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At least 1,045 records · Page 58
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
NASA NTRS2007

Multi-Scale Modeling of Magnetospheric Reconnection

One of the major challenges in modeling the magnetospheric magnetic reconnection is to quantify the interaction between large-scale global magnetospheric dynamics and microphysical processes in diffusion regions near reconnection sites. There is still considerable debate as to what degree microphysical processes on kinetic scales affect the global evolution and how important it is to substitute numerical dissipation and/or ad hoc anomalous resistivity by a physically motivated model of dissipation. Comparative studies of magnetic reconnection in small scale geometries demonstrated that MHD simulations that included non-ideal processes in terms of a resistive term $\eta J$ did not produce the fast reconnection rates observed in kinetic simulations. For a broad range of physical parameters in collisionless magnetospheric plasma, the primary mechanism controlling the dissipation in the vicinity of the reconnection site is non-gyrotropic effects with spatial scales comparable with the particle Larmor radius. We utilize the global MHD code BATSRUS and incorporate nongyrotropic effects in diffusion regions in terms of corrections to the induction equation. We developed an algorithm to search for magnetotail reconnection sites, specifically where the magnetic field components perpendicular to the local current direction approaches zero and form an X-type configuration. Spatial scales of the diffusion region and magnitude of the reconnection electric field are calculated selfconsistently using MHD plasma and field parameters in the vicinity of the reconnection site. The location of the reconnection sites is updated during the simulations. To clarify the role of nongyrotropic effects in diffusion region on the global magnetospheric dynamic we perform simulations with steady southward IMF driving of the magnetosphere. Ideal MHD simulations with magnetic reconnection supported by numerical resistivity produce steady configuration with almost stationary near-earth neutral line (NENL). Simulations with non-gyrotropic corrections demonstrate dynamic quasi-periodic response to the steady driving condition. The loading/unloading cycle in non-gyrotropic MHD results has a non-stationary reconnection site in the magnetotail, with the retreating during the stretching phase and then a new NENL forming in the resulting thin plasma sheet. We expect that this model will lead to improved representations of space weather event in the magnetosphere.

Kuznetsova, M. M.↗
NASA NTRS2016

Wave Telescope Technique for MMS Magnetometer

Multipoint measurements are a powerful method in studying wavefields in space plasmas.The wave telescope technique is tested against magnetic field fluctuations in the terrestrial magnetosheath measured by the four Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) spacecraft on a spatial scale of about 20 km.The dispersion relation diagram and the wave vector distribution are determined for the first time in the ion-kinetic range. Moreover, the dispersion relation diagram is determined in a proxy plasma restframe by regarding the low-frequency dispersion relation as a Doppler relation and compensating for the apparent phase velocity. Fluctuations are highly compressible, and the wave vectors have an angle of about 60 from the mean magnetic field. We interpret that the measured fluctuations represent akinetic-drift mirror mode in the magnetosheath which is dispersive and in a turbulent state accompanied by a sideband formation.

Magnetometer↗
NASA NTRS2023

3D Simulation of Lower-Hybrid Drift Waves in Strong Guide Field Asymmetric Reconnection in Laboratory Experiments

The magnetic reconnection experiment has recently seen short wavelength (kp (e)(1) lower-hybrid waves near the electron diffusion region in strong guide field reconnection. Based on plasma parameters from the experiment, we perform a three-dimensional fully kinetic simulation in order to investigate the generation of the lower-hybrid waves and their effects on the reconnection process. We find that the low-beta regions around the reconnection site are unstable to the lower-hybrid drift instability propagating in the outflow direction, driven by the difference between the electron and ion outflows. The waves modify the electron distributions, leading to periodic opening and closing of gaps in electron velocity space, and provide a small contribution to the anomalous resistivity. Finally, the simulation results are discussed in the context of space observations and laboratory experiments.

