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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 19 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2011

Distinctive features of collisionless gradient drift instabilities in a high-{beta} plasma in a highly nonuniform magnetic field

A set of Vlasov-Maxwell equations for collisionless electromagnetic drift instabilities of high-{beta} plasma configurations with a nonuniform magnetic fields is solved. The effect of the transverse static magnetic field variation and magnetic field line curvature, as well as the plasma temperature and density gradients, is considered. It is shown that, in a nonuniform magnetic field, the behavior of the instabilities differs substantially from that in a uniform field. Electromagnetic modes propagating strictly transverse to the lines of the static magnetic field are analyzed in detail, and unstable solutions are obtained for both extraordinary and ordinary waves. Numerical results show that, in the latter case, instability occurs when the magnetic field decreases toward the periphery and the plasma temperature and density gradients are oppositely directed.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2026

Density limit in peeling-limited pedestals at and above the Greenwald value in DIII-D high poloidal beta plasmas

High pressure, peeling limited pedestals with pedestal normalized beta β N,ped >2 and pedestal top density n ped at or above the Greenwald density nG have been achieved in DIII-D high poloidal beta plasmas, with high global normalized beta β N >3 and energy confinement H 98 ~1.2-1.7. Higher β N allows higher pedestal density above the Greenwald value and higher pedestal pressure, even with a low injected torque. MHD modeling confirms that the experimental profiles lie near the peeling-mode unstable boundary with high normalized pressure gradient βMHD and high edge current density. Experimental analysis and stability calculations indicate that the high poloidal beta with strong Shafranov shift, high βMHD and weak/negative magnetic shear improves the pedestal stability by decoupling the peeling and ballooning modes and stabilizing the ballooning modes, thus facilitating access to the second stable region of peeling-ballooning mode. The access to the second stable peeling-ballooning stability region opens Super-H-like channels without extremely strong shaping or strong torque injection. The high-pressure peeling pedestal allows the pedestal density to go beyond the Greenwald limit with strong ExB shear maintained: pedestal pressure increases with pedestal density even when n ped >n G , until reaching the ideal MHD instability boundary, where giant ELMs occur. The giant ELMs are dominated by a strong n=1 component and cause a large reduction of the edge pressure, but a negligible change of the core pressure, consistent with kink/peeling-mode induced instability. The pedestal recovers from the collapse and typically sustains a high baseline density, around the Greenwald limit, during the whole discharge duration. Experiments also found that internal transport barriers and n ped ~0.9nG, peeling limited pedestals could be simultaneously achieved in high β N plasmas, while an internal feedback between ITB strength and pedestal performance is found.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2012

Development of a low-energy and high-current pulsed neutral beam injector with a washer-gun plasma source for high-beta plasma experiments

We have developed a novel and economical neutral-beam injection system by employing a washer-gun plasma source. It provides a low-cost and maintenance-free ion beam, thus eliminating the need for the filaments and water-cooling systems employed conventionally. In our primary experiments, the washer gun produced a source plasma with an electron temperature of approximately 5 eV and an electron density of 5 Multiplication-Sign 10{sup 17} m{sup -3}, i.e., conditions suitable for ion-beam extraction. The dependence of the extracted beam current on the acceleration voltage is consistent with space-charge current limitation, because the observed current density is almost proportional to the 3/2 power of the acceleration voltage below approximately 8 kV. By optimizing plasma formation, we successfully achieved beam extraction of up to 40 A at 15 kV and a pulse length in excess of 0.25 ms. Its low-voltage and high-current pulsed-beam properties enable us to apply this high-power neutral beam injection into a high-beta compact torus plasma characterized by a low magnetic field.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2011

Formation of high-{beta} plasma and stable confinement of toroidal electron plasma in Ring Trap 1

Formation of high-{beta} electron cyclotron resonance heating plasma and stable confinement of pure electron plasma have been realized in the Ring Trap 1 device, a magnetospheric configuration generated by a levitated dipole field magnet. The effects of coil levitation resulted in drastic improvements of the confinement properties, and the maximum local {beta} value has exceeded 70%. Hot electrons are major component of electron populations, and its particle confinement time is 0.5 s. Plasma has a peaked density profile in strong field region [H. Saitoh et al., 23rd IAEA Fusion Energy Conference EXC/9-4Rb (2010)]. In pure electron plasma experiment, inward particle diffusion is realized, and electrons are stably trapped for more than 300 s. When the plasma is in turbulent state during beam injection, plasma flow has a shear, which activates the diocotron (Kelvin-Helmholtz) instability. The canonical angular momentum of the particle is not conserved in this phase, realizing the radial diffusion of charged particles across closed magnetic surfaces. [Z. Yoshida et al., Phys Rev. Lett. 104, 235004 (2010); H. Saitoh et al., Phys. Plasmas 17, 112111 (2010).].

