La fusion nucléaire est une solution technologique prometteuse pour une nouvelle source d'énergie. Cependant, utiliser la par fusion nucléaire confinement magnétique comme source d'énergie constitue un challenge scientifique et technologique car cela requière à la fois un bon confinement du plasma de cœur et un contrôle des flux de chaleurs arrivant à la paroi. Ce travail est motivé par la problématique de la gestion des flux de chaleur dans les réacteurs de fusion. Cela est nécessaire pour éviter d'endommager les coûteux composants faisant face au plasma. La compréhension des mécanismes physiques régissant le transport de la chaleur dans le plasma de bord est une tâche critique pour le design des futures machines. Dans ce contexte, il est nécessaire de faire des prédictions fiables de l'étalement de la chaleur dans le but de dimensionner correctement ces futures machines. Cela appelle à un fondement théorique décrivant la manière dont l'énergie s'échappe du plasma. Des études théoriques et expérimentales ont tenté aboutir à cette fin, cependant les mécanismes en jeux ne sont toujours pas clairs. Pour atteindre ce but, la modélisation numérique est un complément nécessaire aux expériences. Ce travail de thèse est dédié à l'étude numérique des différents aspects du transport de la chaleur dans le plasma de bord un utilisant les approches fluides. Une attention particulière est porté à deux mécanismes suspectés de joué un grand rôle dans le transport de la chaleur : le transport intermittent due à la turbulence et le transport convectif à large échelle par les vitesses dérives. Le problème a été traité avec une approche graduelle en utilisant différent outils numériques. / Fusion devices are a promising solution for a new source of energy. However, using fusion reaction to produce power within a magnetic confinement is a scientific and technological challenge as it requires a high confinement in the core plasma at the same time as a good control of plasma exhaust on the material walls. This work is motivated by the key problematic of power handling in fusion power plants necessary to avoid damaging the expensive plasma facing components (PFC). The understanding of the physics underlying the heat transport, and more specifically is a critical task for the engineering design of future Tokamak devices. In this context, it is mandatory to make reliable predictions of the power spreading in order to correctly size the future Tokamaks. This calls for a theoretical ground describing the way energy escapes the core plasma through the separatrix and deposits on the PFCs. Some theoretical and experimental studies attempt to achieve such a task, however no definitive conclusion have been drawn yet. To achieve this goal, numerical modelling is a necessary complement to experimental results. This PhD work has been dedicated to the study of the different aspects of the heat transport in the edge plasma using a numerical fluid approach. Special focus was devoted to two types of mechanisms suspected to play an important role in the heat transport: intermittent turbulence; the large-scale convective transport.

La fusion par confinement magnétique est prometteuse en tant que future source d’énergie. Son efficience est cependant limitée par le transport de particules et de chaleur résultant de la turbulence du plasma. Une compréhension approfondie de la turbulence et des mécanismes qui la tempère est donc nécessaire. Le mode géo-acoustique (GAM) est une oscillation de l’écoulement du plasma, radialement localisée, qui contribue à la réduction du transport turbulent en cisaillant le champ de vitesse. Dans cette thèse on étudie le comportement fondamental du GAM par une étude expérimentale systématique de ses propriétés dans le tokamak ASDEX Upgrade. En particulier, le rôle de la géométrie du plasma sur les lois d’évolution de la fréquence et de l’amplitude du GAM, ainsi que sa structure radiale sont étudiés en détail. Les données expérimentales ont été obtenues à l'aide du diagnostic de réflectométrie Doppler par micro-ondes. Le type d’évolution de la fréquence du GAM est comparé à de multiples modèles qui reproduisent la loi de comportement fondamental attendu, mais sans fournir de prédiction précise de manière satisfaisante. L'amplitude GAM est étudiée en relation avec les taux d'amortissement prédits par les modèles pour les processus d'amortissement collisionnel et Landau non collisionnel. On trouve que les effets de largeur d'orbite finie doivent être pris en compte et que les effets d'amortissement collisionnel ne peuvent pas être négligés. En étudiant la structure radiale du GAM, trois états distincts sont identifiés pour différentes conditions de plasma. Les transitions entre ces états sont observées en variant la géométrie du plasma / Magnetic confinement fusion is