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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 883 records · Page 49
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2015

Measurements and modeling of the impact of weak magnetic fields on the plasma properties of a planar slot antenna driven plasma source

The radial line slot antenna plasma source is a type of surface wave plasma source driven by a planar slot antenna. Microwave power is transmitted through a slot antenna structure and dielectric window to a plasma characterized by a generation zone adjacent to the window and a diffusion zone that contacts a substrate. The diffusion zone is characterized by a very low electron temperature. This renders the source useful for soft etch applications and thin film deposition processes requiring low ion energy. Another property of the diffusion zone is that the plasma density tends to decrease from the axis to the walls under the action of ambipolar diffusion at distances far from where the plasma is generated. A previous simulation study [Yoshikawa and. Ventzek, J. Vac. Sci. Technol. A 31, 031306 (2013)] predicted that the anisotropy in transport parameters due to weak static magnetic fields less than 50 G could be leveraged to manipulate the plasma profile in the radial direction. These simulations motivated experimental tests in which weak magnetic fields were applied to a radial line slot antenna source. Plasma absorption probe measurements of electron density and etch rate showed that the magnetic fields remote from the wafer were able to manipulate both parameters. A summary of these results is presented in this paper. Argon plasma simulation trends are compared with experimental plasma and etch rate measurements. A test of the impact of magnetic fields on charge up damage showed no perceptible negative effect.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
NASA NTRS1979

Intense electrostatic waves near the upper hybrid resonance frequency

Plasma wave measurements using instruments on the Imp 6 and Hawkeye satellites are utilized in a study of very intense electrostatic waves near the upper hybrid resonance frequency in the region just outside the plasmapause. Studies of these electrostatic disturbances show that the events occur at local times and at magnetic latitudes varying from the equator to 50 deg, and the polarization of these waves is such that the wave electric field vector is oriented perpendicular to the geomagnetic field. In most cases the center frequency of the intense waves corresponds to an (n + 1/2) fg(-) harmonic near the upper hybrid resonance frequency. The hot distribution on function is described for a few events showing temperature anisotropy and a loss cone distribution. A possible mechanism for producing intense waves near the upper hybrid resonance frequency is suggested, and evidence which indicates that the intense electrostatic waves may be a source of nonthermal continuum radiation is given.

Kurth, W. S.↗
NASA NTRS1978

On the stability of self-consistent large amplitude waves in a cold plasma. I - Transverse circularly polarized waves in the absence of a large scale magnetic field

It is demonstrated that a self-consistent circularly polarized wave in an otherwise field-free homogeneous cold plasma is unstable to small amplitude perturbations. For either an electron-positron plasma or an electron-proton plasma the instability rate is at least about the order of the effective plasma frequency when the bulk flow speed is zero. For finite bulk flow speeds of the plasma, it is shown that the electron-positron plasma is unstable, again with a growth rate of the order of the effective plasma frequency; it is also shown that the electron-proton plasma is unstable (at least at small wave numbers, k) with a growth rate proportional to k. The calculated instability rates are conservative, for other modes not investigated here may be more unstable. The results of these calculations bear directly on the understanding of plasma systems thought to be driven by large amplitude waves.

Lee, M. A.↗
DOE OSTI2013

Spectral characteristics of ultra-short laser pulses in plasma amplifiers

Amplification of laser pulses based on the backscattering process in plasmas can be performed using either the response of an electron plasma wave or an ion-acoustic wave. However, if the pulse durations become very short and the natural spread in frequency a substantial amount of the frequency itself, the Raman and Brillouin processes start to mix. Kinetic simulations show the transition from a pure amplification regime, in this case strong-coupling Brillouin, to a regime where a considerable downshift of the frequency of the amplified pulse takes place. It is conjectured that in the case of very short pulses, multi-modes are excited which contribute to the amplification process.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
NASA NTRS1993

Waves in space plasma dipole antenna subsystem

The Waves In Space Plasma (WISP) flight experiment requires a 50-meter-long deployable dipole antenna subsystem (DASS) to radiate radio frequencies from the STS Orbiter cargo bay. The transmissions are to excite outer ionospheric plasma between the dipole and a free-flying receiver (Spartan) for scientific purposes. This report describes the singular DASS design requirements and how the resulting design satisfies them. A jettison latch is described in some detail. The latch releases the antenna in case of any problems which might prevent the bay doors from closing for re-entry and landing of the Orbiter.