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2018

Collaborative Research: Multi-scale Dynamics of Kinetic Turbulence in Weakly Collisional, High-Beta Plasmas

The transport of energy and momentum and the heating of plasma particles by waves and turbulence are key ingredients in many problems at the frontiers of heliospheric and astrophysics research. This includes the heating and acceleration of the solar wind; the observational appearance of black-hole accretion flows on event-horizon scales; and the properties of the hot, diffuse plasmas that fill dark-matter halos. This work addressed the physics of plasma waves and turbulence in weakly collisional, weakly magnetized (high-beta) plasmas. In this regime, deviations from local thermodynamic equilibrium (i.e., pressure anisotropies) and the instabilities they excite can dramatically change the properties of waves and turbulence from those predicted by fluid (i.e., magnetohydrodynamic) and linear kinetic theories. Through a combination of analytic theory and first-principles kinetic simulations, we have shown that: (1) ion-acoustic waves of sufficient amplitude drive pressure anisotropies large enough to trigger kinetic Larmor-scale instabilities, which in turn interrupt the otherwise strong collisionless damping such waves suffer; (2) pressure anisotropies generated by fluctuating magnetic fields in strong Alfvénic turbulence produce a viscous scale comparable to the driving scale and a cascade with significant non-local interactions; (3) strong Alfvénic turbulence in an expanding high-beta plasma self-organizes to maintain critical balance, even as kinetic Larmor-scale instabilities regulate the plasma viscosity and reduce the elasticity of magnetic-field lines; (4) imbalanced Alfvénic turbulence leads to a "helicity barrier" that ultimately triggers the cyclotron heating of ions, in a manner consistent with spacecraft measurements taken in the solar wind; and (5) relativistic synchrotron-radiating plasmas develop kinetically unstable pressure anisotropy, which changes the nature of their cooling in a way that can couple the thermodynamics of ions and electrons.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2011

Theory of coupled whistler-electron temperature gradient mode in high beta plasma: Application to linear plasma device

This paper presents a theory of coupled whistler (W) and electron temperature gradient (ETG) mode using two-fluid model in high beta plasma. Non-adiabatic ion response, parallel magnetic field perturbation ({delta}B{sub z}), perpendicular magnetic flutter ({delta}B{sub perpendicular}), and electron collisions are included in the treatment of theory. A linear dispersion relation for whistler-electron temperature gradient (W-ETG) mode is derived. The numerical results obtained from this relation are compared with the experimental results observed in large volume plasma device (LVPD) [Awasthi et al., Phys. Plasma 17, 42109 (2010)]. The theory predicts that the instability grows only where the temperature gradient is finite and the density gradient flat. For the parameters of the experiment, theoretically estimated frequency and wave number of W-ETG mode match with the values corresponding to the peak in the power spectrum observed in LVPD. By using simple mixing length argument, estimated level of fluctuations of W-ETG mode is in the range of fluctuation level observed in LVPD.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2010

Kinetic Alfven wave instability driven by electron temperature anisotropy in high-beta plasmas

Based on the kinetic dispersion equation in the low-frequency condition of omega<OMEGA{sub i} (the ion cyclotron frequency), the instability driven by the electron temperature anisotropy in high-beta plasmas, which is associated with kinetic Alfven waves in the wave vector range of k{sub ||}lambda{sub I}<<1 and k{sub perpendicular}rho{sub i}<<1 (where lambda{sub I} and rho{sub i} are the ion inertial length and gyroradius, respectively), is investigated. The results show that the structures of both the growth rate and the real frequency are different from those driven by the ion temperature anisotropy. The growth rate is larger than that driven by the ion anisotropy. The critical instability condition is modified dramatically, in which the electron driven growth rate does not vanish at the classical critical point and its deviation from zero increases with the kinetic effect due to the short-wavelength modification.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2011

Kinetic Alfven wave instability driven by a field-aligned current in high-{beta} plasmas