a promising candidate for a future energy source. Its efficiency is limited by particle and heat transport due to plasma turbulence. A thorough understanding of the turbulence and turbulence moderation mechanisms, is therefore needed. The geodesic acoustic mode (GAM) is a radially localised plasma flow oscillation which contributes to the reduction of turbulent transport through velocity shearing. This thesis investigates the fundamental behaviour of the GAM through a systematic experimental study of its properties in the ASDEX Upgrade tokamak. In particular, the role of the plasma geometry on the scaling of the GAM frequency and amplitude, as well as the GAM radial structure are investigated in detail. The experimental data was obtained with the aid of the microwave Doppler reflectometry diagnostic. The GAM frequency scaling is compared with multiple models which reproduce the expected fundamental scaling behaviour, but do not give a satisfyingly accurate prediction. The GAM amplitude is studied in connection with damping rates predicted by models for collisional and collisionless Landau damping processes. It is found that finite orbit width effects need to be considered and that collisional damping effects cannot be neglected. In studying the GAM radial structure, three distinct states are identified for different plasma conditions. Transitions between these states are observed under variations of the plasma geometry

La turbulence au sein d’un plasma contribue de manière significative à l’augmentation du transport de l’énergie et des particules. Ce transport diminue la qualité de confinement du plasma réduisant la possibilité d’atteindre le seuil de fusion. Notre travail a consisté à étudier et à mesurer l’évolution des caractéristiques de la turbulence ainsi que son rôle durant la transition d’un mode à faible confinement (L-mode) à un mode de confinement amélioré (H-mode) des plasmas du tokamak ASDEX Upgrade. Nous avons, en particulier, étudié la phase de transition intermédiaire (I-phase) où la turbulence et le cisaillement des structures turbulentes par les flux interagissent. Une des théories prévoit que la turbulence au bord du plasma est stabilisée par des gradients de champs électriques radiaux: le cisaillement de flux E×B stabilise la turbulence et diminue la taille radiale des structures. Le mécanisme physique détaillé de la formation de la barrière de transport n’est pas encore bien compris. Afin d’étudier la dynamique radiale et temporelle de la transition L-H, nous nous sommes servis d’un réflectomètre à balayage en fréquence ultra-rapide. Durant nos campagnes expérimentales nous sommes parvenus à réduire ce temps de balayage à 1 μs. La dynamique de densité électronique, du niveau de turbulence et des spectres lors des transitions L-H ont été réalisées. Les mesures montrent que le niveau des fluctuations de grande échelle diminue après une transition L-H, ce qui confirme les prédictions théoriques. La I-phase a été documentée pour diverses conditions du plasma. Enfin, ces réflectomètres ont aussi permis l’observation de modes cohérents à haute fréquence au bord du plasma / Plasma confinement is limited by energy and particle transport, in which turbulence plays an important role. In this work the measurements of the turbulence characteristics carried out on the ASDEX Upgrade tokamak are presented during the transition from the Low (L) to the High (H) confinement mode which goes through an Intermediate (I) phase where turbulence and shear flows strongly interact. One of the most widely accepted theories concerning the L-H transition describes how the turbulence in the plasma edge is stabilized by radial electric field gradients: the E×B flow shear stabilizes turbulence and decreases the radial size of turbulent structures. As a consequence, a transport barrier forms in the edge where the plasma density, the temperature, and their gradients increase. The detailed physical mechanism of the formation of the transport barrier as well as the reason for the residual transport across this barrier are not yet well understood. The density dynamics is measured by an ultra-fast swept reflectometer with a time resolution as high as 1 μs. Studies of the electron density profile dynamics, the density turbulence level, radial wavenumber and frequency spectra during L-H transitions have been performed. The reflectometer measurements show that the density large scale fluctuations decrease after an L-H transition, which confirms the theoretical predictions of the turbulence reduction by sheared flows and supports previous experimental evidences. I-phases for various plasma conditions are documented and the density evolution is compared with the turbulence level. Moreover the results on high frequency coherent modes appearing at the plasma edge are presented.

