Plasma Physics
Sheared-flow Z-pinch stability has been studied within ideal MHD primarily through growth rate calculations, which find that even trans-Alfv\'{e}nic sheared flows apparently fail to suppress the kink instability. Trans-Alfv\'{e}nic sheared…
Generation of relativistic runaway electrons has historically not been considered a possible problem in stellarators, but this may not hold in reactor-scale stellarators despite the lack of an externally driven plasma current. The magnitude…
We present a data-driven plasma fluid closure for both linear and nonlinear electrostatic Landau damping in one dimension. A Fourier Neural Operator (FNO) is trained online within a differentiable fluid solver, with the loss computed on…
We investigate two-center plasma screening effects on thermonuclear reactions of D-T, p-$^{11}$B, and $^{12}$C-$^{12}$C, spanning from classical to degenerate regimes. The two-center screening potential is obtained within a…
Phase contrast imaging (PCI) has been used for decades to study plasma density fluctuations, but its wavenumber response $k$ is constrained by the phase plate groove width and beam waist. Spiral phase contrast imaging (SPCI) with a spiral…
The implementation of Micro-Hollow Cathode Discharges (MHCDs) for the efficient and controlled dissociation of molecular nitrogen into reactive N-atoms remains a central challenge in the synthesis of strategic materials such as hexagonal…
The performance of a gas-fed pulsed electromagnetic thruster is governed by the ability to deposit electrical energy while propellant is available for acceleration. Current pulsed-power systems require tradeoffs between high-current…
We present a Lagrangian model that encapsulates fully kinetic ions and gyrokinetic electrons for solar wind electromagnetic turbulence. Using a consistent method, where both electrons and protons are treated with the same mathematical…
Electromagnetically driven centrifuges (EMDCs) rotate fluids using the Lorentz force, but their separative performance is limited by thermal dissipation that is coupled to electromagnetic forcing. This follows because local centrifugal…
A finite dusty plasma cluster of charged microparticles confined in an anisotropic potential well is investigated experimentally and through Langevin dynamics simulations. As the confinement anisotropy is increased, the cluster undergoes a…
We show that gyrokinetics in a spatially uniform equilibrium (or `astrophysical gyrokinetics') possesses a previously unknown quadratic invariant, which we call the gyrokinetic helicity. We derive the limiting forms of the gyrokinetic…
A coaxial gyromagnetic nonlinear transmission line (GNLTL) enables pulse-front compression and oscillation packet generation in the 0.3-10 GHz range. Numerical modeling of such systems typically employs a 2D axially symmetric FDTD scheme…
We present SPECTRE, a new equilibrium code based on the Multi-Region relaxed MHD model for robustly calculating 3D equilibria with general magnetic topology, allowing for flux surfaces, magnetic islands, and chaos. The code builds on a…
We present stellarator optimization algorithms for designing the edge magnetic structure in vacuum fields, together with the vacuum vessel. First, we introduce a numerical method that robustly computes periodic-orbit fixed points of any…
Controlling nuclear fusion is so challenging that for decades, people have been asking: Are we closer to infinite clean energy? Upon the philosophy of beauty and simplicity, the current work points out that there can be a shortcut: the…
Accurate evaluation of mechanical properties in steels under ageing or service conditions remains a major challenge. We propose a thermo-mechanical coupling framework for nanosecond laser ablation based on energy conservation, which is…
This study presents a portable planar argon-based plasma jet designed for large-area biomedical applications, with an emphasis on uniform discharge, stability, and safety. The device incorporates interchangeable rear and side inlet gas…
Ion-neutral collisions are fundamental in the transport of partially ionized plasmas. When collisional scales are comparable to the system scales or the electric field is strong, nonequilibrium conditions for the ions arise that are beyond…
Despite decades of research, the electron heating mechanisms in capacitively coupled plasma (CCP) discharges over a wide range of operating conditions is not fully understood. Although stochastic heating is generally regarded as the…
Magnetic mirrors are among the conceptually simplest plasma confinement configurations and remain promising candidates for thermonuclear fusion. Their design requires shaping an externally applied magnetic field to confine plasma within an…