluminum (Sn−Al) and tin−lithium (Sn−Li) alloys, with suitable compositions, good candidates for PFC applications. Specifically, the presence of low-Z solutes (Li, Al) leads to preferential surface enrichment, which imparts low-Z sputtering characteristics, while the Sn solvent maintains thermophysical stability. To systematically examine this behavior, we developed a ReaxFF force field spanning the full Sn/Al/Li/O/H chemistry, validated it against formation energies and elastic constants, and applied it in reactive molecular dynamics simulations at fusion-relevant temperatures. We also introduced an overlapbased segregation index that captures interfacial compositional separation directly from atomistic density distributions. Here, this metric reveals a clear hierarchy of segregation regimes and provides a unified view across all systems studied. Together, these findings establish a mechanistic link between nonmetal chemistry and interfacial structure, providing a predictive framework for designing self-adaptive, low-sputtering liquid metal alloys for fusion applications.

Alloys↗
DOE OSTI2015

Laser shock peening on Zr-based bulk metallic glass and its effect on plasticity: Experiment and modeling

The Zr-based bulk metallic glasses (BMGs) are a new family of attractive materials with good glass-forming ability and excellent mechanical properties, such as high strength and excellent wear resistance, which make them candidates for structural and biomedical materials. Although the mechanical behavior of BMGs has been widely investigated, their deformation mechanisms are still poorly understood. In particular, their poor ductility significantly impedes their industrial application. In the present work, we show that the ductility of Zr-based BMGs with nearly zero plasticity is improved by a laser shock peening technique. Moreover, we map the distribution of laser-induced residual stresses via the micro-slot cutting method, and then predict them using a three dimensional finite-element method coupled with a confined plasma model. Reasonable agreement is achieved between the experimental and modeling results. The analysis of serrated flow reveals plentiful and useful information of the underlying deformation process. As a result, our work provides an easy and effective way to extend the ductility of intrinsically-brittle BMGs, opening up wider applications of these materials.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2011

An empirical model of collective electrostatic effects for laser-beam channeling in long-scale-length relativistic plasmas

This work investigates the capability of ultraintense lasers with irradiance from 10{sup 18} to 10{sup 21} W cm{sup -2} to produce highly energetic electron beams from a Gaussian focus in a low-density plasma. A simple particle simulation code including a physical model of collective electrostatic effects in relativistic plasmas has been developed. Without electrostatic fields, free electrons escape from the Gaussian focal region of a 10-ps petawatt laser pulse very quickly, well before the laser field reaches its maximum amplitude. However, it has been demonstrated that the electrostatic field generated by the electron flow is able to strongly modify the range and direction of the laser-generated MeV electrons by allowing trapped electrons to experience much higher laser-intensity peaks along their trajectories. This modeling predicts some collimation but not enough to meet the requirements of fast ignition.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2011

A family of one-dimensional Vlasov-Maxwell equilibria for the force-free Harris sheet

A family of self-consistent collisionless distribution functions for the force-free Harris sheet is presented. This family includes the distribution function recently found by Harrison and Neukirch [Phys. Rev. Lett. 102, 135003 (2009)] as well as distribution functions with a different dependence on the particle energy, but with the same dependence on the canonical momenta. It is shown generally that the other distribution functions in the family give rise to the same pressure function and, thus, to the same current density and magnetic field as the known distribution function, provided certain conditions on the parameters are satisfied. A number of examples of distribution functions from the new family are given, which illustrate the use of the general method.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2011

