CAREER: The Bryn Mawr Plasma Laboratory---A liberal-Arts Centered Facility for Basic Plasma Research and Plasma Science Education

该职业奖支持建立布林莫尔等离子体实验室，该实验室具有双重目标，即扩大对湍流等离子体（带电粒子气体）物理学的小规模实验研究，并作为增加女性等离子体物理学家进入该领域的门户。这个实验室是在布林莫尔学院建造的，这是美国为数不多的女子文理学院之一。它围绕着一个等离子体风洞实验展开，在这个实验中，湍流等离子体产生并沿着圆柱形柱发射。对等离子体的测量将用于更好地理解等离子体湍流的特征，并将其与传统的流体和空气湍流进行比较。该项目还将有助于我们了解在太空中观测到的等离子体，例如太阳向太阳系发射的太阳风，并将有助于改善地球上太空天气的预测。同轴等离子体枪将用于在真空室中产生一种称为球形标记的磁化等离子体结构流，然后通过湍流波动向松弛状态演变为泰勒状态。沿腔室的高空间分辨率访问端口将允许许多同时直接测量波动场，流动，等离子体密度和温度。实验目标包括评估和研究产生的湍流，以及建立这种流动的湍流等离子体作为研究其他现象的环境-就像传统风洞中流动的空气用于研究空气动力学一样。计划包括观察磁偶极子或绝缘障碍物存在时湍流的变化，以及由于注入高能粒子或波而进行的修改。在一个可控的实验室环境中，该项目旨在更好地了解整个太阳系中观察到的等离子体状态——磁化的、湍流的和完全三维的。该系统将与主要航天器的数据进行比较，包括在地球磁层轨道上的磁层多尺度任务，以及帕克太阳探测器，检查太阳风起源处的等离子体。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This CAREER award supports establishment of the Bryn Mawr Plasma Laboratory that has the dual goal of expanding small scale experimental research into the physics of a turbulent plasma, a gas of electrically charged particles, and serving as a gateway for increasing the number of women plasma physicists entering the field. The laboratory has been constructed at Bryn Mawr College, one of the few remaining women's liberal-arts colleges in the nation. It centers around a plasma wind-tunnel experiment in which turbulent plasma is generated and launched down a cylindrical column. Measurements of this plasma will be used to better understand the characteristics of plasma turbulence and to compare it to conventional fluid and air turbulence. The project will also benefit our understanding of plasmas observed in space, such as the solar wind launched by the sun into the solar system, and will help improve prediction of space weather here on Earth. A coaxial plasma gun will be used to generate a stream of magnetized plasma structures called spheromaks down a vacuum chamber, which then evolve via turbulent fluctuations toward relaxation into a Taylor state. High spatial resolution of access ports along the chamber will allow for many simultaneous direct measurements of fluctuating fields, flows, plasma density and temperature. Experimental goals include evaluation and study of the turbulence that is generated as well as establishing this flowing turbulent plasma as an environment in which to study other phenomena - much like the flowing air in a conventional wind-tunnel is used to study aerodynamics. Plans include observations of changes in turbulence in the presence of magnetic dipoles or insulating obstacles, as well as modifications due to injection of energetic particles or waves. Within a controllable laboratory setting, the program seeks to better understand the state of plasma that is observed throughout the solar system - magnetized, turbulent, and fully three-dimensional. Comparisons of this system will be made to data from major spacecraft-based endeavors including the Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission in orbit within Earth's magnetosphere, and the Parker Solar Probe, examining the plasma at the origin of the solar wind itself.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.