Thomson, Mark↗
DOE OSTI2014

Dynamics of ionization-induced electron injection in the high density regime of laser wakefield acceleration

The dynamics of ionization-induced electron injection in high density (∼1.2 × 10{sup 19} cm{sup −3}) regime of laser wakefield acceleration is investigated by analyzing the betatron X-ray emission. In such high density operation, the laser normalized vector potential exceeds the injection-thresholds of both ionization-injection and self-injection due to self-focusing. In this regime, direct experimental evidence of early on-set of ionization-induced injection into the plasma wave is given by mapping the X-ray emission zone inside the plasma. Particle-In-Cell simulations show that this early on-set of ionization-induced injection, due to its lower trapping threshold, suppresses the trapping of self-injected electrons. A comparative study of the electron and X-ray properties is performed for both self-injection and ionization-induced injection. An increase of X-ray fluence by at least a factor of two is observed in the case of ionization-induced injection due to increased trapped charge compared to self-injection mechanism.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2012

Information about Practicums at Los Alamos

The Los Alamos Neutron Science Center is the premier facility for neutron science experiments ranging from cross section measurements, neutron scattering experiments, proton radiography, cold neutrons, actinide neutronic properties, and many other exciting topics. The National High Magnetic Field Laboratory is home to several powerful magnets, including the one that created the first non-destructive 100 Tesla field in March 2012. They probe the electronic structure of superconductors, magnetic properties of materials (including magneto-quantum effects). Research is also conducted in correlated materials, thermoacoustics, and magnetic properties of actinides. The Trident Laser has a unique niche with very high power, short pulse experiments, with a peak power of 10{sup 20} W in short pulse mode. Discoveries range from production of monoenergetic MeV ion beam, nonlinear kinetic plasma waves, the transition between kinetic and fluid nonlinear behavior and other laser-plasma interaction processes.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2013

Robust relativistic electron mirrors in laser wakefields for enhanced Thomson backscattering

By adopting an up-ramp density profile, we propose to generate relativistic electron mirrors from laser-driven underdense plasma waves, which are insensitive to finite thermal temperature within a certain range. Along the density ramp, premature wavebreaking due to thermal effects is shown to be well mitigated. Under sufficiently high amplitudes of wake excitation, overcritical dense electron mirrors can pile up when approaching the end of the up-ramp. The consequent mirror speed can be stably driven to the group velocity of the laser propagating in a corresponding uniform plasma. Compared with using purely uniform but thermal plasmas, the present thermal-insensitive mirrors can provide enhanced scattering efficiency and spectral upshift for a counter-propagating probe pulse. These observations are confirmed by multi-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2011

On the bounce-averaging of scattering rates and the calculation of bounce period

For many applications to planetary magnetospheres and elsewhere in the Universe, it is desirable to average physical quantities such as particle and plasma transport coefficients over a charged particle's bounce motion between magnetic mirror points along field lines. In this paper, we perform such bounce-averaging in a way that avoids singularities in the integrands of expressions that arise in calculations of this sort. Our method applies in principle to an almost arbitrary magnetic field model. We illustrate the advantage of using our method for removing the integrand's singularity through a change of variables (rather than by truncating the integral over latitude at points progressively nearer to the mirror point) by computing the component of the bounce-averaged momentum-space diffusion tensor in a dipolar magnetic field both ways for resonance interaction of geomagnetically trapped relativistic (1 MeV) electrons with field-aligned whistler-mode plasma waves at L = 6 (a field line that passes near synchronous altitude). Moreover, we develop improved analytical approximations for particle bounce periods in a dipolar magnetic field by minimizing mean square errors with respect to expansion coefficients in algebraic representations of the bounce period.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
NASA NTRS1979

