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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 1,585 records · Page 88
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2015

Single discharge of the matrix source of negative hydrogen ions: Influence of the neutral particle dynamics

The study presents two-dimensional (2D) fluid-plasma-model description of a planar-coil inductively-driven discharge, considered as a single element of a matrix source of volume-produced negative hydrogen ions. Whereas the models developed up to now have been directed towards description of the charged particle behavior in the discharge, including that of the negative ions, this model stresses on the role of the neutral particle dynamics and of the surface processes in the formation of the discharge structure. The latter is discussed based on comparison of results obtained for discharges in a flowing gas and at a constant gas pressure as well as for different values of the coefficient of atom recombination on the walls. The conclusions are that the main plasma parameters – electron density and temperature and plasma potential – determining the gas discharge regime stay stable, regardless of changes in the redistribution of the densities of the neutral particles and of the positive ions. With regards to the volume production of the ions, which requires high density of (vibrationally excited) molecules, the impact on the degree of dissociation of the coefficient of atom recombination on the wall is discussed.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2015

Study of the negative ion extraction mechanism from a double-ion plasma in negative ion sources

We have developed a 2D3V-PIC model of the extraction region, aiming to clarify the basic extraction mechanism of H{sup −} ions from the double-ion plasma in H{sup −} negative ion sources. The result shows the same tendency of the H{sup −} ion density n{sub H{sup −}} as that observed in the experiments, i.e.,n{sub H{sup −}} in the upstream region away from the plasma meniscus (H{sup −} emitting surface) has been reduced by applying the extraction voltage. At the same time, relatively slow temporal oscillation of the electric potential compared with the electron plasma frequency has been observed in the extraction region. Results of the systematic study using a 1D3V-PIC model with the uniform magnetic field confirm the result that the electrostatic oscillation is identified to be lower hybrid wave. The effect of this oscillation on the H{sup −} transport will be studied in the future.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2015

Basic knowledge on radiative and transport properties to begin in thermal plasmas modelling

This paper has for objectives to present the radiative and the transport properties for people beginning in thermal plasmas. The first section will briefly recall the equations defined in numerical models applied to thermal plasmas; the second section will particularly deal with the estimation of radiative losses; the third part will quickly present the thermodynamics properties; and the last part will concern the transport coefficients (thermal conductivity, viscosity and electrical conductivity of the gas or mixtures of gases). We shall conclude the paper with a discussion about the validity of these results the lack of data for some specific applications, and some perspectives concerning these properties for non-equilibrium thermal plasmas.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2015

Correlations between quasi-coherent fluctuations and the pedestal evolution during the inter-edge localized modes phase on DIII-D

Direct measurements of the pedestal recovery during an edge-localized mode cycle provide evidence that quasi-coherent fluctuations (QCFs) play a role in the inter-ELM pedestal dynamics. Using fast Thomson scattering measurements, the pedestal density and temperature evolutions are probed on sub-millisecond time scales to show a fast recovery of the density gradient compared to the temperature gradient. The temperature gradient appears to provide a drive for the onset of quasi-coherent fluctuations (as measured with the magnetic probe and the density diagnostics) localized in the pedestal. The amplitude evolution of these QCFs tracks the temperature gradient evolution including its saturation. Such correlation suggests that these QCFs play a key role in limiting the pedestal temperature gradient. The saturation of the QCFs coincides with the pressure gradient reaching the kinetic-ballooning mode (KBM) critical gradient as predicted by EPED1. Furthermore, linear microinstability analysis using GS2 indicates that the steep gradient is near the KBM threshold. Thus, the modeling and the observations together suggest that QCFs are consistent with dominant KBMs, although microtearing cannot be excluded as subdominant.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2015

On the pressure effect in energetic deposition of Cu thin films by modulated pulsed power magnetron sputtering: A global plasma model and experiments

