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，这是一种被磁场渗透的电离气体，被限制在一个被称为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在湍流等离子体演化的时间尺度上的新基本现象。在这些时间尺度上，热和粒子的输运可能在离子种类之间变化，能量存在于一种或另一种离子种类的热运动中，或者存在于电子中，或者存在于湍流中。Weizmann Z-pinch实验的独特定位是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。普林斯顿和魏茨曼的合作既希望验证理论预测，又希望理解任何未发现的意外现象。对磁化z夹尖等离子体的基本理解可以支持x射线产生和核聚变能开发的应用。在魏茨曼科学研究所，对一个湍流、内爆的z箍缩等离子体进行了精确的光谱测量，发现了基本的、新的、奇怪的等离子体效应。Weizmann的Z-pinch等离子体在时间和空间尺度上的不粘性是通常流体往往不具备的，它可以作为一个虚拟实验室来研究不寻常的粘性和非粘性等离子体动力学。这些动力学，包括承载湍流动能的等离子体的压缩，导致了压缩等离子体中突然粘性耗散效应的预测。普林斯顿大学的研究小组还预测了磁化多种等离子体和部分磁化等离子体的其他重要等离子体效应，包括电荷不可压缩性热泵效应和部分电离解约束效应。这些影响可能是重要的：微量杂质可以迅速毒害聚变反应或在内爆等离子体中淬灭辐射的产生，并且使用太多的微量杂质会令人惊讶地导致等离子体参数的无效推断。因此，该项目的目标是在理论上完善和实验上验证湍流z箍缩等离子体中电荷状态分布的理论预测。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 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.