Editorial Material
Optics
Andreas Doepp
Summary: Plasma accelerators driven by high-power lasers can produce high-energy electron beams in a smaller scale compared to traditional RF accelerators. However, the performance of these accelerators is limited by laser diffraction. Laser-generated plasma waveguides and controlled electron injection methods can address this issue and demonstrate the potential of novel laser-plasma optics.
LIGHT-SCIENCE & APPLICATIONS
(2022)
Article
Physics, Multidisciplinary
A. Ferran Pousa, I Agapov, R. Brinkmann, S. Jalas, M. Kirchen, A. Martinez de la Ossa, J. Osterhoff, M. Thevenet, S. A. Antipov, R. W. Assmann, W. P. Leemans, A. R. Maier
Summary: The letter proposes combining bunch decompression and active plasma dechirping to improve the energy profile and stability of beams from laser-plasma accelerators, closing the beam-quality gap to conventional acceleration schemes.
PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS
(2022)
Article
Engineering, Aerospace
M. Magarotto, S. Di Fede, N. Souhair, S. Andrews, F. Ponti
Summary: This work presents a numerical suite for cathodeless plasma thrusters, utilizing a Global Model, 3D-VIRTUS code, Starfish, and SPIS to estimate the propulsive performance and validate them against thrust measurements.
Article
Physics, Fluids & Plasmas
J. Zhou, A. Dominguez-Vazquez, P. Fajardo, E. Ahedo
Summary: This paper introduces an axisymmetric fluid model to simulate electrodeless plasma thrusters. Numerical simulations are conducted to study plasma transport and discuss particle and energy fluxes of electrons. The results indicate that wall losses greatly affect the thrust efficiency of these thrusters, and a sensitivity analysis shows that the performance is underestimated due to incomplete electron expansion in finite plumes.
PLASMA SOURCES SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Engineering, Aerospace
Vittorio Giannetti, Manuel Martin Saravia, Luca Leporini, Simone Camarri, Tommaso Andreussi
Summary: This paper presents a synergic experimental and numerical investigation of the breathing mode in a 5 kW-class Hall thruster. The calibrated model can predict the spatio-temporal distributions of the plasma properties with reasonable accuracy based on the discharge current signal. The augmented data obtained through the combination of experiments and calibrated model provides insights into the breathing mode oscillations and the evolution of plasma properties.
Article
Engineering, Aerospace
Shuting Xu, Zhe Zhang, Zhongkai Zhang, Wenjiang Yang, Haibin Tang, William Yeong Liang Ling
Summary: A time-frequency-domain method using wavelet analysis was proposed to analyze thrust noise, revealing the significant impact of environmental temperature on thrust noise. Experimental verification of this method showed time-varying analysis capability for thrust noise, highlighting the influence of thrust noise at different stages of thruster operation.
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
Thomas J. Immel, Brian J. Harding, Roderick A. Heelis, Astrid Maute, Jeffrey M. Forbes, Scott L. England, Stephen B. Mende, Christoph R. Englert, Russell A. Stoneback, Kenneth Marr, John M. Harlander, Jonathan J. Makela
Summary: Observations from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Ionospheric Connection Explorer have confirmed the link between thermospheric winds and ionospheric plasma variability, presenting challenges in predicting changes in Earth's equatorial ionosphere for geopositioning systems and radio communications. Improved prediction of Earth's plasma environment is expected through prediction of thermospheric winds.
Article
Astronomy & Astrophysics
Eoin P. Carley, Baptiste Cecconi, Hamish A. Reid, Carine Briand, K. Sasikumar Raja, Sophie Masson, Vladimir Dorovskyy, Caterina Tiburzi, Nicole Vilmer, Pietro Zucca, Philippe Zarka, Michel Tagger, Jean-Mathias Griessmeier, Stephane Corbel, Gilles Theureau, Alan Loh, Julien N. Girard
Summary: The study observed a type II radio burst and found that the fine structure is related to power-law distribution of density perturbations, closely matching the expected value for fully developed turbulence. The turbulent density inhomogeneities upstream of the shock show the possibility of fine structure and fragmentation occurring due to shock propagation through turbulent coronal plasma.
ASTROPHYSICAL JOURNAL
(2021)
Article
Physics, Applied
A. Ahmed, S. Singha, N. K. Neog, T. K. Borthakur
Summary: An experimental study examines the influence of an external longitudinal magnetic field on the characteristics of pulsed plasma stream in an argon medium. The study provides insights into the recombination and diffusion phases of plasma species under the magnetic field. The density profile reveals the transition from dominant recombination phase to diffusional phase, and the decrease in electron temperature and increase in electron excitation temperature explain energy transfer and system equilibrium. The magnetic field also affects ionized argon population transitions and the time-resolved morphology changes of the plasma stream.
JOURNAL OF APPLIED PHYSICS
(2023)
Article
Physics, Fluids & Plasmas
Simone Di Fede, Marco Manente, Paolo Joao Comunian, Mirko Magarotto
Summary: This study investigates the plasma dynamics in a Helicon Plasma Thrusters' (HPT) cluster in three dimensions for the first time. The investigation is conducted using ProPic, a 3D particle-in-cell code, and validated against experiments and cross-validated with Starfish, a 2D PIC software. The study reveals three significant phenomena that affect the cluster's performance.