J. Ng↗
DOE OSTI2024

A hybrid-kinetic simulation tool for non-thermal warm x-ray z-pinch sources, with gas-puff and wire array exemplars

Increasing the fluence of z-pinch x-ray radiation sources above ∼ 10 keV has been a long-standing goal for scientists at Sandia National Laboratories’ Z Machine. Optimizing sources for non-thermal “cold Kα” emission in higher atomic-number materials appears to be a promising path to increase warm x-ray yield. However, this emission is generated by supra-thermal electrons, which are not treated in the magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) codes that are typically used in z-pinch source development. MHD codes do not allow for charge separation or space-charge-generated electric fields, and constrain particle kinematics to Maxwellian distributions. The kinetic codes which do accommodate discrete, non-thermal energy distributions are computationally prohibitive when modeling plasmas near solid density and when modeling/tracking higher ionization states. Thus, modeling non-thermal z-pinch sources requires a new simulation tool. In this report, we present a new hybrid modeling capability that uses the fast features of MHD-type particles to the greatest extent possible, then transitions to the slower but more complete kinetic particle treatment to correctly capture the particle energy spectra that generate non-thermal emission. This capability is founded on the fully-relativistic particle-in-cell code Chicago, which already includes fluid particle treatments. The governing equations and hybrid methodology presented here are applied in simulations of an argon gas-puff and a molybdenum wire-array to provide preliminary code validation. The argon simulation is compared to measured implosion times and yields from Jones et al., Phys. Plasmas 22, 020706 (2015). The simulated x-ray yield is within 25% of measurements and the implosion times agree within a few percent. The molybdenum wire array simulation captures the implosion timing reported in Hansen et al., Phys. Plasmas 21, 031202 (2014), but work is needed to verify the available EOS table. These exemplar simulations represents the type of non-thermal sources that will be developed using the hybrid code capability going forward.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2021

Time-resolved absorption spectroscopic characterization of ultrafast laser-produced plasmas under varying background pressures

Time-resolved tunable laser absorption spectroscopy is used to characterize the physical properties of ultrafast laser-produced plasmas. The plasmas were produced from an Inconel target, with = 0.4 wt. % Al, using ~ 35 fs, ~800 nm laser pulses at varying Ar background pressures from 1-100 Torr. The absorption spectrum of atomic Al is measured with high spectral and temporal resolution when the probe laser is stepped across the selected Al transition at 394.4 nm. Spectral fitting is used to infer linewidths, kinetic temperature, Al column density, and pressure broadening coefficient. The late time physical properties of plasmas are compared for various pressure levels. Our studies highlight that a significant lower state population exists even at early times of ultrafast laser-produced plasma evolution and lower state population persistence decreases with increasing ambient pressure. We also show that the fundamental optical properties, such as pressure-broadening, can be measured using ultrafast laser-produced plasmas combined with laser absorption spectroscopy.

laser absorption spectroscopy, laser produced plas↗
DOE OSTI2020

Modeling, analysis, and code/data validation of DIII-D tokamak divertor experiments on ELM and non-ELM plasma tungsten sputtering erosion

Abstract We analyzed recent DIII-D tokamak tungsten divertor probe experiments using advanced, coupled, sputter erosion/redeposition, plasma, and surface response code packages. Modeling is done for ELMing H-mode, and L-mode plasmas, impinging on various size tungsten deposits on Divertor Material Evaluation System (DiMES) carbon probes. The simulations compute 3D, full kinetic, sub-gyromotion, impurity sputtering and transport, including changes in tungsten surface composition and response due to mixed deuterium and carbon ions irradiation. Per our analysis, ELM (edge localized mode) plasma sputtering in DIII-D mostly involves free-streaming high energy (∼500–1000 eV) D + and C +6 ions, with high near-surface plasma density. L-Mode sputtering is due to impurity sputtering (C, W) only, with lower density. All cases show complete redeposition of tungsten on the divertor, with significant redeposition on the tungsten spots themselves, and low self-sputtering. Comparison of ELM plasma gross tungsten erosion simulation results with in-situ spectroscopic data is good, as are code/data comparisons of net erosion using post-exposure Rutherford backscattering (RBS) data for the L-mode probes. The analysis, extrapolated to a full tungsten divertor, implies low net erosion and negligible plasma contamination from sputtering. These results support the use of high-Z plasma facing surfaces in ITER and beyond.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2020

Magnetic field generation in a laser-irradiated thin collisionless plasma target by return current electrons carrying orbital angular momentum

