Search results for "plasma physics"

Characteristic Kα emission of electron cyclotron resonance ion source plasmas

2018

This thesis presents the results of an investigation of the volumetric Kα emission rate/inner shell ionization rate from an Electron Cyclotron Resonance Ion Source (ECRIS) plasma tuned predominantly for high charge state ion production. The experimental work include four complimentary studies covering the influence of a parametric sweep of the four source tune parameters i.e microwave power, neutral gas flow, biased disc voltage and magnetic field on the volumetric Kα emission rate, an investigation into the gas mixing effect, an investigation into the effectiveness of double-frequency heating mode and finally an investigation into microwave induced electron losses (relative and direct) from th…

Thermal Energy Density Driven Magnetic Reconnection

Magnetic reconnection is usually associated with conversion of magnetic energy into particle acceleration or thermal energy. However, a specific reconnection process driven by plasma pressure gradients was identified in Ref.[1] with a consistent theory of (non-ideal) MHD m0=1 modes in well confined plasmas. This process, based on an Ohm's law contribution to the electron balance equations, remains the basis for the explanation of the observed sawtooth oscillations of the central plasma pressure and for the inferred magnetic field structures due to fishbone oscillations associated with injected high energy particle populations. A novel process [2] expected to have a wide range of application…

Non-Thermal Fusion Burning Plasma Regimes

The Ignitor project is aimed at approaching ignition conditions in Deuterium-Tritium plasmas in order to investigate the issues related to the kind of characteristics of these plasmas, following the line of compact high field opened with the Alcator and Frascati Torus programs, which were capable of producing high density plasma regimes with record confinement properties combined with high degrees of plasma purity. We present a theoretical model describing the emergence of tridimensional structures in magnetically confined plasmas which can significantly change the conditions under which meaningful fusion burn conditions can be reached. These structures can be said to consist of "captive ba…

Effects of magnetic configuration on hot electrons in a minimum-B ECR plasma

2020

To investigate the hot electron population and the appearance of kinetic instabilities in highly charged electron cyclotron resonance ion source (ECRIS), the axially emitted bremsstrahlung spectra and microwave bursts emitted from ECRIS plasma were synchronously measured on SECRAL-II (Superconducting ECR ion source with Advanced design in Lanzhou No. II) ion source with various magnetic field configurations. The experimental results show that when the ratio of the minimum field to the resonance field (i.e. Bmin/Becr) is less than ~0.8, the bremsstrahlung spectral temperature Ts increases linearly with the Bmin/Becr–ratio when the injection, extraction and radial mirror fields are kept const…

The relationship between visible light emission and species fraction of the hydrogen ion beams extracted from 2.45 GHz microwave discharge.

2015

The relationship between Balmer-α and Fulcher-band emissions with extracted H + , H + 2 , and H + 3 ions is demonstrated for a 2.45 GHz microwave discharge. Ion mass spectra and optical measurements of Balmer-α and Fulcher-band emissions have been obtained with a Wien Filter having an optical viewport on the plasma chamber axis. The beam of approximately 1 mA is analyzed for different plasma conditions simultaneously with the measurement of light emissions both with temporal resolution. The use of visible light emissions as a valuable diagnostic tool for monitoring the species fraction of the extracted beams is proposed. peerReviewed

Photoelectron emission experiments with ECR-driven multi-dipolar negative ion plasma source

2017

Photoelectron emission measurements have been performed using a 2.45 GHz ECR-driven multi-dipolar plasma source in a low pressure hydrogen discharge. Photoelectron currents induced by light emitted from ECR zone and H− production region are measured from Al, Cu, Mo, Ta, and stainless steel (SAE 304) surfaces as a function of microwave power and neutral hydrogen pressure. The total photoelectron current from the plasma chamber wall is estimated to reach values up to 1 A for 900 W of injected microwave power. It is concluded that the volumetric photon emission rate in wavelength range relevant for photoelectron emission is a few times higher in arc discharge. peerReviewed

VUV emission spectroscopy combined with H- density measurements in the ion source Prometheus I

2016

“Prometheus I” is a volume H− negative ion source, driven by a network of dipolar electron cyclotron resonance (ECR; 2.45 GHz) modules. The vacuum-ultraviolet (VUV) emission spectrum of low-temperature hydrogen plasmas may be related to molecular and atomic processes involved directly or indirectly in the production of negative ions. In this work, VUV spectroscopy has been performed in the above source, Prometheus I, both in the ECR zones and the bulk (far from ECR zones and surfaces) plasma. The acquired VUV spectra are correlated with the negative ion densities, as measured by means of laser photodetachment, and the possible mechanisms of negative ion production are considered. The well-e…

First observation and study of the K± → π±π0e+e− decay

2018

The NA48/2 experiment at CERN reports the first observation of the K-+/- -> pi(+/-)pi(0)e(+)e(-) decay from an exposure of 1.7 x 10(11) charged kaon decays recorded in 2003-2004. A sample of 4919 candidates with 4.9% background contamination allows the determination of the branching ratio in the full kinematic region, BR(K-+/- -> pi(+/-)pi(0)e(+)e(-)) = (4.24 +/- 0.14) x 10(-6). The study of the kinematic space shows evidence for a structure dependent contribution in agreement with predictions based on chiral perturbation theory. Several P- and CP-violating asymmetries are also evaluated.

Global analysis of the pMSSM in light of the Fermi GeV excess: prospects for the LHC Run-II and astroparticle experiments

2016

We present a new global fit of the 19-dimensional phenomenological Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model (pMSSM-19) that comply with all the latest experimental results from dark matter indirect, direct and accelerator dark matter searches. We show that the model provides a satisfactory explanation of the excess of gamma-rays from the Galactic centre observed by the Fermi~Large Area Telescope, assuming that it is produced by the annihilation of neutralinos in the Milky Way halo. We identify two regions that pass all the constraints: the first corresponds to neutralinos with a mass ~80-100 GeV annihilating into WW with a branching ratio of 95% ; the second to heavier neutralinos, with mass ~…

Justification of point electrode models in electrical impedance tomography

2011

The most accurate model for real-life electrical impedance tomography is the complete electrode model, which takes into account electrode shapes and (usually unknown) contact impedances at electrode-object interfaces. When the electrodes are small, however, it is tempting to formally replace them by point sources. This simplifies the model considerably and completely eliminates the effect of contact impedance. In this work we rigorously justify such a point electrode model for the important case of having difference measurements ("relative data") as data for the reconstruction problem. We do this by deriving the asymptotic limit of the complete model for vanishing electrode size. This is s…