Including the ion-gyroradius effect, a general low-frequency kinetic dispersion equation is presented, which simultaneously takes account of a field-aligned current and temperature anisotropy in plasmas. Based on this dispersion equation, kinetic Alfven wave (KAW) instability driven by the field-aligned current, which is carried by the field-aligned drift of electrons relative to ions at a drift velocity V{sub D}, is investigated in a high-{beta} plasma, where {beta} is the kinetic-to-magnetic pressure ratio in the plasma. The numerical results show that the KAW instability driven by the field-aligned current has a nonzero growth rate in the parallel wave-number range 0<k{sub z}<k{sub z}{sup u}, where the growth rate reaches a maximum at k{sub z}{approx}k{sub z}{sup u}/2. On the other hand, in the perpendicular wave-number range 0<k{sub perpendicular}<k{sub perpendicular}{sup u} the growth rate monotonously decreases with the wave number k{sub perpendicular} from a maximum at k{sub perpendicular}=0 to zero at k{sub perpendicular}=k{sub perpendicular}{sup u}. In particular, the upper boundaries of the growing ranges in the wave-number space, k{sub z}{sup u} and k{sub perpendicular}{sup u}, as well as the growth rate increase with V{sub D}, imply that there are wider growing ranges and larger growth rate for larger drift velocities. Including the temperature anisotropy of plasma particles, the result shows that the instability conditions for these two driven mechanisms are both modified considerably, in which the growing parametric ranges of KAWs widen. The results have potential importance in understanding the physics of space and astrophysical plasma active phenomena since the field-aligned current, also called the Birkeland current, is one of the most active factors in plasma phenomena.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2023

Multi-scale Dynamics of Kinetic Turbulence in Weakly Collisional, High-Beta Plasmas (Final Report for DOE Grant DE-SC0019046)

This grant was a collaborative grant between Prof Matt Kunz (Princeton) and Prof. Eliot Quataert. Quataert was initially a faculty member at UC Berkeley when the grant was funded but moved to Princeton during the timeframe of this grant. Over the course of this grant we made major progress on understanding turbulence and multi-scale dynamics in weakly collisional high-beta plasmas. The most important contributions included: We developed one of the most compelling theoretical explanations for a decades-old puzzle at the heart of our understanding of the origin of the solar wind. The puzzle is that many of the observations of ion temperatures and distribution functions in the solar wind are consistent with cyclotron resonant heating. However, theoretical models of MHD turbulence in the solar wind show that most of the turbulent energy remains at low frequencies below the cyclotron frequency. In Squire et al. (2022), we showed, however, that in imbalanced turbulence (in which there is an asymmetry in the Alfven-wave flux in opposite directions along the magnetic field), which is the norm in the fast solar wind, the turbulent energy reaches a ‘bottleneck’ near the ion Larmor radius, and the amplitude and characteristic frequency of the fluctuations grow until the cyclotron frequency is reached.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2025

Collisionless conduction in a high-beta plasma: a collision operator for whistler turbulence

The regulation of electron heat transport in high-β, weakly collisional, magnetized plasma is investigated. A temperature gradient oriented along a mean magnetic field can induce a kinetic heat-flux-driven whistler instability (HWI), which back-reacts on the transport by scattering electrons and impeding their flow. Previous analytical and numerical studies have shown that the heat flux for the saturated HWI scales as β$^{-1}_{e}$. These numerical studies, however, had limited scale separation and consequently large fluctuation amplitudes, which calls into question their relevance at astrophysical scales. To this end, we perform a series of particle-in-cell simulations of the HWI across a range of β$_e$ and temperature-gradient length scales under two different physical set-ups. The saturated heat flux in all of our simulations follows the expected β$^{-1}_{e}$ scaling, supporting the robustness of the result. We also use our simulation results to develop and implement several methods to construct an effective collision operator for whistler turbulence. The results point to an issue with the standard quasi-linear explanation of HWI saturation, which is analogous to the well-known 90° scattering problem in the cosmic-ray community. Despite this limitation, the methods developed here can serve as a blueprint for future work seeking to characterize the effective collisionality caused by kinetic instabilities.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2021

Resistive wall mode stability and resonant field amplification in MAST high beta plasma