Nonlinear Landau damping in the ionosphere

A model which explains the nonresonant waves which produce the diffuse resonance observed near 3/2 f(H) by the Alouette and Isis topside sounders, where f(H) is the ambient electron cyclotron frequency, is presented. These waves are the result of plasma wave instabilities driven by anisotropic electron velocity distributions initiated by the high-power short-duration sounder pulse. Calculations of the nonlinear wave-particle coupling coefficients show that the diffuse resonance wave can be maintained by nonlinear Landau damping of the sounder-stimulated 2f(H) wave which is observed with a time duration longer than that of the diffuse resonance wave. The time duration of the diffuse resonance is determined by the transit time of the instability-generated and nonlinearly maintained diffuse resonance wave from the remote short-lived hot region back to the antenna. The model is consistent with the Alouette/Isis observations and it demonstrates the existence of nonlinear wave-particle interactions in the ionosphere.

Kiwamoto, Y.↗
NASA NTRS1981

Physics of auroral arc formation; Proceedings of the Chapman Conference on Formation of Auroral Arcs, Fairbanks, AK, July 21-25, 1980

The results of satellite, balloon-borne, and ground-based observations of auroral phenomena are discussed in terms of the morphology of auroral arcs and the behavior and characteristics of auroral electrons and ions. Further attention is given to auroral electric fields and field aligned currents, and to the development of models of auroral potential structures and energization of auroral particles. A simulation of space plasma phenomena is presented, along with numerical simulations of auroral potential structures and related phenomena, including the V-potential double layers and auroral arc deformations, and a simulation of auroral arcs. Plasma waves observed on auroral field lines and in laboratory conditions are reported, and theoretical studies of waves and turbulence in auroral plasmas are described.

Akasofu, S.-I.↗
NASA NTRS1982

Light ion concentrations in Jupiter's inner magnetosphere

The light ion distribution in the inner Jovian magnetosphere is investigated using whistler dispersion measurements from the Voyager 1 plasma wave instrument and heavy ion plasma concentrations from the plasma instrument. Two models are developed for the light ion concentration over 14 L shells between L = 5.2 and 6.2, one giving a constant concentration along the field line and the other corresponding to an exponential density distribution. Due to heavy ion concentrations near the equator that are typically an order of magnitude larger than the light ion concentration, results obtained are mainly relevant to the light ion concentration outside of the torus. Light ion concentration near the equator ranges from about 1-10% of the heavy ion concentration, while outside the torus the light ions are the dominant species.

Tokar, R. L.↗
NASA NTRS1984

Parametric instabilities during electron cyclotron heating of tandem mirrors

Electron cyclotron resonance heating is one of the most commonly used methods of heating electrons in the plugs and in the thermal barriers of tandem mirrors. The intense coherent electromagnetic waves used for such heating are susceptible to parametric decay into other modes. Significant growth rates are found for the decay of either ordinary or extraordinary waves into two magnetized electron plasma waves. This and related effects may result in electron heating mechanisms rather different than those assumed in linear ray-tracing calculations. These results may help explain the unusual effects observed during heating of the Phaedrus tandem mirror device. In the general case, these instabilities may be strongly inhibited by density gradients.

Nicholson, D. R.↗
NASA NTRS1984

Microwave signature of thick-target electron beams in solar flares

The steady-state behavior of a flux of nonthermal electrons injected into a fully ionized thick target is examined. Owing to the (inverse square) energy dependence of the Coulomb collisional cross section, it is found that injected electron distributions that are monotonically decreasing functions of electron energy develop at finite depths into distributions that have 'humps' in velocity space; the electron energy corresponding to the hump correlates with the overlying particle column density to the target. This results in a two-stream unstable situation. The distribution is constantly being relaxed by quasi-linear relaxation and re-created by collisions; in this way a steady nonthermal level of Langmuir plasma waves is created, and these waves in turn produce microwave plasma radiation with a typical flux of 3 x 10 to the -16th erg/sq cm-sec. This flux can be enhanced by a factor of up to 100 by a high level of low-frequency (such as ion-acoustic) turbulence, which prevents quasi-linear relaxation for a sufficient fraction of the path length.