Abstract Magnetized high energy density physics offers new opportunities for observing magnetic field-related physics for the first time in the laser–plasma context. We focus on one such phenomenon, which is the ability of a laser-irradiated magnetized plasma to amplify a seed magnetic field. We performed a series of fully kinetic 3D simulations of magnetic field amplification by a picosecond-scale relativistic laser pulse of intensity 4.2 × 10 18 W cm −2 incident on a thin overdense target. We observe axial magnetic field amplification from an initial 0.1 kT seed to 1.5 kT over a volume of several cubic microns, persisting hundreds of femtoseconds longer than the laser pulse duration. The magnetic field amplification is driven by electrons in the return current gaining favorable orbital angular momentum from the seed magnetic field. This mechanism is robust to laser polarization and delivers order-of-magnitude amplification over a range of simulation parameters.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
NASA NTRS1982

Solar wind energy transfer through the magnetopause of an open magnetosphere

An expression is derived for the total power, transferred from the solar wind to an open magnetosphere, which consists of the electromagnetic energy rate and the particle kinetic energy rate. The total rate of energy transferred from the solar wind to an open magnetosphere mainly consists of kinetic energy, and the kinetic energy flux is carried by particles, penetrating from the solar wind into the magnetosphere, which may contribute to the observed flow in the plasma mantle and which will eventually be convected slowly toward the plasma sheet by the electric field as they flow down the tail. While the electromagnetic energy rate controls the near-earth magnetospheric activity, the kinetic energy rate should dominate the dynamics of the distant magnetotail.

Lee, L. C.↗
NASA NTRS1995

Kinetic structure of intermediate shocks: Implications for the magnetopause

A general study of the structure and stability of intermediate shocks (IS) in an isotropic plasma is presented using a hybrid as well as a resistive Hall MHD code. Special emphasis is put on the question of whether the rotational layers observed at the magnetopause can be intermediate shocks. The shocks are formed dynamically by the interaction between a flowing plasma and a stationary piston. Coplanar ISs (both strong and weak) are found to be stable in a collisionless plasma. The existence of slow shocks in a high beta plasma is also established for the first time. Noncoplanar ISs are found to be time-dependent, evolving toward a rotational discontinuity (RD) after some characteristic time tau which can be quite long (1000 Omega(exp -1), where Omega is the ion gyrofrequency). The value tau is larger the closer the rotation angle is to 180 deg. Rotations larger than 180 deg are found to be unstable, decaying into a state of minimum shear (i.e., rotation angle less than 180 deg). There are various length scales associated with an IS in the kinetic regime. The shortest scale is found to be the length scale over which rotation of the transverse component of the magnetic field takes place. This scale can have a half width as small as one ion inertial length (c/omega(sub p)) for electron sense rotations and 3c/omega(sub p) for ion sense rotations, for an upstream ion beta of unity. Both of these scales are consistent with the observed thickness at the magnetopause and identical to the corresponding RD scales. A detailed study of the mode conversion of the Alfven ion cyclotron waves (A/IC) waves across both slow and intermediate shocks and the resulting downstream wave spectrum are presented. The possibility that the large number of relfected ions observed at the magnetopause may be due to the presence of strong ISs is considered. The identification of strong ISs and their distinction from RDs should be possible in observations due to significant differences that exist between jump conditions and overall structure of the two discontinuities. The jumps in the plasma parameters across a weak IS are typically small. This together with the fact that the weak ISs and RDs have very similar thickness and other overall properties makes the distinction between weak ISs and RDs in the observations largely inconsequential. However, at large noncoplanarity angles the weak IS approaches the RD limit in a relatively short time (approximately less than 100 Omega (exp -1)). Thus, magnetopause rotations with large noncoplanarity angles are most likely either RDs or strong ISs. Finally, direct comparisons between fluid (resistive Hall MHD) and kinetic simulations show that fluid theory is not applicable to study of ISs in a collisionless plasma.

