Helical Instability Evolution in Dynamic-Screw-Pinch-Driven Plasma Implosions

该奖项支持一项努力，以了解等离子体压缩技术称为动态螺旋捏，这已被证明可以减少等离子体不稳定性。在这个项目中获得的知识可以使更强大的X射线产生，更高压力的材料特性实验，更有效的核聚变发电，以及更好地了解天体物理过程。该项目将通过推进基础科学知识、实现未来能源和提高国防能力来造福社会。该项目还将帮助培养等离子体科学和工程领域的本科生和研究生，同时在学术界、工业界和国家实验室之间建立更强有力的合作伙伴关系。 该项目由NSF物理部授予，并得到能源部国家核安全管理局的支持。这个项目将研究圆柱形等离子体在受到磁场强烈压缩时变得不稳定并分裂的方式。 最近，等离子体压缩技术被称为动态螺旋箍缩（DSP）已被证明可以减少等离子体不稳定性增长的最初固体金属薄箔内衬内爆1 MA，100纳秒脉冲功率设施。 DSP技术使用具有随时间变化的螺旋角的螺旋磁场来压缩圆柱形等离子体。 尽管DSP技术的成功，问题仍然是如何DSP驱动的不稳定性最初形成和发展相对于那些由一个标准的z箍缩与一个纯粹的方位磁场。 这个项目将评估竞争理论计算和实验。 具体来说，这个项目将调查的作用，磁瑞利-泰勒不稳定性（MRTI）的播种和演变的磁瑞利-泰勒不稳定性，日冕等离子体动力学和磁场俯仰角。这个奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并已被认为是值得通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估的支持。

This award supports an effort to understand a plasma compression technique called the dynamic screw pinch, which has been demonstrated to reduce plasma instabilities. The knowledge gained in this project could enable more powerful x-ray generation, higher-pressure materials properties experiments, more efficient nuclear fusion generation, and a better understanding of astrophysical processes. The project will benefit society by advancing basic scientific knowledge, enabling future energy sources, and improving national defense capabilities. This project will also help train a diverse group of undergraduate and graduate students in plasma science and engineering while building stronger partnerships between academia, industry, and national laboratories. The project is awarded by the NSF Division of Physics with support from the National Nuclear Security Administration within the Department of Energy. This project will investigate the way in which cylindrical plasmas become unstable and break apart when they are strongly compressed by a magnetic field. Recently, a plasma compression technique called the dynamic screw pinch (DSP) has been demonstrated to reduce plasma instability growth in initially solid-metal thin-foil liner implosions on 1-MA, 100-nanosecond pulsed power facilities. The DSP technique uses a helical magnetic field with a time-dependent pitch angle to compress the cylindrical plasma. Despite the success of the DSP technique, questions remain as to how DSP-driven instabilities initially form and evolve relative to those driven by a standard z-pinch with a purely azimuthal magnetic field. This project will evaluate competing theories computationally and experimentally. Specifically, this project will investigate the roles of the electrothermal instability, coronal plasma dynamics, and magnetic field pitch angles in the seeding and evolution of the magneto-Rayleigh-Taylor instability (MRTI).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.