Astrophysically-relevant QED plasmas in the laboratory

我最近从肯特大学毕业，获得了天体物理学物理学硕士学位。在完成本科学业的同时，我对等离子体物理及其实际应用越来越感兴趣，特别是在聚变能方面。我将在约克开展的项目名为“实验室中与天体物理学相关的QED等离子体”，由Kate兰开斯特博士和Chris Ridgers博士监督。该项目的重点是使用新的多PW激光器创建量子电动力学（QED）等离子体。激光强度的增加将允许观察到新的光-物质相互作用，主要考虑电磁场如此强大以至于产生QED等离子体的情况。等离子体由极端相对论等离子体过程控制，这些过程完全改变了等离子体的行为;我们从经典过程转向量子效应。在这一领域进行的实验工作很少，因此QED等离子体相对未经实验探索。虽然这种新机制的基本物理学在实验室中几乎完全未被探索，但x射线对于致密材料（如压缩惯性约束核）的射线照相非常有用，并且离子可用于新型快速点火聚变方案。该项目将是实验室和实验工作的结合，并模拟探索这种新的等离子体制度。

I have recently graduated from the University of Kent with an MPhys in Physics with Astrophysics. While completing my undergraduate studies, I became increasingly more interested in Plasma Physics and its real-world applications, particularly in Fusion Energy.The project I will undertake at York is entitled 'Astrophysically-relevant QED plasmas in the laboratory', supervised by Dr Kate Lancaster and Dr Chris Ridgers. The project focuses on creating quantum electrodynamic (QED) plasmas using new multi-PW lasers. This increase in laser intensity will allow for new light-matter interactions to be observed, mainly considering cases where electromagnetic fields are so strong that QED plasmas are created. The plasmas are governed by ultra-relativistic plasma processes that alter the behaviour of the plasma entirely; we move away from classical processes and toward quantum effects. There has been minimal experimental work undertaken in this area, so QED plasmas are relatively unexplored experimentally. While the underlying physics of this new regime is almost completely unexplored in the laboratory the x-rays could be very useful for radiography of dense materials such as compressed inertial confinement cores and the ions could be used for novel fast ignition fusion schemes. The project will be a combination of laboratory and experimental work, and simulations to explore this new plasma regime.