Emslie, A. G.↗
NASA NTRS1991

Effect of wave-particle interaction on the outflow of ions at high latitudes

The objective of the research is to use the low-frequency wave spectrum measured by the Plasma Wave Instrument on the DE-1 spacecraft to include the wave-particle interaction (WPI) in the different polar wind models that are available at Utah State University. A Monte Carlo technique was used to simulate the ion diffusion in the velocity space due to scattering by the waves. This enabled us to study the effect of WPI on the magnitude as well as the composition of the outflow of the ionospheric ions. In particular, in the first year the 1-D semi-kinetic code developed by Barakat and Schunk (1983) was modified in order to include the effect of the WPI.

Barakat, Abdallah R.↗
NASA NTRS1998

Magnetospheric Substorms and Tail Dynamics

This grant funded several studies of magnetospheric substorms and their effect on the dynamics of the earth's geomagnetic tail. We completed an extensive study of plasmoids, plasma/magnetic field structures that travel rapidly down the tail, using data from the ISEE 3 and IMP 8 spacecraft. This study formed the PhD thesis of Mark Moldwin. We found that magnetically plasmoids are better described as flux-ropes (twisted magnetic flux tubes) rather than plasma bubbles, as had been generally regarded up to that point (Moldwin and Hughes, 1990; 1991). We published several examples of plasmoids observed first in the near tail by IMP 8 and later in the distant tail by ISEE 3, confirming their velocities down tail. We showed how the passage of plasmoids distorts the plasma sheet. We completed the first extensive statistical survey of plasmoids that showed how plasmoids evolve as they move down tail from their formation around 30 RE to ISEE 3 apogee at 240 RE. We established a one-to-one correspondence between the observation of plasmoids in the distant tail and substorm onsets at earth or in the near tail. And we showed that there is a class of plasmoid-like structures that move slowly earthward, especially following weak substorms during northward IMF. Collectively this work constituted the most extensive study of plasmoids prior to the work that has now been done with the GEOTAIL spacecraft. Following our work on plasmoids, we turned our attention to signatures of substorm onset observed in the inner magnetosphere near geosynchronous orbit, especially signatures observed by the CRRES satellite. Using data from the magnetometer, electric field probe, plasma wave instrument, and low energy plasma instrument on CRRES we were able to better document substorm onsets in the inner magnetosphere than had been possible previously. Detailed calculation of the Poynting flux showed energy exchange between the magnetosphere and ionosphere, and a short burst of tailward convective flow just prior to onset, suggesting the active role of the ionosphere in the onset process, and adding credibility to the ballooning instability theory of substorm onset. This grant also supported a number of other substorm studies and reviews. These are represented by the list of publications and meeting presentations resulting out of this grant.

Hughes, W. Jeffrey↗
NASA NTRS1994

Interplanetary type 3 radio bursts that approach the plasma frequency: Ulysses observations

We study a set of solar type 3 radio bursts where the emission is visible from the high-frequency limit of the radio astronomy receiver of the Ulysses Unified Radio and Plasma wave (URAP) experiment down to low frequencies, sometimes near the plasma frequency, and where Langmuir wave spikes are recorded by the radio and/or plasma receivers. Our results pose questions regarding radio emission by Langmuir waves. When Langmuir waves are observed, why is it only sometimes that radio radiation is emitted at the fundamental? Put another way, why is there often a gap or a cutoff in the radiation at a frequency well above the plasma frequency? In the few cases where the radiation at times of Langmuir wave spikes is at the harmonic, why is there no fundamental?

Hoang, S.↗