Plasma Physics (physics.plasm-ph)

Abstract: The two-dimensional (2D) conformal field theory (CFT) suggests that the 2D plasma turbulence, governed by the Hasegawa-Mima (H-M) equation, may have multiple exponents of energy spectrum in momentum space. Electrostatic potential driven by drift waves in magnetized 2D plasmas would be described by the H-M equation. On the other hand, the 2D CFT has an infinite-dimensional symmetry. When we focus on minimal models established in 2D CFT, each minimal model provides a different 2D statistical model as presented in fluid turbulence, quantum field theory and string theory, and would provide a specific exponent of the energy spectrum. The CFT analytical results in this work suggests that the H-M plasma turbulence may have multiple exponents of the energy spectrum.

Abstract: Particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations are a superior tool to model kinetics-dominated plasmas in relativistic and ultrarelativistic laser-solid interactions (dimensionless vectorpotential $a_0 > 1$). The transition from relativistic to subrelativistic laser intensities ($a_0 \lesssim 1$), where correlated and collisional plasma physics become relevant, is reaching the limits of available modeling capabilities. This calls for theoretical and experimental benchmarks and the establishment of standardized testbeds. In this work, we develop such a suitable testbed to experimentally benchmark PIC simulations using a laser-irradiated micron-sized cryogenic hydrogen-jet target. Time-resolved optical shadowgraphy of the expanding plasma density, complemented by hydrodynamics and ray-tracing simulations, is used to determine the bulk-electron temperature evolution after laser irradiation. As a showcase, a study of isochoric heating of solid hydrogen induced by laser pulses with a dimensionless vectorpotential of $a_0 \approx 1$ is presented. The comparison of the bulk-electron temperature of the experiment with systematic scans of PIC simulations demostrates that, due to an interplay of vacuum heating and resonance heating of electrons, the initial surface-density gradient of the target is decisive to reach quantitative agreement at \SI{1}{\ps} after the interaction. The showcase demostrates the readiness of the testbed for controlled parameter scans at all laser intensities of $a_0 \lesssim 1$.

Abstract: We study the modulational instability (MI) of a linearly polarized electromagnetic (EM) wave envelope in an intermediate regime of relativistic degenerate plasmas at a finite temperature $(T\neq0)$ where the thermal energy $(K_BT)$ and the rest-mass energy $(m_ec^2)$ of electrons do not differ significantly, i.e., $\beta_e\equiv K_{B}T/m_{e}c^2\lesssim~(\rm{or}~\gtrsim) 1$, but, the Fermi energy $(K_BT_F)$ and the chemical potential energy $(\mu_e)$ of electrons are still a bit higher than the thermal energy, i.e., $T_F>T$ and $\xi_{e}=\mu_e/K_{B}T\gtrsim1$. Starting from a set of relativistic fluid equations for degenerate electrons at finite temperature, coupled to the EM wave equation and using the multiple scale perturbation expansion scheme, a one-dimensional nonlinear Sch{\"o}dinger (NLS) equation is derived, which describes the evolution of slowly varying amplitudes of EM wave envelopes. Then we study the MI of the latter in two different regimes, namely $\beta_e<1$ and $\beta_e>1$. Like unmagnetized classical cold plasmas, the modulated EM envelope is always unstable in the region $\beta_e>4$. However, for $\beta_e\lesssim1$ and $1<\beta_e<4$, the wave can be stable or unstable depending on the values of the EM wave frequency, $\omega$ and the parameter $\xi_e$. We also obtain the instability growth rate for the modulated wave and find a significant reduction by increasing the values of either $\beta_e$ or $\xi_e$. Finally, we present the profiles of the traveling EM waves in the form of bright (envelope pulses) and dark (voids) solitons, as well as the profiles (other than traveling waves) of the Kuznetsov-Ma breather, the Akhmediev breather, and the Peregrine solitons as EM rogue (freak) waves, and discuss their characteristics in the regimes of $\beta_e\lesssim1$ and $\beta_e>1$.

Abstract: We investigate the discharge characteristics of a low-pressure geometrically asymmetric cylindrical capacitively coupled plasma discharge with an axisymmetric magnetic field generating an EXB drift in the azimuthal direction. Vital discharge parameters, including electron density, electron temperature, DC self-bias, and Electron Energy distribution function (EEDF), are studied experimentally for varying magnetic field strength (B). A transition in the discharge asymmetry is observed along with a range of magnetic fields where the discharge is highly efficient with lower electron temperature. Outside this range of magnetic field, the plasma density drops, followed by an increase in the electron temperature. The observed behavior is attributed to the transition from geometrical asymmetry to magnetic field-associated symmetry due to reduced radial losses and plasma confinement in the peripheral region. In this region, the DC self-bias increases almost linearly from a large negative value to nearly zero, i.e., the discharge becomes symmetric. The EEDF undergoes a transition from bi-Maxwellian for unmagnetized to Maxwellian at intermediate B and finally becomes a weakly bi-Maxwellian at higher values of B. The above transitions present a novel way to independently control the ion energy and ion flux in a cylindrical CCP system using an axisymmetric magnetic field with an enhanced plasma density and lower electron temperature operation that is beneficial for plasma processing applications.

Abstract: A fast and accurate turbulence transport model based on quasilinear gyrokinetics is developed. The model consists of a set of neural networks trained on a bespoke quasilinear GENE dataset, with a saturation rule calibrated to dedicated nonlinear simulations. The resultant neural network is approximately eight orders of magnitude faster than the original GENE quasilinear calculations. ITER predictions with the new model project a fusion gain in line with ITER targets. While the dataset is currently limited to the ITER baseline regime, this approach illustrates a pathway to develop reduced-order turbulence models both faster and more accurate than the current state-of-the-art.

Abstract: Methods for reducing the radius, temperature, and space charge of nonneutral plasma are usually reported for conditions which approximate an ideal Penning Malmberg trap. Here we show that (1) similar methods are still effective under surprisingly adverse circumstances: we perform SDR and SDREVC in a strong magnetic mirror field using only 3 out of 4 rotating wall petals. In addition, we demonstrate (2) an alternative to SDREVC, using e-kick instead of EVC and (3) an upper limit for how much plasma can be cooled to T < 20 K using EVC. This limit depends on the space charge, not on the number of particles or the plasma density.