The modulated pulsed power magnetron sputtering (MPPMS) discharge processes are numerically modeled and experimentally investigated, in order to explore the effect of the pressure on MPPMS discharges as well as on the microstructure of the deposited thin films. A global plasma model has been developed based on a volume-averaged global description of the ionization region, considering the loss of electrons by cross-B diffusion. The temporal variations of internal plasma parameters at different pressures from 0.1 to 0.7 Pa are obtained by fitting the model to duplicate the experimental discharge data, and Cu thin films are deposited by MPPMS at the corresponding pressures. The surface morphology, grain size and orientation, and microstructure of the deposited thin films are investigated by scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, and x-ray diffraction. By increasing the pressure from 0.1 to 0.7 Pa, both the ion bombardment energy and substrate temperature which are estimated by the modeled plasma parameters decrease, corresponding to the observed transition of the deposited thin films from a void free structure with a wide distribution of grain size (zone T) into an underdense structure with a fine fiber texture (zone 1) in the extended structure zone diagram (SZD). The microstructure and texture transition of Cu thin films are well-explained by the extended SZD, suggesting that the primary plasma processes are properly incorporated in the model. The results contribute to the understanding of the characteristics of MPPMS discharges, as well as its correlation with the microstructure and texture of deposited Cu thin films.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2015

Simulative research on the anode plasma dynamics in the high-power electron beam diode

Anode plasma generated by electron beams could limit the electrical pulse-length, modify the impedance and stability of diode, and affect the generator to diode power coupling. In this paper, a particle-in-cell code is used to study the dynamics of anode plasma in the high-power electron beam diode. The effect of gas type, dynamic characteristic of ions on the diode operation with bipolar flow model are presented. With anode plasma appearing, the amplitude of diode current is increased due to charge neutralizations of electron flow. The lever of neutralization can be expressed using saturation factor. At same pressure of the anode gas layer, the saturation factor of CO{sub 2} is bigger than the H{sub 2}O vapor, namely, the generation rate of C{sup +} ions is larger than the H{sup +} ions at the same pressure. The transition time of ions in the anode-cathode gap could be used to estimate the time of diode current maximum.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2015

Principle of radial transport in low temperature annular plasmas

Radial transport in low temperature annular plasmas is investigated theoretically in this paper. The electrons are assumed to be in quasi-equilibrium due to their high temperature and light inertial mass. The ions are not in equilibrium and their transport is analyzed in three different situations: a low electric field (LEF) model, an intermediate electric field (IEF) model, and a high electric field (HEF) model. The universal IEF model smoothly connects the LEF and HEF models at their respective electric field strength limits and gives more accurate results of the ion mobility coefficient and effective ion temperature over the entire electric field strength range. Annular modelling is applied to an argon plasma and numerical results of the density peak position, the annular boundary loss coefficient and the electron temperature are given as functions of the annular geometry ratio and Paschen number.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2015

Dark-to-arc transition in field emission dominated atmospheric microdischarges

We study the voltage-current characteristics of gas discharges driven by field emission of electrons at the microscale. Particle-in-cell with Monte Carlo collision calculations are first verified by comparison with breakdown voltage measurements and then used to investigate atmospheric discharges in nitrogen at gaps from 1 to 10 μm. The results indicate the absence of the classical glow discharge regime because field electron emission replaces secondary electron emission as the discharge sustaining mechanism. Additionally, the onset of arcing is significantly delayed due to rarefied effects in electron transport. While field emission reduces the breakdown voltage, the power required to sustain an arc of the same density in microgaps is as much as 30% higher than at macroscale.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2016

Self-induced steady-state magnetic field in the negative ion sources with localized rf power deposition

The study is in the scope of a recent activity on modeling of SPIDER (Source for Production of Ions of Deuterium Extracted from RF plasma) which is under development regarding the neutral beam injection heating system of ITER. The regime of non-ambipolarity in the source, established before, is completed here by introducing in the model the steady state magnetic field, self-induced in the discharge due to the dc current flowing in it. Strong changes in the discharge structure are reported.