Transport bifurcation induced by sheared toroidal flow in tokamak plasmas

First-principles numerical simulations are used to describe a transport bifurcation in a differentially rotating tokamak plasma. Such a bifurcation is more probable in a region of zero magnetic shear than one of finite magnetic shear, because in the former case the component of the sheared toroidal flow that is perpendicular to the magnetic field has the strongest suppressing effect on the turbulence. In the zero-magnetic-shear regime, there are no growing linear eigenmodes at any finite value of flow shear. However, subcritical turbulence can be sustained, owing to the existence of modes, driven by the ion temperature gradient and the parallel velocity gradient, which grow transiently. Nonetheless, in a parameter space containing a wide range of temperature gradients and velocity shears, there is a sizeable window where all turbulence is suppressed. Combined with the relatively low transport of momentum by collisional (neoclassical) mechanisms, this produces the conditions for a bifurcation from low to high temperature and velocity gradients. A parametric model is constructed which accurately describes the combined effect of the temperature gradient and the flow gradient over a wide range of their values. Using this parametric model, it is shown that in the reduced-transport state, heat is transported almost neoclassically, while momentum transport is dominated by subcritical parallel-velocity-gradient-driven turbulence. It is further shown that for any given input of torque, there is an optimum input of heat which maximises the temperature gradient. The parametric model describes both the behaviour of the subcritical turbulence (which cannot be modelled by the quasi-linear methods used in current transport codes) and the complicated effect of the flow shear on the transport stiffness. It may prove useful for transport modelling of tokamaks with sheared flows.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2011

Toroidal rotation and radial electric field driven by the lower-hybrid-wave in a tokamak fusion reactor

A theoretical model is proposed to interpret the counter-current rotation driven by the lower-hybrid-wave observed in the tokamak lower-hybrid-wave parallel current drive experiments. It is found that ions absorb the toroidal momentum indirectly from the wave through collisional friction with the resonant electrons that directly take the momentum from the wave through Landau resonance. This momentum coupling pumps out the ions to produce a negative radial electric field and makes the plasma rotate in the counter-current direction.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2011

Diamagnetic thresholds for sawtooth cycling in tokamak plasmas

The cycling dynamics of the internal kink mode, which drives sawtooth oscillations in tokamak plasmas, is studied using the three dimensional, non-linear magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) code XTOR-2F [H. Luetjens and J.-F. Luciani, J. Comput. Phys. 229, 8130 (2010)]. It is found that sawtooth cycling, which is characterized by quiescent ramps and fast crashes in the experiment, can be recovered in two-fluid MHD provided that a criterion of diamagnetic stabilization is fulfilled. The simulation results indicate that diamagnetic effects alone may be sufficient to drive sawteeth with complete magnetic reconnection in high temperature Ohmic plasmas.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2011

Diffusion and stochastic heating of a dust cloud in tokamak edge plasmas

The diffusion due to collisions with ions of a cloud of nano-meter dust particles in the region of the scrape-off-layer (SOL) of a tokamak is considered and it is shown that for the conditions in the Frascati tokamak upgrade, the cloud can expand to reach the SOL limit in very short times without ablating. The conditions for stochastic heating of the cloud and acceleration of a larger particle to hyper-velocities, taking into account the effect of decreasing dust density in the cloud, are established.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2011

Fluid and drift-kinetic description of a magnetized plasma with low collisionality and slow dynamics orderings. II. Ion theory

The ion side of a closed, fluid and drift-kinetic theoretical model to describe slow and macroscopic plasma processes in a fusion-relevant, low collisionality regime is presented. It follows the ordering assumptions and the methodology adopted in the companion electron theory [Ramos, Phys. Plasmas 17, 082502 (2010)]. To reach the frequency scale where collisions begin to play a role, the drift-kinetic equation for the ion distribution function perturbation away from a Maxwellian must be accurate to the second order in the Larmor radius. The macroscopic density, flow velocity and temperature are accounted for in the Maxwellian, and are evolved by a fluid system which includes consistently the gyroviscous part of the stress tensor and second-order contributions to the collisionless perpendicular heat flux involving non-Maxwellian fluid moments. The precise compatibility among these coupled high-order fluid and drift-kinetic equations is made manifest by showing that the evolution of the non-Maxwellian part of the distribution function is such that its first three velocity moments remain equal to zero.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2011