The n=1 (n is the toroidal mode number) resistive wall mode (RWM) instability and the resonant field amplification (RFA) due to a stable RWM response are numerically investigated for a MAST high-pressure plasma scenario, utilizing the MARS-F (Liu Y.Q. et al 2000 Phys. Plasmas 7 3681) and MARS-K (Liu Y.Q. et al 2008 Phys. Plasmas 15 112503) codes, for the purpose of understanding the potential RWM behavior in MAST-U plasmas. Ideal kink stability analysis identifies a target plasma, with parameters similar to that of the reference equilibrium reconstructed from a MAST high-pressure discharge, that accesses the RWM regime. The unstable n=1 RWM for the target equilibrium is subject to strong damping by the plasma toroidal flow and/or the drift kinetic effects from thermal particles. As a result, the mode is found to be stable under the experimental flow conditions, or even without flow stabilization if drift kinetic stabilization is included. The stability prediction is robust against variation of the assumed resistive wall minor radius. Active magneto-hydrodynamic (MHD) spectroscopy modeling, using the magnetic coils designed for controlling the edge localized modes (ELMs) in MAST-U as the antenna, shows strong resonant field amplification due to a stable RWM response in the target plasma. Maximal amplification, of 6-7 times larger than the applied vacuum field within the plasma, is obtained assuming a coil phasing of 120-180 degrees between the upper and lower rows of the ELM control coils. The MHD-kinetic hybrid model predicts generally higher RFA than the fluid model, in particular near the low-field and high-field sides of the plasma boundary surface. Furthermore, the MARS-F/K modeling thus shows that the RWM in MAST-U is subject to strong flow and kinetic stabilization, but can nevertheless be detected by active MHD spectroscopy.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2024

Effect of parallel flow on resonant layer responses in high beta plasmas

Abstract Resonant layers in a tokamak respond to non-axisymmetric magnetic perturbations by amplifying the mode amplitude and balancing the plasma rotation through magnetic reconnection and force balance, respectively. This resonant response can be characterized by local layer parameters and especially by a single quantity in the linear regime, the so-called inner-layer Δ. The computation of Δ under two-fluid drift-MHD formalism has been progressed by reducing the order of the system in the phase space, where the shielding current is approximated as being only carried by electrons, a posteriori . In this study, we relax the approximation and compute Δ accounted for by the parallel flow associated with the ion shielding current. The posteriori is numerically verified in great agreement with the original SLAYER developed in a previous paper (J.-K. Park 2022 Phys. Plasmas 29 072506). Extending the resonant layer response theory to high β plasmas, our research findings answer two important questions: how the parallel flow influences the resonant layer response and why the parallel flow effect appears in high β plasmas. The complicated plasma compression in high β regime allows the parallel flow response to give rise to the ion shielding current, which not only shifts the zero-crossing condition of the ExB flow but also enhances the field penetration threshold. Technically, the Riccati matrix transformation method is adapted to handle the numerical stiffness due to the increased order of the system. The high fidelity of this numerical method makes use of further extension of the model to higher-order systems to take other physical phenomena into account. This work is envisaged to predict the resonant layer response under high β fusion reactor conditions.

Lee, Yeongsun (ORCID:000000034474416X)↗
DOE OSTI2021

Flux Ropes, Turbulence, and Collisionless Perpendicular Shock Waves: High Plasma Beta Case

With the onset of solar maximum and the expected increased prevalence of interplanetary shock waves, Parker Solar Probe is likely to observe numerous shocks in the next few years. An outstanding question that has received surprisingly little attention has been how turbulence interacts with collisionless shock waves. Turbulence in the supersonic solar wind is described frequently as a superposition of a majority 2D and a minority slab component. Here we formulate a collisional perpendicular shock-turbulence transmission problem in a way that enables investigation of the interaction and transmission of quasi-perpendicular fluctuations such as magnetic flux ropes/islands and vortices as well as entropy and acoustic modes in the large plasma beta regime. We focus on the transmission of an upstream spectrum of these modes, finding that the downstream spectral amplitude is typically increased significantly (a factor of 10 or more), and that the upstream spectral index of the inertial range, and indeed the general spectral shape, is unchanged for the downstream magnetic variance, kinetic energy, and density variance. A comparison of the theoretically predicted downstream magnetic variance, kinetic energy, and density variance spectra with those observed at 1, 5, and 84 au by Wind, Ulysses, and Voyager 2 shows excellent agreement. The overall theoretically predicted characteristics of the transmission of turbulence across shocks observed in the solar wind appear to be largely consistent with recent observational studies by Pitňa et al. and Borovsky.