Karimabadi, H.↗
DOE OSTI2021

Similarity properties in capacitive radio frequency plasmas with nonlinear collision processes

Abstract Similarity laws (SL) are essential for correlating the characteristics of plasmas at different dimensional scales, which have been validated for radio frequency (rf) discharges at low pressure but under limited conditions. In this work, we evaluate the effects of nonlinear collisions (e.g. stepwise ionization) on the similarity properties in capacitive rf discharges in argon across a wide range of pressure regimes via fully kinetic particle-in-cell simulations. The SL scalings of fundamental discharge parameters, e.g. the electron power absorption and electron energy probability function, are examined with and without nonlinear collisions, respectively. Without the nonlinear collisions, the similarity scalings are found to be rigorously valid. When the nonlinear collisions are considered, the similarity properties in rf discharges still exist approximately, which indicates that the violations caused by the nonlinear collisions are still minor in the studied cases. The reasons for the effectiveness of SL scalings with nonlinear collision processes are also discussed. The results from this study confirmed the validity of similarity transformations with more complex reaction kinetics, which may promote the applicability of the SL scalings for the design and fabrications of plasma devices.

Physics↗
NASA NTRS1979

Solar wind heavy ions from flare-heated coronal plasma

Information concerning the coronal expansion is carried by solar-wind heavy ions. Distinctly different energy-per-charge ion spectra are found in two classes of solar wind having the low kinetic temperatures necessary for E/q resolution of the ion species. Heavy-ion spectra which can be resolved are most frequently observed in the low-speed interstream (IS) plasma found between high speed streams; the streams are thought to originate from coronal holes. Although the sources of the IS plasma are uncertain, the heavy-ion spectra found there contain identifiable peaks of O, Si, and Fe ions. Such spectra indicate that the IS ionization state of O is established in coronal gas at a temperature of approximately 1.6 million K, while that of Fe is frozen in farther out at about 1.5 million K. On occasion anomalous spectra are found outside IS flows in solar wind with abnormally depressed local kinetic temperatures. The anomalous spectra contain Fe(16+) ions, not usually found in IS flows, and the derived coronal freezing-in temperatures are significantly higher. The coronal sources of some of these ionizationally hot flows are identified as solar flares.

Bame, S. J.↗
DOE OSTI2021

Study of vacuum ultraviolet emission in helium and helium/nitrogen mixtures

Helium is frequently used as a working medium for the generation of plasmas and is capable of energetic photon emissions. These energetic photon emissions are often attributed to the formation of helium excimer and subsequent photon emission. When the plasma device is exposed to another gas, such as nitrogen, this energetic photon emission can cause photoionization and further ionization wave penetration into the additional gas. Often ignored are the helium resonance emissions that are assumed to be radiation trapped and therefore not pertinent to photoionization. Here, experimental evidence for the presence of helium atomic emission in a pulsed discharge at ten’s of Torr is shown. Simulations of a discharge in similar conditions agree with the experimental measurements. In this context, the role of atomic and molecular helium light emission on photoionization of molecular nitrogen in an ionization wave is studied using a kinetic modeling approach that accounts for radiation dynamics in a developing low-temperature plasma. Three different mixtures of helium at a total pressure of 250 Torr are studied in simulation. Photoionization of the nitrogen molecule by vacuum ultraviolet helium emission is used as the only seed source ahead of the ionization front. It is found that even though radiation trapped, the atomic helium emission lines are the significant source of photoionization of nitrogen. The significant effect of radiation trapped photon emission on ionization wave dynamics demonstrates the need to consider these radiation dynamics in plasma reactors where self-absorbed radiation is ignored.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2023

Causal explicit algorithm for heat conduction in a plasma

Hyperbolic heat conduction extends standard Spitzer-Harm heat conduction by including a term proportional to the time derivative of the heat flux. The new term arises from a kinetic derivation of the heat flux that includes higher order corrections. Here we present a causal explicit numerical algorithm for solving the nonlinear hyperbolic heat conduction equation in an unmagnetized plasma. The maximum stable timestep for the causal explicit algorithm scales linearly with the cell size, owing to the hyperbolic nature of the problem. This is in contrast to the quadratic scaling of the maximum stable timestep with the cell size for the parabolic forward time centered space algorithm. The favorable scaling of the timestep with the cell size enables a practical explicit implementation of heat conduction in high-performance massively parallel plasma codes. In particular, we have implemented the causal explicit algorithm in the laser plasma interaction code pF3D. We verify the CE algorithm and analyze its convergence rate by simulating a harmonic mode, which has an analytic solution within the context of the HHC model. We also compare simulations using the CE algorithm to those using the forward time centered space algorithm on a pair of test problems: evolution in time of a Gaussian temperature perturbation in a uniform plasma and heat transport in the presence of inverse bremsstrahlung heating by a Gaussian laser speckle.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2023