abstract: Achieving high efficiency in solar cells requires optimal photovoltaics materials for light absorption and as with any electrical device—high-quality contacts. Essentially, the contacts separate the charge carriers—holes at one terminal and electrons at the other—extracting them to an external circuit. For this purpose, the development of passivating and carrier-selective contacts that enable low interface defect density and efficient carrier transport is critical for making high-efficiency solar cells. The recent record-efficiency n-type silicon cells with hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) contacts have demonstrated the usefulness of passivating and carrier-selective contacts. However, the use of a-Si:H contacts should not be limited in just n-type silicon cells. In the present work, a-Si:H contacts for crystalline silicon and cadmium telluride (CdTe) solar cells are developed. First, hydrogen-plasma-processsed a-Si:H contacts are used in n-type Czochralski silicon cell fabrication. Hydrogen plasma treatment is used to increase the Si-H bond density of a-Si:H films and decrease the dangling bond density at the interface, which leads to better interface passivation and device performance, and wider temperature-processing window of n-type silicon cells under full spectrum (300–1200 nm) illumination. In addition, thickness-varied a-Si:H contacts are studied for n-type silicon cells under the infrared spectrum (700–1200 nm) illumination, which are prepared for silicon-based tandem applications. Second, the a-Si:H contacts are applied to commercial-grade p-type silicon cells, which have much lower bulk carrier lifetimes than the n-type silicon cells. The approach is using gettering and bulk hydrogenation to improve the p-type silicon bulk quality, and then applying a-Si:H contacts to enable excellent surface passivation and carrier transport. This leads to an open-circuit voltage of 707 mV in p-type Czochralski silicon cells, and of 702 mV, the world-record open-circuit voltage in p-type multi-crystalline silicon cells. Finally, CdTe cells with p-type a-Si:H hole-selective contacts are studied. As a proof of concept, p-type a-Si:H contacts enable achieving the highest reported open-circuit voltages (1.1 V) in mono-crystalline CdTe devices. A comparative study of applying p-type a-Si:H contacts in poly-crystalline CdTe solar cells is performed, resulting in absolute voltage gain of 53 mV over using the standard tellurium contacts. / Dissertation/Thesis / Doctoral Dissertation Electrical Engineering 2018

Este trabalho descreve o estudo das instabilidades magneto-hidro-dinâmicas (MHD) comumente observadas nas descargas elétricas de plasma no tokamak TCABR, do Instituto de Física da USP. Dois diagnósticos principais foram empregados para observar essas instabilidades: um conjunto poloidal de 24 bobinas magnéticas (bobinas de Mirnov) colocadas próximas à borda do plasma e um medidor de emissões na faixa do Ultra Violeta e de raios X moles com 20 canais (sistema SXR), cujo circuito de condicionamento de sinais foi aprimorado como parte deste trabalho. Esses diagnósticos foram escolhidos porque fornecem informações complementares, uma vez que o sistema SXR observa a parte central da coluna de plasma, enquanto as bobinas de Mirnov detectam as instabilidades MHD na região mais externa da coluna. As informações coletadas por esses diagnósticos foram submetidas à análise espectral com resolução temporal e espacial, possibilitando determinar a evolução das características espectrais e espaciais das instabilidades MHD observadas. Essas análises revelaram que durante a etapa inicial da formação do plasma (quando a corrente de plasma ainda está aumentando) ilhas magnéticas com números de onda decrescente, identificadas como sendo modos kink de borda, são detectadas nas bobinas de Mirnov. Após a formação do plasma, quando os parâmetros de equilíbrio estão relativamente estáveis (platô), oscilações são detectadas tanto nas bobinas de Mirnov quanto no sistema de SXR, indicando a presença de instabilidades MHD em toda a coluna de plasma. Em geral as oscilações medidas nas bobinas de Mirnov tem baixa amplitude e correspondem a pequenas ilhas magnéticas que foram identificadas como