High Energy Density Plasmas in Ultrafast Micro-Capillary Discharges

重要的等离子体应用依赖于产生高均匀度的高密度热等离子体柱的能力。本项目研究如何有效地产生极高温度和密度的均匀等离子体柱，包括用电流密度超过0.5千安培厘米-2的超快(3 ns上升时间)电流脉冲快速激发微毛细管通道。模型模拟表明，这一新概念有可能只使用适度的电流将稠密的均匀等离子体柱加热到非常高的电子温度(500-1000 eV)。实验和模拟将结合起来，阐明这些高功率密度微毛细管等离子体动力学的基本方面，并为应用优化它们的产生。对这些放电的物理和它们的标度律的理解可能会影响产生热的高密度等离子体的方式，以用于各种应用。这些包括紧凑型X射线激光器的开发，用于高强度激光-等离子体相互作用的高度电离等离子体波导，从离子产生高次谐波，以及其他高密度等离子体应用。研究和教育活动旨在对从高中到博士后研究员等不同职业阶段的学生和青年科学家的培训产生广泛影响。通过继续我们与少数族裔服务学院和科罗拉多州AGEP计划的研究合作，将做出重大努力，吸引不同群体的学生进入科学和工程专业。参与的研究生和本科生将参与实验和理论工作，其中将包括放电物理、先进放电技术、光谱学和等离子体高级建模等方面的内容。高中生、初中和高中教师在暑假期间的参与将增强更广泛的影响。

Important plasma applications depend on the ability to generate hot and dense plasma columns of high homogeneity. This project studies the efficient generation of extremely hot and dense uniform plasma columns consisting in the rapid excitation of micro-capillary channels with ultrafast ( 3 ns risetime) current pulses with current densities exceeding 0.5 Giga-Amperes cm-2. Model simulations suggest this new concept has the potential to heat dense homogenous plasma columns to very high electron temperatures (500-1000 eV) using only modest currents. Experiments and simulations will be combined to elucidate the fundamental aspects of the dynamics of these high power density micro-capillary plasmas and optimize their generation for applications. The understanding of the physics of these discharges and their scaling laws can potentially impact the way in which hot dense plasmas are generated for numerous applications. These include the development of compact X-ray lasers, very highly ionized plasma waveguides for high intensity laser-plasma interactions, the generation of high harmonic from ions, and other high density plasma applications. The research and educational activities are designed to have a broad impact in the training of students and young scientists in different stages of their career, ranging from high school to post-doctoral fellows. Significant efforts will be conducted to attract a diverse group of students into science and engineering by continuing our research collaboration with minority serving Colleges and the Colorado AGEP program. The participating graduate and undergraduate students will be involved in an experimental and theoretical effort that will include aspects of discharge physics, advanced discharge technology, spectroscopy and advanced modeling of plasmas. The broader impact will be enhanced by the participation of high school students, and middle school and high school teachers during the summer.