Fundamental Processes In Plasmas

该奖项支持一个理论和实验计划，以发展对等离子体中的波和粒子约束的详细理解-一种自由相互作用的带电粒子气体-放置在磁阱中。 这些研究将描述单个粒子在陷阱中以不同频率首尾相连地弹跳所引起的波浪阻尼。 等离子体输运和内部磁场不规则性造成的损失也将进行分析和测量。该研究项目与流体物理、原子物理、反物质生产和聚变等离子体发电有着广泛的联系，为研究生和本科生的教育提供了一个刺激的环境。实验将在两个非中性等离子体设备上进行：相机诊断的电子等离子体设备“CamV”和激光诊断的镁离子等离子体设备“IV”。分析理论和中等规模的模拟结果将直接比较的实验在广泛的参数范围。目标是找出理论的局限性，并在需要的地方激发新的理论。特别是，这项研究将阐明内部电位变化的影响，作为反弹谐波朗道阻尼敏感地依赖于粒子的轨迹。此外，磁的不规则性导致拓扑separatrices是地方性的准中性和非中性等离子体，和新的“混沌superbanana”运输研究在这里发生，即使在近无碰撞等离子体。 该奖项是根据NSF/DOE基础等离子体科学与工程合作伙伴关系颁发的，是对联合计划下的DOE奖项的补充。

This award supports a program of theory and experiments to develop detailed understanding of waves and particle confinement in a plasma -- a gas of freely interacting electrically charged particles -- placed in a magnetic trap. The studies will characterize wave damping caused by individual particles bouncing end-to-end in the trap at different frequencies. The plasma transport and loss caused by internal magnetic irregularities will also be analyzed and measured. This research program has broad connections to fluid physics, atomic physics, anti-matter production, and fusion plasmas for power generation, and provides a stimulating environment for graduate and undergraduate student education.Experiments will be performed on two non-neutral plasma devices: the camera-diagnosed electron plasma apparatus "CamV" and on the laser-diagnosed Magnesium ion plasma apparatus "IV". Analytical theory and medium-scale simulation results will be directly compared to the experiments over a broad range of parameters. The goal is to identify limitations in the theory, and to stimulate new theory where needed. In particular, this research will elucidate the effects of internal potential variations, as bounce-harmonic Landau damping depends sensitively on the particle trajectories. Further, magnetic irregularities leading to topological separatrices are endemic to both quasi-neutral and non-neutral plasmas, and the novel "chaotic superbanana" transport to be studied here occurs even in nearly collisionless plasmas. This award to support an undergraduate student is made under the NSF/DOE Partnership in Basic Plasma Science and Engineering and is complementary to a DOE award made under the joint program.