Pedestal particle balance studies in JET-ILW H-mode plasmas

JET-ILW type I ELMy H-modes at 2.5 MA/2.8 T with constant NBI heating (23 MW) and gas fuelling rate were performed, utilising edge localised mode (ELM) pacing by vertical kicks and plasma shaping (triangularity, δ) as tools to disentangle the effects of ELMs, inter-ELM transport and edge stability on the pedestal particle balance. In agreement with previous studies, the pedestal confinement improves with increasing δ, mostly due to a significant increase in pedestal density while the ELM frequency ($f_{\mathrm{ELM}}$) is decreased. Improved pedestal confinement with increasing δ was observed even when the pedestal MHD stability was degraded artificially by vertical kicks, implying that increased triangularity may favourably affect the inter-ELM pedestal recovery. The workflow developed to quantify the pedestal particle balance uses high time-resolution profile reflectometry to characterise the inter-ELM evolution of the plasma particle content ($\mathrm{d} N/\mathrm{d}t$), the NEO drift-kinetic solver to evaluate the neoclassical fluxes and interpretative EDGE2D-EIRENE simulations to estimate the edge particle source. The edge particle source is then constrained by deuterium Balmer-α line intensity measurements in the main chamber, which are, however, strongly affected by reflections from the metal walls. The reflections are accounted for by the CHERAB code taking the divertor emission (the brightest light source in the torus) distribution from imaging spectroscopy measurements as input. Our analysis shows that in the second half of the ELM cycle, the volume-integrated particle source is larger than $\mathrm{d} N/\mathrm{d}t$, indicating that transport plays a key role in the inter-ELM pedestal recovery.

fuelling↗
DOE OSTI2023

Linear instabilities in the hot-ion regime in a high-field spherical tokamak

Abstract The present operating high-field compact spherical tokamak ST40 is an important step toward an ST-based fusion reactor (Gryaznevich and Asunta 2017 Fusion Eng. Des. 123 177; McNamara 2023 Nucl. Fusion 63 054002). Temperature and density profiles and their uncertainties in recent hot ion ST40 plasmas with central ion temperatures exceeding 8.6 keV, have been inferred using an integrated analysis of several diagnostics including line-of-sight integration and volume average measurements, as well as limited profile information from a charge-exchange-recombination spectrometer. A linear gyrokinetic stability analysis has been carried out to identify the most unstable micro-instabilities in these hot ion plasmas. In one of these plasmas, it is found that linear growth rates of both ion- and electron-scale ( k θ ρ s ⩾ 0.2 where k θ is the poloidal wavenumber and ρ s is the ion gyro-radius with sound speed) modes decrease from the edge toward the core of the plasma (i.e. from ρ = 0.8 to 0.3 where ρ is the square root of the normalized magnetic flux), while the change of linear growth rates at k θ ρ s < 0.2 is non-monotonic. In particular, at ρ = 0.3 no unstable mode was found at k θ ρ s > 5 , and about an order of magnitude reduction in the maximum linear growth rate in the ion-scale wavenumber range of 0.2 ⩽ k θ ρ s < 1 is seen at ρ = 0.3 compared with the ρ = 0.8 location. It is found through parametric scans that while the ion temperature gradient (ITG) mode/trapped electron mode (TEM) and kinetic ballooning mode (KBM)/kinetic shear Alfvén (KSA) mode are more important in the plasma core, ubiquitous mode (UM) is found to be the important ion-scale instability at ρ ⩾ 0.6 . At ρ = 0.8, two instabilities are found at the electron scale, with one being the typical electrostatic electron temperature gradient (ETG) mode at ρ e scale and beyond and the other being an unidentified low-real-frequency instability (at the intermediate scale between electron and ion gyroradii) which can propagate in the ion direction and is driven by ETG. The existence of UM at the ion scale and the low-real-frequency instability and ETG mode at the electron scale at ρ = 0.8 is supported by an extensive linear gyrokinetic stability analysis of another ST40 hot ion plasma in a wider parametric range, taking into account the uncertainties in the experimental profiles.

ubiquitous mode↗
DOE OSTI2021

Global gyrokinetic simulation with kinetic electron for collisionless damping of zonal flow in stellarators

