Helical Instability Evolution in Dynamic-Screw-Pinch-Driven Plasma Implosions

动态螺杆夹紧驱动等离子体内爆中的螺旋不稳定性演化

• 批准号: 2205608
• 负责人: Ryan McBride
• 金额: $ 58.6万
• 依托单位: Regents of the University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2022
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2022-09-01 至 2025-08-31
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=2205608&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Helical; Instability; Evolution; Dynamic; Screw

This award supports an effort to understand a plasma compression technique called the dynamic screw pinch, which has been demonstrated to reduce plasma instabilities. The knowledge gained in this project could enable more powerful x-ray generation, higher-pressure materials properties experiments, more efficient nuclear fusion generation, and a better understanding of astrophysical processes. The project will benefit society by advancing basic scientific knowledge, enabling future energy sources, and improving national defense capabilities. This project will also help train a diverse group of undergraduate and graduate students in plasma science and engineering while building stronger partnerships between academia, industry, and national laboratories. The project is awarded by the NSF Division of Physics with support from the National Nuclear Security Administration within the Department of Energy. This project will investigate the way in which cylindrical plasmas become unstable and break apart when they are strongly compressed by a magnetic field. Recently, a plasma compression technique called the dynamic screw pinch (DSP) has been demonstrated to reduce plasma instability growth in initially solid-metal thin-foil liner implosions on 1-MA, 100-nanosecond pulsed power facilities. The DSP technique uses a helical magnetic field with a time-dependent pitch angle to compress the cylindrical plasma. Despite the success of the DSP technique, questions remain as to how DSP-driven instabilities initially form and evolve relative to those driven by a standard z-pinch with a purely azimuthal magnetic field. This project will evaluate competing theories computationally and experimentally. Specifically, this project will investigate the roles of the electrothermal instability, coronal plasma dynamics, and magnetic field pitch angles in the seeding and evolution of the magneto-Rayleigh-Taylor instability (MRTI).This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

该奖项支持一项努力，以了解一种称为动态螺钉捏的等离子体压缩技术，该技术已被证明可以减少等离子体不稳定性。该项目中获得的知识可以使更强大的X射线产生，高压材料特性实验，更有效的核融合产生以及对天体物理过程的更好理解。该项目将通过推进基本科学知识，实现未来的能源并提高国防能力来使社会受益。该项目还将有助于培训一群在学术界，工业和国家实验室之间建立更牢固的合作伙伴关系的等离子体科学和工程学专业的本科生和研究生。 该项目由NSF物理部授予，并在能源部的国家核安全管理局的支持下。该项目将调查圆柱等离子体变得不稳定并在被磁场强烈压缩时破裂的方式。 最近，已经证明了一种称为动态螺钉捏（DSP）的等离子体压缩技术可在1 ma，100 nansecond的脉冲功率设施上最初固体金属纤维衬里内爆的血浆不稳定性生长。 DSP技术使用具有时间相关的螺距角度的螺旋磁场来压缩圆柱等离子体。 尽管DSP技术取得了成功，但有关DSP驱动的不稳定性的问题仍然存在，相对于具有纯粹方位角磁场的标准Z-Pinch驱动的不稳定性是如何形成和发展的。 该项目将通过计算和实验评估竞争理论。 具体而言，该项目将调查电热不稳定性，冠状等离子体动力学和磁场俯仰角在磁场 - 雷利 - 泰勒不稳定性的播种和演变中的作用。通过基金会的智力优点和更广泛的影响评估标准通过评估来支持。