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Title: Studies of Dynamic, Radiative Macroscopic Magnetized HED Plasmas with Closed B-Field Lines

Abstract

The purpose of this research has been to study the physics of macroscopic magnetized high-energy-density laboratory plasmas (HEDLPs) created through the compression of a high-beta compact toroid (CT) plasma having closed magnetic field lines. The high-beta CT chosen for this work is a field-reversed configuration (FRC). The basic approach is to investigate CT plasmas as they are compressed to a HED state by the electromagnetic implosion of a surrounding metallic shell or solid liner (Figure 1). The shell provides an axisymmetric, electrically-conducting boundary around the plasma and its supporting magnetic field and is imploded by means of the magnetic pressure force arising from axial current flow in the liner interacting with its associated azimuthal magnetic field. Compression of the CT will bring the plasma to fusion temperatures at higher densities and magnetic fields (multi-MegaGauss [MG]) than have previously been present in conventional magnetic fusion approaches. The resulting energy densities will be ~1 Mbar or greater and thus will place the plasma in a parameter space intermediate to MFE and IFE. This work has been a collaboration between the Air Force Research Laboratory, Los Alamos National Laboratory, and NumerEx, LLC.

Authors:
 [1];  [1]
  1. NumerEx, LLC, Albuquerque, NM (United States)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
NumerEx, LLC, Albuquerque, NM (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE
OSTI Identifier:
1105010
Report Number(s):
DOE-NMRX-8586
DOE Contract Number:
SC0008586
Resource Type:
Technical Report
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY; Magnetized Target Fusion; MTF; high-energy-density laboratory plasmas; HEDLP; field-reversed configuration; FRC; high-beta compact toroid plasma; magnetohydrodynamics; MHD; extended MHD; XMHD; FRC rotation

Citation Formats

Frese, Michael H., and Frese, Sherry D. Studies of Dynamic, Radiative Macroscopic Magnetized HED Plasmas with Closed B-Field Lines. United States: N. p., 2013. Web. doi:10.2172/1105010.
Frese, Michael H., & Frese, Sherry D. Studies of Dynamic, Radiative Macroscopic Magnetized HED Plasmas with Closed B-Field Lines. United States. doi:10.2172/1105010.
Frese, Michael H., and Frese, Sherry D. Fri . "Studies of Dynamic, Radiative Macroscopic Magnetized HED Plasmas with Closed B-Field Lines". United States. doi:10.2172/1105010. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1105010.
@article{osti_1105010,
title = {Studies of Dynamic, Radiative Macroscopic Magnetized HED Plasmas with Closed B-Field Lines},
author = {Frese, Michael H. and Frese, Sherry D.},
abstractNote = {The purpose of this research has been to study the physics of macroscopic magnetized high-energy-density laboratory plasmas (HEDLPs) created through the compression of a high-beta compact toroid (CT) plasma having closed magnetic field lines. The high-beta CT chosen for this work is a field-reversed configuration (FRC). The basic approach is to investigate CT plasmas as they are compressed to a HED state by the electromagnetic implosion of a surrounding metallic shell or solid liner (Figure 1). The shell provides an axisymmetric, electrically-conducting boundary around the plasma and its supporting magnetic field and is imploded by means of the magnetic pressure force arising from axial current flow in the liner interacting with its associated azimuthal magnetic field. Compression of the CT will bring the plasma to fusion temperatures at higher densities and magnetic fields (multi-MegaGauss [MG]) than have previously been present in conventional magnetic fusion approaches. The resulting energy densities will be ~1 Mbar or greater and thus will place the plasma in a parameter space intermediate to MFE and IFE. This work has been a collaboration between the Air Force Research Laboratory, Los Alamos National Laboratory, and NumerEx, LLC.},
doi = {10.2172/1105010},
journal = {},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {Fri Nov 01 00:00:00 EDT 2013},
month = {Fri Nov 01 00:00:00 EDT 2013}
}

Technical Report:

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  • High-amplitude sub-Larmor-scale electromagnetic turbulence is ubiquitous in high-energy density environments, such as laboratory plasmas produced by high-intensity lasers, e.g., NIF, Omega-EP, Trident, and others, and in astrophysical and space plasmas, e.g., at high-Mach-number collisionless shocks in weakly magnetized plasmas upstream regions of quasi-parallel shocks, sites of magnetic reconnection and others. Studies of plasmas and turbulence in these environments are important for fusion energy sciences and the inertial confinement concept, in particular, as well as to numerous astrophysical systems such as gamma-ray bursts, supernovae blast waves, jets of quasars and active galactic nuclei, shocks in the interplanetary medium, solar flares andmore » many more. Such turbulence can be of various origin and thus have rather different properties, from being purely magnetic (Weibel) turbulence to various types of electromagnetic turbulence (for example, whistler wave turbulence or turbulence produced by filamentation or Weibel-type streaming instability), to purely electrostatic Langmuir turbulence. In this project we use analytical and numerical tools to study the transport, radiative, and magneto-optical properties of plasmas with sub-Larmor-scale turbulence. We discovered the connection of transport/diffusion properties to certain spectral benchmark features of (jitter) radiation produced by the plasma and radiation propagation through it. All regimes, from the relativistic to non-relativistic, were thoroughly investigated and predictions were made for laboratory plasmas and astrophysical plasmas. Thus, all the tasks outlined in the proposal were fully and successfully accomplished.« less
  • Certain S3-3 electric-field observations show a single convetion cell engulfing the northern polar cap. The flow direction is that for a positive IMF B/sub y/ component. The particle data indicate that nearly half the duskside sunward flow occurs on closed field lines, whereas the dawnside flow is entirely on open field lines. The authors interpret this in terms of an IMF B/sub y/-induced deformation in the polar-cap boundary, where the deformation moves with the convective flow. Thus, convection streamlines cross the deformed polar-cap boundary, but no flow crosses the boundary because it is carried by the flow. Since southern-hemisphere convectionmore » is expected to occur with the opposite sense of rotation, it is predicted that closed-field lines will be forced to tilt azimuthally. On the nightside, the tilt produces a y component of the magnetic field in the same direction as the IMF for either sign of IMF B/sub y/. Our interpretation is consistent with observations of a greater y component in the plasma sheet than the tail lobes, which are difficult to understand in terms of the common explanation of IMF penetration. Alternatives to this interpretation are also discussed.« less
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  • The subject of atomic properties in the presence of very strong magnetic fields is experiencing a new wave of interest, especially insofar as non-hydrogenic systems are concerned, and we believe the research summarized here is on the crest of that wave. Only recently there have appeared a major review of Thomas-Fermi theory [Spruch, L. 1991, Rev. Mod. Phys. 63 151]; a new set of fundamental theorems pertaining to the Hamiltonian of a (Thomas-Fermi) atom in a strong field [Lieb E.H., Solovej J.P., Yngvason J., Phys. Rev. Lett. 69, 749 (1992)]; and the first numerical, Hartree-Fock (HF) results for multi-electron atomsmore » in strong B fields, but obtained under the restrictive assumption that the [rho]- and z-dependence of individual orbitals is completely separable [Miller M.C., Neuhauser D. Mon. Not. R. astr. Soc., 253, 107 (1991)].« less