NSF-BSF: Multi-ion Transport, Rotation, and Turbulence in Hydrodynamic Compression of Z-pinch

该奖项支持普林斯顿大学和魏茨曼科学研究所合作研究磁化等离子体中的湍流。磁化等离子体是一种被磁场渗透的电离气体，它被限制在一种名为Z-Pinch的实验室实验中。最近的理论工作预测了多离子磁化等离子体或部分电离等离子体中新的基本现象，这些现象具有湍流等离子体演化的时间特征。在这些时间尺度上，热和粒子的传输可能因离子物种而异，能量存在于一个或另一个离子物种的热运动中，或存在于电子中，或存在于湍流中。魏兹曼Z-Pinch实验的独特之处在于在实验室中探索这些理论预测，并通过精确的光谱测量来区分它们的不寻常特征。普林斯顿-魏兹曼的合作既渴望验证理论预测，也渴望理解所发现的任何意想不到的现象。对磁化Z箍缩等离子体的基本了解可以为X射线产生和核聚变能源开发应用奠定基础。魏兹曼科学研究所对湍流、内爆的Z箍缩等离子体进行了精确的光谱测量，揭示了基本的、新的和奇怪的等离子体效应。在所关注的时间和空间尺度上，魏兹曼的Z-Pinch等离子体作为一个虚拟实验室，研究不寻常的粘性和无粘性等离子体动力学，这与通常的流体不同。这些动力学，包括对充满湍流动能的等离子体的压缩，导致了对压缩等离子体的突然粘性耗散效应的预测。普林斯顿团队预测了磁化多组分等离子体和部分磁化等离子体中更重要的等离子体效应，包括电荷不可压缩热泵效应和部分电离解禁闭效应。这些效应可能很重要：微量杂质可能会迅速毒化聚变反应或抑制内爆等离子体中的辐射产生--而且使用太多的微量杂质可能会令人惊讶地导致对等离子体参数的推断无效。因此，该项目的目标是从理论上改进和实验验证湍流Z-Pinch等离子体中电荷状态分布的理论预测。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This award supports a collaborative effort between Princeton University and the Weizmann Institute of Science to study turbulence in a magnetized plasma - an ionized gas permeated by magnetic fields - confined in a laboratory experiment called a Z-pinch. Recent theoretical work has predicted new fundamental phenomena in a multi-ion magnetized plasma, or partially ionized plasma, on timescales characteristic of the turbulent plasma evolution. On these timescales, the transport of heat and particles may vary among ion species, with energy residing in the thermal motion of one ionic species or another, or in electrons, or in the turbulent flows. The Weizmann Z-pinch experiment is distinctively positioned to explore these theoretical predictions in the laboratory and to distinguish their unusual features through precision spectroscopic measurements. The Princeton-Weizmann collaboration aspires both to validate the theoretical predictions and to understand any unexpected phenomena uncovered. The fundamental understanding of a magnetized Z-pinch plasma could underpin applications to x-ray generation and nuclear fusion energy development.Precision spectroscopic measurements of a turbulent, imploding Z-pinch plasma at the Weizmann Institute of Science uncovered fundamental, new, and curious plasma effects. Inviscid on time and space scales of interest in ways that usual fluids tend not to be, the Z-pinch plasma at Weizmann serves as a virtual laboratory for unusual viscid and inviscid plasma dynamics. These dynamics, which include the compression of plasma laden with turbulent kinetic energy, have led to the prediction of the sudden viscous dissipation effect in compressing plasma. Further important plasma effects have been predicted by the Princeton team in magnetized multi-species plasma and partially magnetized plasma, including the charge incompressibility heat pump effect and the partial ionization deconfinement effect. These effects can be important: trace impurities can quickly poison fusion reactions or quench radiation generation in an imploding plasma -- and using too many trace impurities can surprisingly render invalid inferences of plasma parameters. Thus, this project's objective is to theoretically refine and experimentally validate the theoretical predictions of charge state profiles in a turbulent Z-pinch plasma.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.