79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2011

Evidence for the Importance of Trapped Particle Resonances for Resistive Wall Mode Stability in High Beta Tokamak Plasmas

Active measurements of the plasma stability in tokamak plasmas reveal the importance of kinetic resonances for resistive wall mode stability. The rotation dependence of the magnetic plasma response to externally applied quasistatic n=1 magnetic fields clearly shows the signatures of an interaction between the resistive wall mode and the precession and bounce motions of trapped thermal ions, as predicted by a perturbative model of plasma stability including kinetic effects. The identification of the stabilization mechanism is an essential step towards quantitative predictions for the prospects of ''passive'' resistive wall mode stabilization, i.e., without the use of an ''active'' feedback system, in fusion-alpha heated plasmas.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2017

Drift kinetic effects on the plasma response in high beta spherical tokamak experiments

High $\beta$ plasma response to the rotating n=1 external magnetic perturbations is numerically studied and compared with National Spherical Torus eXperiment (NSTX). The hybrid magnetohydrodynamic(MHD)-kinetic modeling shows the drift kinetic effects are important to resolve the disagreement of plasma response between the ideal MHD prediction and the NSTX experimental observation when plasma pressure reaches and exceeds the no-wall limit [F. Troyon et al., Plasma Phys. Control. Fusion \textbf{26}, 209 (1984)]. Since the external rotating fields and high plasma rotation are presented in NSTX experiments, the importance of resistive wall effect and plasma rotation on determining the plasma response is also identified, where the resistive wall suppresses the plasma response through the wall eddy current. The inertial energy, due to plasma rotation, destabilizes the plasma. The complexity of plasma response, in this study, indicates that MHD modeling, including comprehensive physics e.g. the drift kinetic effects, resistive wall and plasma rotation, is essential to reliably predict the plasma behavior in high beta spherical tokamak device.

Tokamak↗
DOE OSTI2011

Occurrence of high-beta superthermal plasma events in the close environment of Jupiter's bow shock as observed by Ulysses

The ratio of the plasma pressure to the magnetic field pressure (or of their energy densities) which is known as the plasma parameter 'beta'({beta}) has important implications to the propagation of energetic particles and the interaction of the solar wind with planetary magnetospheres. Although in the scientific literature the contribution of the superthermal particles to the plasma pressure is generally assumed negligible, we deduced, by analyzing energetic particles and magnetic field measurements recorded by the Ulysses spacecraft, that in a series of events, the energy density contained in the superthermal tail of the particle distribution is comparable to or even higher than the energy density of the magnetic field, creating conditions of high-beta plasma. More explicitly, in this paper we analyze Ulysses/HI-SCALE measurements of the energy density ratio (parameter {beta}{sub ep}) of the energetic ions'(20 keV to {approx}5 MeV) to the magnetic field's in order to find occurrences of high-beta ({beta}{sub ep}>1) superthermal plasma conditions in the environment of the Jovian magnetosphere, which is an interesting plasma laboratory and an important source of emissions in our solar system. In particular, we examine high-beta ion events close to Jupiter's bow shock, which are produced by two processes: (a) bow shock ion acceleration and (b) ion leakage from the magnetosphere.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2015

Electromagnetic effects on turbulent transport in high-performance ASDEX Upgrade discharges

Modern tokamak H-mode discharges routinely operate at high plasma beta. Dedicated experiments performed on multiple machines measure contradicting dependence of the plasma confinement on this important parameter. In view of designing high-performance scenarios for next-generation devices like ITER, a fundamental understanding of the involved physics is crucial. Theoretical results—most of which have been obtained for simplified setups—indicate that increased beta does not only modify the characteristics of microturbulence but also potentially introduces fundamentally new physics. Empowered by highly accurate measurements at ASDEX Upgrade, the GENE turbulence code is used to perform a comprehensive gyrokinetic study of dedicated H-Mode plasmas. We find the stabilization of ion-temperature-gradient driven turbulence to be the most pronounced beta effect in these experimentally relevant cases. The resulting beta-improved core confinement should thus be considered for extrapolations to future machines.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2011

Liner-on-plasma system near stagnation: Stabilizing effect of a magnetic cushion

This brief communication is concerned with the adiabatic compression of a high-beta plasma by a heavy liner. Elongated cylindrical and quasi-cylindrical geometries are considered. The magnetic field in a plasma is parallel to the axis, whereas the drive field has azimuthal direction. During the liner acceleration, the most dangerous modes are axisymmetric (m = 0) modes. Near stagnation, these modes are further amplified at the inner surface, as the liner is decelerated by the isotropic pressure of a high-beta plasma. This picture, however, is not complete: due to a heat loss from the plasma core to the relatively cold liner, a zone of a strong axial magnetic field may appear between a hot, high-beta plasma and a cold liner. This magnetic cushion is backed from inside by a very high-beta plasma. The stability of such a system with respect to m = 0 modes is studied and the conclusion is drawn that the stabilizing effect of the magnetic cushion remains strong even for relatively thin cushions and moderate magnetic fields in them.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