sendo modos de ruptura (modos tearing). Por outro lado, as instabilidades na região central foram identificadas como dentes de serra, que correspondem a relaxações periódicas da região interna à superfície magnética com fator de segurança q=1 e que são acompanhadas de oscilações precursoras, cuja amplitude depende da fase do ciclo de relaxação. Devido à essa modulação de amplitude, aparecem picos de frequência satélite nos espectrogramas dos sinais do SXR. Além disso, devido ao fato dos ciclos de relaxação não serem sinusoidais, os harmônicos da frequência de relaxação também aparecem nesses espectrogramas. No entanto, em muitas descargas do TCABR, a intensidade das oscilações medidas nas bobinas de Mirnov aumentam significativamente durante o platô, com efeitos sobre a frequência de todas as instabilidades MHD, até mesmo sobre os dentes de serra localizados na região central da coluna. Em todos os casos, observou-se que durante o platô a frequência das ilhas magnéticas coincide com a frequência das oscilações precursoras do dente de serra, apesar de serem duas instabilidades distintas, localizadas em posições radiais muito diferentes. Essa coincidência de frequências possibilitou descrever a evolução em frequência de todas as oscilações detectadas em diversos diagnósticos com base em apenas duas frequências básicas: a dos ciclos de relaxação dente de serra e a das ilhas magnéticas. / This work describes the study of magneto-hydro-dynamic instabilities (MHD) commonly observed in plasma discharges in tokamak TCABR (at Instituto de Física da USP). Two main diagnostics were employed to observe these instabilities: a poloidal set of 24 magnetic coils (Mirnov coils) placed near the plasma border and a detector of emissions in the Ultra Violet and soft X-ray range with 20 channels (SXR system) which improvement of the signal conditioning circuit was done as part of this work. These diagnostics were chosen because they provide complementary information, since the SXR system measures the central part of the plasma column, while the Mirnov coils detect the MHD instabilities in the outer part of the column. The information collected by these diagnoses was submitted to spectral analysis with temporal and spatial resolution, making it possible to determine the evolution of the spectral and spatial characteristics of the observed MHD instabilities. These analyzes revealed that during the initial stage of the plasma formation (when the plasma current is still increasing) magnetic islands with decreasing wave numbers, identified as edge kink modes, are detected in the Mirnov coils. After the plasma formation, when the equilibrium parameters are relatively flat (plateau), oscillations are detected in both Mirnov coils and SXR system, indicating the presence of MHD instability in the whole plasma column. In general, the fluctuations measured by the Mirnov coils have low amplitude corresponding to small magnetic islands, which were identified as tearing modes. On the other hand, the instabilities at the central region were identified as sawteeth oscillations that correspond to periodic relaxations in the internal region of the magnetic surface with safety factor q = 1 and that are accompanied by precursor oscillations which amplitude depends on the phase of the relaxation cycles. Due to this amplitude modulation, frequency satellite peaks appear in the spectrograms of the SXR signals. Furthermore, due to the fact that relaxation cycles are not sinusoidal, harmonics of the relaxation frequency also appear in the spectrograms. However, in many TCABR discharges, the intensity of the oscillations measured by the Mirnov coils increase significantly during the plateau, with affects the frequency of all MHD instabilities, even over the sawteeth in the central region of the column. In all cases, it was observed that during the plateau the frequency of the magnetic islands coincides with the frequency of the sawtooth precursors, although they are two different instabilities located in separated radial positions. This coincidence of frequencies allowed describing the frequency evolution of all measured oscillations by considering only two basic frequencies: the cycles of sawtooth relaxation and the magnetic islands.

