Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1983. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1982. / Typescript. Vita. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

In recent years experimental advances at the GAMMA-10 facility in Tsukuba, Japan have shown that tandem mirrors should remain an important subject for theoretical study. The absence of toroidal curvature and relatively weak internal plasma parallel currents in a tandem mirror gives the mirror system strongly favorable stability and transport properties compared with toroidal systems. GAMMA-10 experiments (T. Cho et al. PRL (97), 2006) demonstrate that sheared plasma rotation suppresses turbulent radial losses by controlling radial potential profiles. Achievements of the GAMMA-10 include 2.5 keV ion confining potentials and electron temperatures approaching 1 keV (T. Cho, Private correspondence, Dec 24th, 2006). Total energy confinement times for the GAMMA-10 experiment are significantly larger than corresponding empirical confinement times in toroidal devices. At the temperatures currently achieved in the GAMMA-10, the end loss rate [mathematical symbols] 100 ms so that radial losses determine the energy confinement time [mathematical symbol], as intended in tandem mirror reactor designs (R. F. Post, T.K. Fowler, et al., Fusion Science and Technology, (47), 2005). The most current measurements of [mathematical symbol] are on the order of 72 ms. Tandem mirrors exhibit a qualitatively different type of drift wave transport than do toroidal devices, as we have shown by developing confinement time scaling predictions (J. Pratt and W. Horton, Phys. Plasmas (13), 2006. W. Horton, J. Pratt, H.L. Berk, M. Hirata. Proceedings of the Open Magnetic Systems For Plasma Confinement Conference. Tsukuba, Japan, July 17-21, 2006). These predictions use a variety of standard transport models, e.g., Bohm, gyro-Bohm, and electron-temperature gradient models. We analyze electrostatic drift wave eigenmodes for the electrostatic potential and the magnetic perturbation in the GAMMA-10. We use teraFLOPS speed, large scale parallel computers to integrate the orbits in models of the drift wave losses in the GAMMA-10. We extrapolate these results to reactor designs for the kinetically stabilized tandem mirror reactor proposed by Post et al., and discuss implications for its stability, transport, and performance. / text

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2009. / Title from PDF title page (University of Texas Digital Repository, viewed on Sept. 9, 2009). Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

by Tsui Chi Wa. / Chinese title: / Bibliography: leaf 51 / Thesis (M.Phil.) -- Chinese University of Hong Kong, 1983

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2006. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Not available / text

The particle and thermal transport by low-frequency drift waves in magnetized plasmas are studied with theories and simulations. Universal in inhomogeneous plasmas, drift waves in Earth's ionosphere, the GAMMA-10 Tandem Mirror machine, the Columbia Linear Machine and C-Mod tokamak are studied in this thesis. The first investigations are E x B particle transport in the given electric and magnetic fields of the GAMMA-10 mirror machine at the University of Tsukuba in Japan. The results show that the formation of E [subscript r]-shear by local heating of electrons can reduced the radial particle loss. The turbulent impurity particle transport driven by various modes in the MIT tokamak Alcator C-Mod is studied by a quasilinear theory and compared to experimental measurement of Boron density profiles. A code is developed for solving eigensystems of drift wave turbulence equations for the multi-component fusion plasmas and calculating quasilinear particle fluxes. The calculations are much faster than nonlinear simulations and may be suitable for real-time analysis and feedback control of tokamak plasmas. The electron temperature gradient (ETG) mode is a candidate mechanism for anomalous electron thermal transport across various magnetic confinement geometries. This mode was produced in the Columbia Linear Machine (CLM) at Columbia University. Large scale simulations of the ETG mode in the CLM by a gyrokinetic code GTC are carried out on supercomputers at TACC and NERSC. The results show good agreement with experiments in the dominant mode number, wave frequencies and the radial structure. Some nonlinear properties are also analyzed using the code. / text

Plasma turbulence on a uniform density gradient with unfavorable magnetic curvature is investigated extensively in the Helimak device. The turbulence is strong with density and electrostatic potential fluctuation levels in excess of 40%. Measurements of the dispersion relation, k[subscript z], and k[subscript parallel lines] identify the the fluctuations with drift-waves, which propagate in the poloidal direction at the diamagnetic drift velocity and have a small, but nite parallel wavenumber. A non-zero phase shift between the density and potential fluctuations gives rise to turbulent cross-eld particle transport, which is measured using spectral techniques. In addition, the electrostatic drift-wave fluctuations have a small magnetic component that is driven by the turbulent parallel current [scientific symbols]. An examination of nonlinear processes associated with the plasma turbulence uncovers high levels of intermittency near the plasma edge and long-time persistence of the density fluctuations on the order of the parallel confinement time. An analysis of the bispectrum conrms the existence local and nonlocal three-wave interactions between unstable drift-waves although the turbulent saturation of the density fluctuation spectrum is likely due nonlinear processes acting in the time domain. / text

The whole universe is filled with plasma. There are different kinds of plasmas filling large volumes, separated by distinct boundaries. Many important energy conversion, particle acceleration and plasma transport processes occur at these boundaries, and therefore it is important to study the plasma processes there. It will for example help us to better understand the interaction and energy exchange between the Sun and the Earth. The lower hybrid drift waves (LHDW) are strong plasma waves that are often excited within boundaries, but their role in different plasma processes are still unclear. Many studies of the LHDW have been done, both in space and in laboratory. However, the LHDW are electron scale waves, and due to their small wavelength it has been difficult to study them in detail experimentally. For the first time we are able to make very detailed studies of the LHDW using observations by the Cluster spacecraft in the plasma surrounding Earth. By making cross spacecraft correlations of the electric field and examining existence conditions, we were able to determine the velocity of propagation and wavelength of the waves and thereby identify them as LHDW. We also calculate the electrostatic potential and find that it corresponds to about a third of the electron temperature. This indicate that they might be able to affect the electrons and thus take part in the processes within the boundary layer. By deriving a linear relation between the electrostatic potential, and the wave magnetic field, we compare them both and find that they correspond very well. We can use this to estimate the electrostatic potential in cases when cross spacecraft correlation is not possible.