Related papers: Ion Beam Shepherd for Asteroid Deflection
Through multiple, small unmanned probes we can more efficiently capture an asteroid and return it to lunar orbit. The Asteroid Return and Exploration System (ARES) aims to make use of previously tested technology with the application of a…
New means of interstellar travel are now being considered by various research teams, assuming lightweight spaceships to be accelerated via either laser or solar radiation to a significant fraction of the speed of light (c). We recently…
A new hydrodynamic mechanism is proposed for the ion beam induced surface patterning on solid surfaces. Unlike the standard mechanisms based on the ion beam impact generated erosion and mass redistribution at the free surface (proposed by…
A novel type of particle "cooling", called Ionization Cooling, is applicable to slow (v of the order of 0.1c) ions stored in a small ring. The many traversals through a thin foil enhance the nuclear reaction probability, in a steady…
The ion energy distribution functions (IEDF) have been measured for a helium atmospheric pressure dielectric barrier discharge jet expanding into the air and impacting a metal or ceramic surface. The plasma jet produces ionization waves as…
We advocate a low-cost strategy for long-duration research into the 'milligravity' environment of asteroids, comets and small moons, where surface gravity is a vector field typically less than 1/1000 the gravity of Earth. Unlike the…
There are thousands of asteroids in near-Earth space and millions in the Main Belt. They are diverse in physical properties and composition and are time capsules of the early solar system. This makes them strategic locations for planetary…
The stellarator-type storage ring for accumulation of multi- Ampere proton and ion beams with energies in the range of $100~AkeV$ to $1~AMeV$ is designed at Frankfurt university. The main idea for beam confinement with high transversal…
On the proper timescale, amorphous solids can flow. Solid flow can be observed macroscopically in glaciers or lead pipes, but it can also be artificially enhanced by creating defects. Ion Beam Sputtering (IBS) is a technique in which ions…
The quasiparticle method, which has achieved a great success in solid state electronics and crystal lattice vibration, is adopted to study the solid state ion transport. A general recipe is put forward to map the classical solid state ion…
Ion traps offer the opportunity to study fundamental quantum systems with high level of accuracy highly decoupled from the environment. Individual atomic ions can be controlled and manipulated with electric fields, cooled to the ground…
Approaching a tumbling target safely is a critical challenge in space debris removal missions utilizing robotic manipulators onboard servicing satellites. In this work, we propose a trajectory planning method based on nonlinear optimization…
It is shown that a superposition of static and rapidly oscillating electric {\it monopole} (source) fields is capable of trapping particles with a permanent electric dipole moment. Thus, the new trapping mechanism differs fundamentally from…
We explore the potential of conducting an experiment in a low Earth orbit spacecraft and using the Earth as a spin and mass source to constrain beyond-the-standard-model (BSM) long-range spin- and velocity-dependent interactions, which are…
Asteroid discoveries are essential for planetary-defense efforts aiming to prevent impacts with Earth, including the more frequent megaton explosions from decameter impactors. While large asteroids ($\geq$100 km) have remained in the main…
In recent years, an energetic experimental program has set quite stringent limits on a possible "non - 1/r^2" dependence on gravity at short length scales. This effort has been largely driven by the predictions of theories based on…
We propose a new scheme of producing intense neutron beam whose yields exceed those of existing facilities by many orders of magnitude. This scheme uses the recently proposed photon beam extracted from circulating quantum ions, which is…
We report on the experimental characterization of the RIT-2.5 radiofrequency ion thruster, complemented by particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations to establish correlations between plasma parameters and extracted beam properties. The thruster…
A method is proposed for producing monoergetic, high-quality ion beams in vacuum, via direct acceleration by the electromagnetic field of two counterpropagating, variable-frequency lasers: ions are trapped and accelerated by a beat-wave…
We present a stochastic approach for ion transport at the mesoscopic level. The description takes into account the self-consistent electric field generated by the fixed and mobile charges as well as the discrete nature of these latter. As…