Mapas simpléticos têm sido amplamente utilizados para modelar o transporte caótico em plasmas e fluidos. Neste trabalho, propomos três tipos de mapas simpléticos que descrevem o movimento de deriva elétrica em plasmas magnetizados. Efeitos de raio de Larmor finito são incluídos em cada um dos mapas. No limite do raio de Larmor tendendo a zero, o mapa com frequência monotônica se reduz ao mapa de Chirikov-Taylor, e, nos casos com frequência não-monotônica, os mapas se reduzem ao mapa padrão não-twist. Mostramos como o raio de Larmor finito pode levar à supressão de caos, modificar a topologia do espaço de fases e a robustez de barreiras de transporte. Um método baseado na contagem dos tempos de recorrência é proposto para analisar a influência do raio de Larmor sobre os parâmetros críticos que definem a quebra de barreiras de transporte. Também estudamos um modelo para um sistema de partículas onde a deriva elétrica é descrita pelo mapa de frequência monotônica, e o raio de Larmor é uma variável aleatória que assume valores específicos para cada partícula do sistema. A função densidade de probabilidade para o raio de Larmor é obtida a partir da distribuição de Maxwell-Boltzmann, que caracteriza plasmas na condição de equilíbrio térmico. Um importante parâmetro neste modelo é a variável aleatória gama, definida pelo valor da função de Bessel de ordem zero avaliada no raio de Larmor da partícula. Resultados analíticos e numéricos descrevendo as principais propriedades estatísticas do parâmetro gama são apresentados. Tais resultados são então aplicados no estudo de duas medidas de transporte: a taxa de escape e a taxa de aprisionamento por ilhas de período um. / Area-preserving maps have been extensively used to model chaotic transport in plasmas and fluids. In this work we propose three types of maps describing electric drift motion in magnetized plasmas. Finite Larmor radius effects are included in all maps. In the limit of zero Larmor radius, the monotonic frequency map reduces to the Chirikov-Taylor map, and, in cases with non-monotonic frequencies, the maps reduce to the standard nontwist map. We show how the finite Larmor radius can lead to chaos suppression, modify the phase space topology and the robustness of transport barriers. A method based on counting the number of recurrence times is used to quantify the dependence on the Larmor radius of the threshold for the breakup of transport barriers. We also study a model for a system of particles where the electric drift is described by the monotonic frequency map, and the Larmor radius is a random variable that takes a specific value for each particle of the system. The Larmor radius\' probability density function is obtained from the Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution, which characterizes plasmas in thermal equilibrium. An important parameter in this model is the random variable gamma, defined by the zero-order Bessel function evaluated at the Larmor radius\'particle. We show analytical and numerical computations related to the statistics of gamma. The set of analytical results obtained here is then applied to the study of two numerical transport measures: the escape rate and the rate of trapping by period-one islands.

Um dos problemas enfrentados pelos cientistas para o confinamento de plasma em Tokamaks, para se obter fusão termonuclear controlada, é o transporte radial de partículas pela borda do plasma. Nessa dissertação, estudamos o transporte através de um modelo que relaciona as flutuações eletrostáticas na borda do plasma às ondas de deriva. Essas ondas criam no plasma regiões de fluxo convectivo, formando ilhas que são, eventualmente, separadas por barreiras. Para apenas uma onda, o sistema é integrável e todas as trajetórias do plano de fase são curvas invariantes que, se não existirem barreiras, estão em ilhas divididas por separatrizes. Foi verificado que, quando uma segunda onda com velocidade de fase diferente da primeira é utilizada, o sistema não é mais integrável e a região anteriormente ocupada pelas separatrizes torna-se caótica. Com a quebra de separatrizes ocorre o transporte caótico de partículas. Quando uma separatriz é quebrada, surge em seu lugar uma estrutura que ainda preserva algumas características da separatriz, mas se modifica no espaço de fases ao longo do tempo. Essa estrutura é conhecida como Estrutura Lagrangiana Coerente (ELC). Nessa dissertação verificamos que as ELCs, por um lado, funcionam como barreiras de transporte, pois nenhuma trajetória consegue atravessa-la e, por outro lado, criam regiões no espaço de fases onde o transporte é alto, pois trajetórias próximas a elas tendem a ser aceleradas. Uma das principais contribuições obtidas ao se estudar ELCs no problema de duas ondas de deriva, aplicado ao confinamento de plasmas em Tokamaks, é a possibilidade de se prever a existência de ilhas, que funcionem como barreiras de transporte, no plano de fases que, por sua vez, são um importante mecanismo de aprisionamento de partículas. / One of the problems facing scientists in the confinement of plasma in tokamaks, to obtain controlled thermonuclear fusion, is the radial transport of particles at the plasma edge. In this dissertation, we study particle transport through a model that relates the electrostatic fluctuations at the edge of the plasma with drift waves. These waves create regions inside the plasma with convective flow, forming islands that are eventually separated by barriers. For one wave, the system is integrable and all the trajectories of phase space are invariant curves that are divided by separatrices. It was found that when a second wave with phase velocity different from the first is used, the system is no longer integrable and the region previously occupied by the separatrix becomes chaotic. With the destruction of the separatrix the transport of particles is chaotic. When a separatrix is broken, appears in its place a structure that preserves some features of the separatrix, but it is changing in phase space over time. This structure is known as Lagrangian Coherent Structure (LCS). In this dissertation we found that the LCSs, on the one hand, act as transport barriers, since no trajectory can cross it and, moreover, creates regions in phase space where particle transport is high, because trajectories close to them tend to be accelerated. One of the main contributions obtained by studying LCSs in the problem of two drift waves, applied to the confinement of plasma in tokamaks, is the ability to predict the existence of islands, which act as transport barriers, which are an important mechanism of trapping particles.

