Fluctuations, structures and transport in magnetized plasmas

等离子体物理学是一门研究电离气体行为的基础科学学科，如太阳、地球电离层、行星际和星际空间中的电离气体。等离子体应用在微电子、材料表面改性、废物处理、光源和许多其他领域中是普遍的。等离子体用于深空任务和长期轨道保持的电推进装置。热等离子体是在实验室中产生的，以模拟太阳条件，并实现受控的热核聚变，以获得无限的清洁能源。在自然界和实验室中，等离子体经常沉浸在电场和磁场中，使其不稳定和湍流，具有高度不规则和不可预测的行为。尽管在空气动力学和天气预报等方面取得了进展，但湍流及其相关的反常（湍流）输运仍然是经典物理学尚未解决的问题和巨大挑战。了解等离子体湍流对于一些基本问题是很重要的，例如地球和太阳磁场的起源和动力学，太阳风，极光，太阳上的猛烈爆发，以及电离层和空间中的许多其他现象。另一方面，许多等离子体应用的进展，如受控热核聚变和电推进，一直受到等离子体湍流造成的困难。我在理论等离子体物理研究的长期目标是解释和预测的湍流行为和磁约束等离子体的运输，包括技术和聚变应用。具体而言，这一建议涉及两大主题： 1.发展物理模型和数值模拟，以预测由交叉电场和磁场维持的湍流等离子体中的异常电流和加热，这广泛用于各种等离子体推进和处理装置。在这些条件下，对湍流等离子体的进一步了解将推进湍流的基本知识，满足电推进技术的关键需求，并为材料加工带来更好的性能和新的机会。 2.受控聚变磁约束装置中与磁涨落有关的电子能量输运、等离子体涨落的相互作用和控制。这个主题解决了托卡马克中电子能量输运的长期难题，以及用外部手段（如外部磁线圈）控制等离子体的可能性。这些领域的进展将使我们更接近在实验室中实现受控聚变的目标。 这项研究促进了物理学，分析和批判性分析的深入知识，以及高性能计算和大型数据集处理的强大技能。这些技能和专业知识对保持加拿大在科学和高科技产业的竞争力至关重要。

Physics of plasma is a basic science discipline studying the behavior of ionized gases such as those present in the Sun, the Earth’s ionosphere, interplanetary and interstellar space. Plasma applications are pervasive in microelectronics, material surface modification, waste treatment, light sources, and many other areas. Plasmas are used in electric propulsion devices for deep space missions and long term orbit keeping. Hot plasmas are created in laboratories to imitate Sun conditions and achieve controlled thermonuclear fusion to access a limitless source of clean energy. In nature and laboratories, plasmas are often immersed in electric and magnetic fields, making them unstable and turbulent with highly irregular and unpredictable behavior. Despite the progress, such as in aerodynamics and weather forecasting, turbulence and the related anomalous (turbulent) transport is an unsolved problem and a great challenge for classical physics. Understanding of plasma turbulence is important for fundamental questions, such as the origin and dynamics of magnetic field of the Earth and Sun, solar wind, auroras, violent eruptions on the Sun, and many other phenomena in ionosphere and space. On the other side, progress in many plasma applications, such as controlled thermonuclear fusion and electric propulsion, has been hindered by difficulties caused by plasma turbulence. The long term objective of my research in theoretical plasma physics is to explain and predict the turbulent behavior and transport of magnetically confined plasmas including those for technological and fusion applications. Specifically, this proposal involves two major themes: 1. Development of physical models and numerical simulations to predict anomalous current and heating in turbulent plasma maintained by crossed electric and magnetic fields, which is widely used in various plasma propulsion and processing devices. Improved understanding of turbulent plasmas in these conditions would advance basic knowledge of turbulence as well as satisfy critical needs of electric propulsion technologies and bring better performance and new opportunities for material processing. 2. Electron energy transport associated with magnetic fluctuations, interaction and control of plasma fluctuations in magnetic confinement devices for controlled fusion. This theme addresses the long standing puzzle of electron energy transport in a tokamak and promising possibilities of plasma control with external means, such as external magnetic coils. Progress in these areas would bring us closer to the goal of achieving controlled fusion in the laboratory. This research promotes deep knowledge of physics, analytical and critical analysis, and strong skills in high performance computations and large data set processing. These skills and expertise are vital to maintain Canada’s competitiveness in science and high technology industries.