Equilibrium, fluctuations, and transport in magnetically controlled plasmas

基于等离子体的材料加工和表面改性是微电子和其他高科技制造业的关键。等离子体被广泛应用于日益增长的电等离子体推进领域，当推力由电离气体和利用电源(如太阳能电池板)喷射等离子体产生时。这种设备已经成为深空任务和长期卫星在近地轨道上保持和机动的一项使能技术。热等离子体是在实验室中产生的，以模拟太阳的条件，实现受控的热核聚变，以获取无限的清洁能源。所有这些系统的实际发展都是由等离子体物理学的基础科学学科推动的，该学科研究自然存在于太阳、地球电离层、星际和星际空间并在实验室中产生的电离气体的行为。在自然界和实验室中，等离子体经常受到磁场的约束和控制，使其不稳定和湍流。湍流是非线性波相互作用的结果，导致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的应用取得了进展，但湍流及其相关的反常(湍流)输运仍然是经典物理学的一个巨大挑战。了解等离子体湍流对于基本的空间物理问题、新的制造、推进和聚变设备的开发至关重要。拟议的理论和计算等离子体物理研究旨在解释和预测实验室中磁控等离子体的湍流行为，以及用于聚变、材料加工和电力推进的技术应用等离子体。特别感兴趣的系统是用于电推进的等离子体设备，例如霍尔和磁喷嘴推进器，用于材料处理的磁增强等离子体源，托卡马克，开放磁镜，以及用于聚变应用的Z-Pinch配置。这项研究的预期结果是等离子体设备物理的高级知识，以及将预测等离子体行为和设备性能的新建模工具。长期目标是促进为空间推进设计新的等离子体系统，为材料加工业设计新的等离子体系统，并实际实现受控热核聚变作为一种清洁能源。这项研究促进了对物理、分析和临界分析的深入了解，以及在高性能计算和大数据集处理方面的强大技能。这些技能和专门知识对于保持加拿大在科学和高科技领域的竞争力至关重要。

Plasma-based material processing and surface modification are critical for microelectronics and other high-tech manufacturing industries. Plasmas are widely used in the growing field of electric plasma propulsion, when the thrust is generated by ionizing gas and ejecting plasmas using electrical power sources (e.g. solar panels). Such devices have become an enabling technology for deep space missions and long-term satellites keeping and maneuvering on near-Earth orbits. Hot plasmas are created in laboratories to imitate Sun conditions and achieve controlled thermonuclear fusion to access the limitless source of clean energy. Practical development of all these systems is enabled by a basic science discipline of plasma physics studying the behavior of an ionised gas such as that naturally present on the Sun, Earth's ionosphere, interplanetary and interstellar space, and created in laboratories. In nature and laboratories, plasmas are often confined and controlled by the magnetic fields making it unstable and turbulent. Turbulence is the result of nonlinear wave interactions resulting in highly irregular and unpredictable behavior. Despite the progress in some applications such as aerodynamics and weather forecasting, turbulence and related anomalous (turbulent) transport remains a great challenge of classical physics. Understanding plasma turbulence is vital for fundamental space physics problems, development of new manufacturing, propulsion, and fusion devices. The proposed theoretical and computational plasma physics research aims to explain and predict the turbulent behavior of magnetically controlled plasmas in the laboratory and technological application plasmas for fusion, material processing, and electric propulsion. Particular systems of interest are plasma devices for electric propulsion such as Hall and magnetic nozzle thrusters, magnetically enhanced plasma sources for material processing, tokamaks, open magnetic mirror, and Z-pinch configurations for fusion applications. The expected outcomes of this research are advanced knowledge of the physics of plasma devices and new modeling tools that will predict plasma behavior and device performance. The long-term objectives are to facilitate the design of new plasma systems for propulsion in space, new plasma systems for the material processing industry, and practical realization of controlled thermonuclear fusion as a clean energy source. 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 maintaining Canada's competitiveness in science and high technology areas.