Propõe-se analisar teoricamente a instabilidade disruptora que ocorre em plasmas confinados em Tokamaks, investigando-se a influencia de campos helicoidais ressonantes em seu equilíbrio. Para isso, considerou-se a superposição do campo magnético do plasma em equilíbrio MHD estático com o campo associado às ressonâncias, levando-se em conta a geometria toroidal do Tokamak. Devido a falta de simetria, as linhas do campo magnético total resultante desta superposição devem formar superfícies magnéticas apenas em algumas regiões do plasma. Usando o método da media, foram obtidas (analiticamente) funções de superfícies aproximadas que contem, em torno das regiões de ressonância do plasma, as linhas deste campo magnético total. Verificou-se que estas superfícies aproximadas têm estruturas de ilhas magnéticas. / It is proposed to analyse theoretically the disruptive instability that occurs in confined plasmas in Tokamaks, through investigation of the influence of resonant helical fields on their equilibrium. With this aim, a superposition of the magnetic field of the plasma in static MHD equilibrium with the field associated with the resonances is considered, taking into account the toroidal geometry of the tokamak. Due to the lack of symmetry, the lines of the total magnetic field resulting from this superposition must form magnetic surfaces only around some regions of the plasma. Using the averaging method, functions of approximate magnetic surfaces are obtained (analitically) around the regions of resonances of the plasma (they contain the lines of this total magnetic field). It was verified that these approximate surfaces have structures of magnetic islands.

Detailed understanding of the equation of state of light elements such as the hydrogen isotopes in the warm dense matter (WDM) regime is essential for the modeling of the inner structure of many astrophysical objects, in particular Jovian planets as well as inertial confinement fusion (ICF) research. In these systems quantum degeneracy and strong inter-particle forces play an important role making its theoretical description extremely challenging. The Omega laser was used to drive a planar shock wave in cryogenically cooled deuterium creating WDM conditions. We used a set of independent diagnostics to measure the thermodynamic conditions of WDM including velocity interferometry (VISAR), streaked optical pyrometry (SOP) and x-ray Thomson scattering (XRTS). With a narrow-band x-ray backlighter probe at backscattering geometry the spectrally resolved XRTS accessed the boundary of collective and non-collective regimes making our measurement sensitive to both electron temperature and density. This work presents a full set of measurements of the thermodynamic properties for different laser intensity drives creating warm dense deuterium at various degrees of degeneracy and coupling. The measured electron densities and temperatures ranged between 0.2 and 2.15x10²³ cm^−3 and 0.6 − 20 eV respectively. The scattering measurement confirmed the findings from the VISAR and SOP data and together densityfunctional molecular dynamics (DFT-MD) simulations provides a novel self-consistent approach for an accurate characterization of the microscopic structure of WDM. Complementary to the laser compression work, findings from project employing static compression hydrogen with the use of diamond anvil cells is also be presented. The first direct measurement of the local field correction to the Coulomb interactions in degenerate plasma was obtained from inelastic scattering (20 keV probe) at the Diamond Light Source synchrotron facility.

A numerical simulation case involving space plasma and the evolution of instabilities that generates very fast electrons, i.e. approximately at half of the speed of light, is used as a test bed for scientific visualisation techniques. A visualisation system was developed to provide interactive real-time animation and visualisation of the simulation results. The work focuses on two themes and the integration of them. The first theme is the storage and management of the large data sets produced. The second theme deals with how the Visualisation System and Visual Objects are tailored to efficiently visualise the data at hand. The integration of the themes has resulted in an interactive real-time animation and visualisation system which constitutes a very powerful tool for analysis and understanding of the plasma physics processes. The visualisations contained in this work have spawned many new possible research projects and provided insight into previously not fully understood plasma physics phenomena.