Global gyrokinetic simulations with kinetic electrons for collisionless damping of zonal flows in LHD and W7-X stellarators show that the helical components of the equilibrium magnetic field responsible for helically trapped particles have significant impacts on zonal flow. Kinetic electrons reduce zonal flow residue and increase the frequency of low frequency oscillation (LFO). Here, the LFO is induced by dominant helical harmonics of magnetic field strength. Furthermore, linear toroidal coupling of multiple toroidal n-harmonics barely affects the zonal flows, but can generate long wavelength toroidal harmonics with the same toroidal number as the helical magnetic field.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2025

Physics of beam-driven ion cyclotron emission in the large plasma device

Abstract Ion cyclotron emission (ICE) is widely observed from spatially localised minority energetic ion populations in toroidal magnetically confined fusion (MCF) plasmas, both tokamaks and stellarators. Its spectral structure is typically regular with narrow suprathermal peaks, whose frequency separation matches a local energetic ion cyclotron frequency. Here we report the first computational (fully nonlinear self-consistent kinetic particle-in-cell code) and analytical (linear magnetoacoustic cyclotron instability (MCI)) studies of ICE observations from cylindrical plasmas contained in the Large Plasma Device (LAPD). Because LAPD is cylindrical, the plasma physics giving rise to the observed ICE spectrum necessarily excludes toroidal effects. Our approach, previously successful for toroidal plasma ICE, assumes slab geometry and hence is well adapted to LAPD. ICE from LAPD is strongly electrostatic, as distinct from electromagnetic, and is driven by 15 keV beam ions for which the ratio of perpendicular speed to the local Alfven speed, v ⊥ / v A , is 0.15, lower than in MCF plasmas from which beam-driven ICE has previously been observed. Our results are in good agreement with these observations. There is congruence between simulated ICE spectra, obtained in the saturated nonlinear regime of our computations, and observed ICE spectra; the underlying physics is essentially the same as in toroidal plasmas; and there is alignment with linear analytical theory where appropriate. The present work establishes a mapping from the cylindrical LAPD ICE observations to toroidal MCF ICE observations. The LAPD spectra are instances of beam-driven MCI-type ICE in its sub-Alfvenic, predominantly electrostatic manifestation, which has precedents in MCF stretching back to the 1990s. An interesting corollary is that, for many purposes, ICE in toroidal MCF plasmas ‘might as well’ be occurring in a cylinder.

Samant, O. (ORCID:0000000226055363)↗
NASA NTRS2000

Magnetic Flux Compression Concept for Aerospace Propulsion and Power

The objective of this research is to investigate system level performance and design issues associated with magnetic flux compression devices for aerospace power generation and propulsion. The proposed concept incorporates the principles of magnetic flux compression for direct conversion of nuclear/chemical detonation energy into electrical power. Specifically a magnetic field is compressed between an expanding detonation driven diamagnetic plasma and a stator structure formed from a high temperature superconductor (HTSC). The expanding plasma cloud is entirely confined by the compressed magnetic field at the expense of internal kinetic energy. Electrical power is inductively extracted, and the detonation products are collimated and expelled through a magnetic nozzle. The long-term development of this highly integrated generator/propulsion system opens up revolutionary NASA Mission scenarios for future interplanetary and interstellar spacecraft. The unique features of this concept with respect to future space travel opportunities are as follows: ability to implement high energy density chemical detonations or ICF microfusion bursts as the impulsive diamagnetic plasma source; high power density system characteristics constrain the size, weight, and cost of the vehicle architecture; provides inductive storage pulse power with a very short pulse rise time; multimegajoule energy bursts/terawatt power bursts; compact pulse power driver for low-impedance dense plasma devices; utilization of low cost HTSC material and casting technology to increase magnetic flux conservation and inductive energy storage; improvement in chemical/nuclear-to-electric energy conversion efficiency and the ability to generate significant levels of thrust with very high specific impulse; potential for developing a small, lightweight, low cost, self-excited integrated propulsion and power system suitable for space stations, planetary bases, and interplanetary and interstellar space travel; potential for attaining specific impulses approaching 10 (exp 6) seconds, which would enable missions to the outer planets within ten years and missions at interstellar distances within fifty years.

Litchford, Ron J.↗