Related papers: Physics Criteria for a Subscale Plasma Liner Exper…
We describe an experiment to form and characterize a section of a spherically imploding plasma liner by merging six supersonic plasma jets that are launched by newly designed contoured-gap coaxial plasma guns. This experiment is a prelude…
We report experimental results on merging of hypersonic plasma jets, which is the fundamental building block for forming spherically imploding plasma liners as a potential standoff compression driver for mangeto-inertial fusion. Jets are…
Simulation studies of a section of a spherically imploding plasma liner, formed by the merger of six hypersonic plasma jets, have been performed at conditions relevant to the Plasma Liner Experiment (PLX) [S. C. Hsu et al., IEEE Trans.…
We identify the desired characteristics and parameters of a beta>1 magnetized plasma, possibly with highly tangled, open field lines, that could be a suitable target to be compressed to fusion conditions by a spherically imploding plasma…
Three dimensional hydrodynamic simulations have been performed using smoothed particle hydrodynamics (SPH) in order to study the effects of discrete jets on the processes of plasma liner formation, implosion on vacuum, and expansion. The…
A semi-analytic model for plasma-jet-driven magneto-inertial fusion is presented. Compressions of a magnetized plasma target by a spherically imploding plasma liner are calculated in one dimension (1D), accounting for compressible…
Plasma-jet-driven magneto-inertial fusion (PJMIF) is an alternative approach to controlled nuclear fusion which aims to utilize a line-replaceable dense plasma liner as a repetitive spherical compression driver. In this experiment, first…
This work presents scaling relations for the peak thermal pressure and stagnation time (over which peak pressure is sustained) for an imploding spherical plasma liner formed by an array of merging plasma jets. Results were derived from…
One-dimensional radiation-hydrodynamic simulations are performed to develop insight into the scaling of stagnation pressure with initial conditions of an imploding spherical plasma shell or "liner." Simulations reveal the evolution of…
A new kind of dynamo utilizing flowing laboratory plasmas has been identified. Conversion of plasma kinetic energy to magnetic energy is verified numerically by kinematic dynamo simulations for magnetic Reynolds numbers above 210. As…
The Plasma Liner Experiment (PLX) at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) is a platform that seeks to achieve fusion via the Plasma-Jet-Driven Magneto-Inertial Fusion (PJMIF) concept. The experiment utilizes a constellation of plasma guns…
This work studies the interaction between colliding plasma jets to understand regimes in which jet merging results in shock formation versus regimes in which the shock formation is mitigated due to the collisionless interpenetration of the…
We report experimental results on the parameters, structure, and evolution of high-Mach-number (M) argon plasma jets formed and launched by a pulsed-power-driven railgun. The nominal initial average jet parameters in the data set analyzed…
The compression and stability of plasma targets for the plasma jet-induced magneto-inertial fusion (PJMIF) have been investigated via large scale simulations using the FronTier code capable of explicit tracking of material interfaces. In…
We describe a laboratory plasma physics experiment at Los Alamos National Laboratory that uses two merging supersonic plasma jets formed and launched by pulsed-power-driven rail guns. The jets can be formed using any atomic species or…
Solar energetic ions are a known hazard to both spacecraft electronics and to manned space flights in interplanetary space missions that extend over a long period of time. A dipole-like magnetic field and a plasma source, forming a mini…
We propose a plasma experiment to be used to investigate fundamental properties of astrophysical dynamos. The highly conducting, fast-flowing plasma will allow experimenters to explore systems with magnetic Reynolds numbers an order of…
The spatial distribution of magnetic fields that are generated by the electromagnetic flux compression technique is investigated, with emphasis on the dynamical processes of an imploding liner. By comparing with the results of computer…
A specific set of dimensionless plasma and turbulence parameters is introduced to characterize the nature of turbulence and its dissipation in weakly collisional space and astrophysical plasmas. Key considerations are discussed for the…
The physical foundations of the dissipation of energy and the associated heating in weakly collisional plasmas are poorly understood. Here, we compare and contrast several measures that have been used to characterize energy dissipation and…