Effect of electron flow on the ordinary-extraordinary mode conversion

Ordinary-extraordinary mode conversion in the electron cyclotron frequency range is revisited in the presence of a flowing electron component. The analytical expressions of optimal parallel refraction index and conversion efficiency are obtained from a one-dimensional cold plasma model. The presence of flowing electrons leads to an outward shift of the conversion layer and therefore increases the optimal value of parallel refraction index. If this effect is not considered, the efficiency of mode conversion degenerates. In typical tokamak plasmas, this degeneration is about a few percentages, which may induce the reflection of several tens of kilowatts of power from the cutoff layer when injecting megawatts of ECRF power into fusion plasma.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2011

The dynamics of ion with electrostatic waves in a sheared magnetic field

The interaction between an ion and multiple electrostatic waves propagating perpendicularly to an ambient magnetic field with shear is investigated. Based on the Lie transformation method, with the wave amplitude and the magnetic shear both as the perturbation parameters, the analytical formulas for the reduced Hamiltonian is derived and results are compared with numerical calculations of the complete equations of motion for the case of two on-resonance waves and the case of two off-resonance waves, respectively. It is found that the effect of magnetic shear drastically prevents the acceleration of an ion in both cases. This result will help us to understand the behaviors of ions in a magnetic sheared device, such as tokamak.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2012

A 3D Monte Carlo code for the modeling of plasma dynamics and beam formation mechanism in electron cyclotron resonance ion sources

The code here presented is the first part of a Monte Carlo (MC) self-consistent 3D plasma simulator. It is yet able to solve the equation of motion for thousands of independent charged particles. The procedure allows to understand the consequences of each phenomenon introduced in the evolution steps of the code. MC random selection of starting parameters is used for each particles; the environmental conditions enclosed in the simulation are ECRIS magnetic field, resonant electromagnetic wave, initial plasma density distribution and MC calculation of Spitzer collision. The results of the first simulations explain some typical effects as the hollow beam formation and the main plasma deconfinement mechanism.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2011

X-transport of ions in diverted tokamaks, with application to DIII-D

A calculation model for X-transport due to the radially outward grad-B and curvature drift of ions trapped poloidally in the null-B{sub {theta}} X-region just inside the X-point in diverted tokamaks is presented. Calculations are presented for two representative DIII-D [J. Luxon, Nucl. Fusion 42, 614 (2002)] shots which indicate that X-transport effects are significant and should be taken into account in calculations of present and future experiments.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2012

Collisionless distribution function for the relativistic force-free Harris sheet

A self-consistent collisionless distribution function for the relativistic analogue of the force-free Harris sheet is presented. This distribution function is the relativistic generalization of the distribution function for the non-relativistic collisionless force-free Harris sheet recently found by Harrison and Neukirch [Phys. Rev. Lett. 102, 135003 (2009)], as it has the same dependence on the particle energy and canonical momenta. We present a detailed calculation which shows that the proposed distribution function generates the required current density profile (and thus magnetic field profile) in a frame of reference in which the electric potential vanishes identically. The connection between the parameters of the distribution function and the macroscopic parameters such as the current sheet thickness is discussed.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2012

Modelling spectral emission from fusion plasmas

The paper is a tribute to Nicol Peacock and has a focus on interests and developments at Culham Laboratory from {approx} 1970 when Nicol led the UKAEA spectroscopy team. The paper charts a little of the evolution of these models and their data through the seventies and eighties on into this century at Culham. The paper concludes with the state of efforts to enable easy, universal access to spectral analysis across the scope of Culham activity, of which it is hoped Nicol would approve.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2012

Ion velocity and plasma potential measurements of a cylindrical cusped field thruster

Measurements of the most probable time-averaged axial ion velocities and plasma potential within the acceleration channel and in the plume of a straight-channeled cylindrical cusped field thruster operating on xenon are presented. Ion velocities for the thruster are derived from laser-induced fluorescence measurements of the 5d[4]{sub 7/2}-6p[3]{sub 5/2} xenon ion excited state transition centered at {lambda}=834.72nm. Plasma potential measurements are made using a floating emissive probe with a thoriated-tungsten filament. The thruster is operated in a power matched condition with 300 V applied anode potential for comparison to previous krypton plasma potential measurements, and a low power condition with 150 V applied anode potential. Correlations are seen between the plasma potential drop outside of the thruster and kinetic energy contours of the accelerating ions.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