46 INSTRUMENTATION RELATED TO NUCLEAR SCIENCE AND ↗
DOE OSTI2016

Combined effects of trapped energetic ions and resistive layer damping on the stability of the resistive wall mode

A dispersion relation is derived for the stability of the resistive wall mode (RWM), which includes both the resistive layer damping physics and the toroidal precession drift resonance damping from energetic ions in tokamak plasmas. The dispersion relation is numerically solved for a model plasma, for the purpose of systematic investigation of the RWM stability in multi-dimensional plasma parameter space including the plasma resistivity, the radial location of the resistive wall, as well as the toroidal flow velocity. It is found that the toroidal favorable average curvature in the resistive layer contributes a significant stabilization of the RWM. This stabilization is further enhanced by adding the drift kinetic contribution from energetic ions. Furthermore, two traditionally assumed inner layer models are considered and compared in the dispersion relation, resulting in different predictions for the stability of the RWM.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2016

Two-fluid and finite Larmor radius effects on helicity evolution in a plasma pinch

The evolution of magnetic energy, helicity, and hybrid helicity during nonlinear relaxation of a driven-damped plasma pinch is compared in visco-resistive magnetohydrodynamics and two-fluid models with and without the ion gyroviscous stress tensor. Magnetic energy and helicity are supplied via a boundary electric field which initially balances the resistive dissipation, and the plasma undergoes multiple relaxation events during the nonlinear evolution. The magnetic helicity is well conserved relative to the magnetic energy over each event, which is short compared with the global resistive diffusion time. The magnetic energy decreases by roughly 1.5% of its initial value over a relaxation event, while the magnetic helicity changes by at most 0.2% of the initial value. The hybrid helicity is dominated by magnetic helicity in low-β pinch conditions and is also well conserved. Differences of less than 1% between magnetic helicity and hybrid helicity are observed with two-fluid modeling and result from cross helicity evolution. The cross helicity is found to change appreciably due to the first-order finite Larmor radius effects which have not been included in contemporary relaxation theories. The plasma current evolves towards the flat parallel current state predicted by Taylor relaxation theory but does not achieve it. Plasma flow develops significant structure for two-fluid models, and the flow perpendicular to the magnetic field is much more substantial than the flow along it.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2016

Modeling of the L-shell copper X-pinch plasma produced by the compact generator of Ecole polytechnique using pattern recognition

Principal component analysis is applied and compared with the line ratios of special Ne-like transitions for investigating the electron beam effects on the L-shell Cu synthetic spectra. The database for the principal component extraction is created over a non Local Thermodynamic Equilibrium (non-LTE) collisional radiative L-shell Copper model. The extracted principal components are used as a database for Artificial Neural Network in order to estimate the plasma electron temperature, density, and beam fractions from a representative time-integrated spatially resolved L-shell Cu X-pinch plasma spectrum. The spectrum is produced by the explosion of 25-μm Cu wires on a compact LC (40 kV, 200 kA, and 200 ns) generator. The modeled plasma electron temperatures are about T{sub e} ∼ 150 eV and N{sub e} = 5 × 10{sup 19} cm{sup −3} in the presence of the fraction of the beams with f ∼ 0.05 and a centered energy of ∼10 keV.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2016

The anisotropic redistribution of free energy for gyrokinetic plasma turbulence in a Z-pinch

For a Z-pinch geometry, we report on the nonlinear redistribution of free energy across scales perpendicular to the magnetic guide field, for a turbulent plasma described in the framework of gyrokinetics. The analysis is performed using a local flux-surface approximation, in a regime dominated by electrostatic fluctuations driven by the entropy mode, with both ion and electron species being treated kinetically. To explore the anisotropic nature of the free energy redistribution caused by the emergence of zonal flows, we use a polar coordinate representation for the field-perpendicular directions and define an angular density for the scale flux. Positive values for the classically defined (angle integrated) scale flux, which denote a direct energy cascade, are shown to be also composed of negative angular sections, a fact that impacts our understanding of the backscatter of energy and the way in which it enters the modeling of sub-grid scales for turbulence. A definition for the flux of free energy across each perpendicular direction is introduced as well, which shows that the redistribution of energy in the presence of zonal flows is highly anisotropic.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2016

