CAREER: Transport Phenomena in Ultracold Neutral Plasmas

职业：超冷中性等离子体中的输运现象

• 批准号: 1453736
• 负责人: Scott Baalrud
• 金额: $ 55万
• 依托单位: University of Iowa
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2015-05-01 至 2021-04-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1453736&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: CAREER; Transport; Phenomena; Ultracold; Neutral

This Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program award supports a fundamental theoretical investigation of the transport properties of ultracold neutral plasmas. Ultracold plasmas are a novel state of matter because the low temperature causes constituent particles, electrons and ions, to be strongly coupled. This medium has fundamentally different properties than traditional plasmas, analogous to the ways in which liquids differ from gases. Strongly coupled plasmas arise in several disciplines influencing energy, security and fundamental physics research. Examples include dense plasmas found in inertial confinement fusion experiments, intense laser-material interaction studies, sonoluminescing microbubbles, as well as astrophysical objects such as white dwarfs and giant planet interiors. Ultracold plasmas provide a unique window to view this physics because they can be accurately measured using lasers. This enables detailed tests of theoretical models. In addition to the theoretical research, a complimentary outreach program will introduce the public to plasma physics through an interactive "What is Plasma" demonstration. This will be an integral part of a larger exhibit on the history of space science at the University of Iowa (UI) to be displayed by the UI Natural History Museum, and later as a traveling exhibit in the UI Mobile Museum. Ultracold plasmas are formed by laser-induced ionization of trapped ultracold atoms, resulting in a charge-neutral mixture of cold ions and electrons. Advances provided by this project are statistical mechanical theory and molecular dynamics simulations capable of accounting for both components of the plasma. Theory and simulations in this relatively new field have focused on one-component models, treating the plasma as a single fluid. The new advances address two-component physics that will become increasingly important as experiments strive for lower temperatures. The particular processes that will be emphasized are equation of state, mutual diffusion, viscosity and energy relaxation rates. The project will focus on understanding how various microphysics processes affect macroscopic transport, including the opposite sign of electron and ion charge, the nonequilibrium nature of electrons and ions, and the dynamic dielectric response of the plasma. The results will provide insights into the fundamental physics of strongly coupled plasmas, contributing to several frontier research fields.

这项教师早期职业发展（职业）计划奖支持对超代价中性等离子体的运输特性的基本理论调查。超速等离子体是一种新的物质状态，因为低温会导致组成颗粒，电子和离子强烈耦合。该培养基具有与传统等离子体的根本不同的特性，类似于液体与气体不同的方式。在影响能量，安全性和基本物理学研究的几个学科中出现了强烈的等离子体。例子包括在惯性限制融合实验中发现的密集等离子体，激烈的激光材料相互作用研究，超声处理微泡以及天体物理物体（如白色矮人和巨型行星室内体）。 Ultracold等离子体提供了一个独特的窗口来查看此物理，因为可以使用激光对其进行准确测量。这可以对理论模型进行详细测试。除了理论研究外，一个免费的外展计划还将通过交互式“什么是等离子体”演示向公众介绍等离子体物理学。这将是爱荷华大学（UI）的大型展览的一部分，该展览将由UI自然历史博物馆展出，后来作为UI Mobile博物馆的巡回展览。超速等离子体是通过激光诱导的捕获超电原子的电离形成的，从而导致冷离子和电子的电荷中性混合物。该项目提供的进步是统计机械理论和分子动力学模拟，能够考虑血浆的两个组成部分。在这个相对较新的领域中的理论和模拟集中在一个组件模型上，将血浆视为单个流体。新的进步涉及两组分物理学，随着实验努力争取较低的温度，这些物理学将变得越来越重要。将要强调的特定过程是状态方程，相互扩散，粘度和能量放松率。该项目将集中于理解各种微物理过程如何影响宏观运输，包括电子和离子电荷的相反迹象，电子和离子的非平衡性质以及等离子体的动态介电响应。结果将提供有关强耦合等离子体的基本物理学的见解，从而有助于几个边境研究领域。