Modeling Nuclear Fusion with Strongly Magnetized Non-Neutral Plasmas

在高温等离子体中，聚变能量仅作为原子核之间的近距离碰撞（即小碰撞参数，高能碰撞）的结果而释放。同样，在强磁化的纯电子或纯离子等离子体中，电荷的回旋能量被束缚在小的高频回旋轨道中，并且仅在近距离碰撞时释放。单物种等离子体可以在初始回旋能量远大于平行于磁场运动的能量的状态下制备，因此在近距离碰撞中释放的回旋能量加热平行运动。因此，人们可以认为回旋加速器能量类似于核能。 研究人员将使用这种类比来进行与聚变物理相关的实验和理论研究。 特别是，他们将首次测量强耦合等离子体中核反应速率的强烈增强。这种“屏蔽”增强是由萨尔彼得在1954年预测的，并且对于高密度的融合特别重要，例如在白色矮星中。此外，研究人员将使用强磁化等离子体研究“燃烧动力学”，并开展与两个实验相关的理论。 实验将在UCSD物理系非中性等离子体物理组的IV设备上进行，并在NIST的Penning离子阱设施上进行，该工作与等离子体物理学，天体物理学和核物理学有很强的跨学科联系。

In high temperature plasmas, fusion energy is released only as a result of close collisions between nuclei (i.e. small impact parameter, energetic collisions). Likewise, in strongly magnetized pure electron or pure ion plasmas, the cyclotron energy for a charge is bound up in small high frequency cyclotron orbits, and is released only as a result of close collisions. Single species plasmas can be prepared in a state where the initial cyclotron energy is much larger than the energy of motion parallel to the magnetic field, so the cyclotron energy that is released in close collisions heats the parallel motion. One may therefore think of cyclotron energy as being analogous to nuclear energy. The investigators will use this analogy to carry out experimental and theoretical investigations relevant to fusion physics. In particular, they will measure, for the first time, the strong enhancement of the nuclear reaction rate in strongly coupled plasmas. This "screening" enhancement was predicted by Salpeter in 1954, and is particularly important for fusion at high densities, such as in white dwarf stars. In addition the investigators will study "burn dynamics" using strongly magnetized plasmas, and carry out theory relevant for both experiments. The experiments will be conducted on the IV apparatus of the non-neutral plasma physics group in the Physics Department of UCSD, and on the Penning ion trap facility at NIST, Boulder, CO. The work makes strong interdisciplinary connections, with plasma physics, astrophysics, and nuclear physics.