Multi-Scale Numerical Modelling of Magnetised Plasma Turbulence

我们宇宙中大部分可见物质都是等离子体。由于等离子体含有自由电荷（离子和电子），它对电磁场和波很敏感，电流可以在等离子体中流动。实验室等离子体越来越多地应用于当代高价值、高技术产业。太阳、磁层和电离层中的等离子体对许多人类活动都有影响，从空间天气到GPS卫星和陆基通信。从长远来看，利用核聚变能以一种对环境安全、无碳的方式满足世界能源需求，可能是基于磁或惯性限制的等离子体。电磁波被用来加热聚变反应堆中的等离子体，但它们也被用于实验室和地球电离层的基本等离子体实验，以及卫星通信和GPS。本项目旨在建立一个全面的多维全尺寸数值模型，研究高频电磁波与磁化等离子体在不同长度和时间尺度上的传播及其复杂的相互作用。该项目的结果将加深我们对电磁波（如微波）和等离子体之间复杂相互作用的理解，以及如何利用电磁波向等离子体注入能量。考虑到法国南部正在进行的核聚变试验反应堆ITER的建设，该项目是及时的，其结果也将为计划在斯特拉斯克莱德大学进行的实验室等离子体实验提供预研究。该项目还涉及利用地球电离层作为天然等离子体实验室的积极实验，以及需要补偿电离层等离子体层影响的卫星通信。

The majority of the visible matter in our universe is plasma. Since plasma contains free electric charges (ions and electrons), it is sensitive to electromagnetic fields and waves, and electric currents can flow in the plasma. Laboratory plasmas are being increasingly exploited in contemporary high-value, high-technology industries. Plasma in the sun, magnetosphere and ionosphere have impacts on many human activities, from space weather to GPS satellite and landbased communications. For the longer term future the harnessing of fusion energy to provide the world's energy needs in an environmentally safe, carbon-free way may be based on magnetically or inertially confined plasmas. Electromagnetic waves are used to heat plasma in fusion reactors, but they are also used for basic plasma experiments in the laboratory and in the Earth's ionosphere, and for satellite communication and GPS.This project aims to build a comprehensive multi-dimensional, full-scale numerical model to study the propagation and the complicated interactions between high-frequency electromagnetic waves and magnetised plasmas on different length- and timescales. The results of the project will develop our understanding of the complex interactions between electromagnetic waves, such as microwaves, and plasmas, and how electromagnetic waves can be used to inject energy into the plasma. The project is timely in view of the ongoing construction of the fusion test reactor ITER in Southern France, and the results will also provide a pre-study for planned laboratory plasma experiments at the University of Strathclyde. The project also has relevance to active experiments using the Earth's ionosphere as a natural plasma laboratory, and to satellite communication where the effects of the ionospheric plasma layer need to be compensated for.