PLASMA SOURCES SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
(2023)
Article
Physics, Multidisciplinary
F. Batsch, P. Muggli, R. Agnello, C. C. Ahdida, M. C. Amoedo Goncalves, Y. Andrebe, O. Apsimon, R. Apsimon, A-M Bachmann, M. A. Baistrukov, P. Blanchard, F. Braunmueller, P. N. Burrows, B. Buttenschoen, A. Caldwell, J. Chappell, E. Chevallay, M. Chung, D. A. Cooke, H. Damerau, C. Davut, G. Demeter, H. L. Deubner, S. Doebert, J. Farmer, A. Fasoli, V. N. Fedosseev, R. Fiorito, R. A. Fonseca, F. Friebel, I Furno, L. Garolfi, S. Gessner, I Gorgisyan, A. A. Gorn, E. Granados, M. Granetzny, T. Graubner, O. Grulke, E. Gschwendtner, V Hafych, A. Helm, J. R. Henderson, M. Huther, I. Yu Kargapolov, S-Y Kim, F. Kraus, M. Krupa, T. Lefevre, L. Liang, S. Liu, N. Lopes, K. Lotov, M. Martyanov, S. Mazzoni, D. Medina Godoy, V. A. Minakov, J. T. Moody, K. Moon, P. I. Morales Guzman, M. Moreira, T. Nechaeva, E. Nowak, C. Pakuza, H. Panuganti, A. Pardons, A. Perera, J. Pucek, A. Pukhov, R. L. Ramjiawan, S. Rey, K. Rieger, O. Schmitz, E. Senes, L. O. Silva, R. Speroni, R. Spitsyn, C. Stollberg, A. Sublet, A. Topaloudis, N. Torrado, P. Tuev, M. Turner, F. Velotti, L. Verra, V. A. Verzilov, J. Vieira, H. Vincke, C. P. Welsch, M. Wendt, M. Wing, P. Wiwattananon, J. Wolfenden, B. Woolley, G. Xia, M. Zepp, G. Zevi Della Porta
Summary: The experiment demonstrates that sufficient initial amplitude (>= 4.1 MV/m) leads to reproducibility of phase along the proton bunch during self-modulation in plasma. However, lower initial amplitudes do not result in reproducible phase, highlighting the importance of phase reproducibility for deterministic external injection of particles to be accelerated.
PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS
(2021)
Article
Geosciences, Multidisciplinary
J. R. Szalay, G. Clark, G. Livadiotis, D. J. McComas, D. G. Mitchell, J. S. Rankin, A. H. Sulaiman, F. Allegrini, F. Bagenal, R. W. Ebert, G. R. Gladstone, W. S. Kurth, B. H. Mauk, P. W. Valek, R. J. Wilson, S. J. Bolton
Summary: Two distinct proton populations, a low-energy core population and a high-energy dispersive conic population, are observed over Jupiter's southern polar cap. The core protons are likely the seed population for the higher-energy dispersive conics, which are accelerated due to transient wave-particle heating. Plasma characteristics and composition suggest that Jupiter's polar-most field lines can be topologically closed, with magnetic footpoints connected to both hemispheres.
GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS
(2022)
Article
Physics, Multidisciplinary
Felicie Albert, M. E. Couprie, Alexander Debus, Mike C. Downer, Jerome Faure, Alessandro Flacco, Leonida A. Gizzi, Thomas Grismayer, Axel Huebl, Chan Joshi, M. Labat, Wim P. Leemans, Andreas R. Maier, Stuart P. D. Mangles, Paul Mason, Francois Mathieu, Patric Muggli, Mamiko Nishiuchi, Jens Osterhoff, P. P. Rajeev, Ulrich Schramm, Jorg Schreiber, Alec G. R. Thomas, Jean-Luc Vay, Marija Vranic, Karl Zeil
Summary: Plasma-based accelerators use strong magnetic fields to accelerate charged particles to high energies. The research has transitioned from small-scale efforts to international networks of scientists with substantial investment in research infrastructure.
NEW JOURNAL OF PHYSICS
(2021)
Article
Physics, Fluids & Plasmas
T. Lafleur, L. Habl, E. Zorzoli Rossi, D. Rafalskyi
Summary: Iodine is a cost-effective alternative propellant for electric propulsion technologies due to its ability to be stored as a solid. However, the complexity of iodine plasmas and the lack of reliable collision cross-section data have hindered the development of accurate theoretical and numerical models. This study presents a plasma model using newly calculated cross-sections and compares it with experimental data from an ion thruster. The model shows reasonable agreement with experimental measurements and demonstrates that iodine can enhance performance compared to xenon.
PLASMA SOURCES SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY
(2022)
Article
Physics, Multidisciplinary
F. M. Foerster, A. Doepp, F. Haberstroh, K. Grafenstein, D. Campbell, Y-Y Chang, S. Corde, J. P. Couperus Cabadag, A. Debus, M. F. Gilljohann, A. F. Habib, T. Heinemann, B. Hidding, A. Irman, F. Irshad, A. Knetsch, O. Kononenko, A. Martinez de la Ossa, A. Nutter, R. Pausch, G. Schilling, A. Schletter, S. Schoebel, U. Schramm, E. Travac, P. Ufer, S. Karsch
Summary: The experimental results demonstrate a plasma wakefield accelerator driven by a laser wakefield accelerator, generating stable and high-quality electron beams in the PWFA stage. Combining the PWFA stage with LWFA can optimize electron beam quality and reduce the influence of fluctuating laser drivers on electron beam stability.