Foreword to special issue: Papers from the 57th Annual Meeting of the APS Division of Plasma Physics, November 16–20, 2015, Savannah, Georgia, USA

The 57th annual meeting of the APS Division of Plasma Physics (DPP) was held November 16–20, 2015 in Savannah, Georgia. The meeting brings together researchers (undergraduate students through retirees) from all areas of plasma physics. 1887 abstracts were included in the program, approximately 200 more than the previous year. The presentations included five invited review talks, 97 invited talks, three invited postdeadline talks, and four tutorials. Furthermore, there were approximately 1780 contributed presentations, with about 40% oral and 60% poster. Three mini-conferences were held concurrently.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2016

Stochastic modelling of intermittent fluctuations in the scrape-off layer: Correlations, distributions, level crossings, and moment estimation

A stochastic model is presented for intermittent fluctuations in the scrape-off layer of magnetically confined plasmas. The fluctuations in the plasma density are modeled by a super-position of uncorrelated pulses with fixed shape and duration, describing radial motion of blob-like structures. In the case of an exponential pulse shape and exponentially distributed pulse amplitudes, predictions are given for the lowest order moments, probability density function, auto-correlation function, level crossings, and average times for periods spent above and below a given threshold level. Also, the mean squared errors on estimators of sample mean and variance for realizations of the process by finite time series are obtained. These results are discussed in the context of single-point measurements of fluctuations in the scrape-off layer, broad density profiles, and implications for plasma–wall interactions due to the transient transport events in fusion grade plasmas. The results may also have wide applications for modelling fluctuations in other magnetized plasmas such as basic laboratory experiments and ionospheric irregularities.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2016

Second order gyrokinetic theory for particle-in-cell codes

The main idea of the gyrokinetic dynamical reduction consists in a systematical removal of the fast scale motion (the gyromotion) from the dynamics of the plasma, resulting in a considerable simplification and a significant gain of computational time. The gyrokinetic Maxwell–Vlasov equations are nowadays implemented in for modeling (both laboratory and astrophysical) strongly magnetized plasmas. Different versions of the reduced set of equations exist, depending on the construction of the gyrokinetic reduction procedure and the approximations performed in the derivation. The purpose of this article is to explicitly show the connection between the general second order gyrokinetic Maxwell–Vlasov system issued from the modern gyrokinetic theory and the model currently implemented in the global electromagnetic Particle-in-Cell code ORB5. Necessary information about the modern gyrokinetic formalism is given together with the consistent derivation of the gyrokinetic Maxwell–Vlasov equations from first principles. The variational formulation of the dynamics is used to obtain the corresponding energy conservation law, which in turn is used for the verification of energy conservation diagnostics currently implemented in ORB5. This work fits within the context of the code verification project VeriGyro currently run at IPP Max-Planck Institut in collaboration with others European institutions.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2016

Modeling plasma-assisted growth of graphene-carbon nanotube hybrid

A theoretical model describing the growth of graphene-CNT hybrid in a plasma medium is presented. Using the model, the growth of carbon nanotube (CNT) on a catalyst particle and thereafter the growth of the graphene on the CNT is studied under the purview of plasma sheath and number density kinetics of different plasma species. It is found that the plasma parameter such as ion density; gas ratios and process parameter such as source power affect the CNT and graphene dimensions. The variation in growth rates of graphene and CNT under different plasma power, gas ratios, and ion densities is analyzed. Based on the results obtained, it can be concluded that higher hydrocarbon ion densities and gas ratios of hydrocarbon to hydrogen favor the growth of taller CNTs and graphene, respectively. In addition, the CNT tip radius reduces with hydrogen ion density and higher plasma power favors graphene with lesser thickness. The present study can help in better understanding of the graphene-CNT hybrid growth in a plasma medium.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