All articles tagged with #plasma physics
New Juno data show electrons in Jupiter's foreshock gaining relativistic speeds, revealing a natural, large-scale accelerator that may unify how shock-driven particle acceleration works across the universe; the framework will be tested by upcoming missions like Europa Clipper and Juice.
A University of Alabama in Huntsville team has developed a pencil-sized cold-plasma “laundry gun” that blasts fabrics with a plasma jet to kill bacteria and odors, potentially keeping astronauts’ clothes cleaner in space. While proof-of-concept and small-scale, the technology could one day sterilize spacesuits and tools for long missions; researchers plan to increase the device size and add filters to reduce ozone byproducts as they work toward practical use in space.
Researchers on the EAST tokamak demonstrated a Detached divertor and Turbulence-dominated Pedestal (DTP) regime by precise light impurity seeding, achieving partial divertor detachment, full ELM suppression, and a boosted pedestal temperature with sustained confinement for about one minute, offering a path to reduce divertor heat while maintaining strong fusion performance.
SLAC researchers used giant x-ray lasers to image current filamentation instabilities in dense fusion plasma, capturing 500-femtosecond-scale evolution and revealing magnetic fields near 1,000 teslas, aiding understanding and modeling of fusion reactor behavior.
NASA’s Parker Solar Probe, flying closer to the Sun than any prior mission (within 3.8 million miles of the surface), uses a new ALPS analysis tool to map how energy heats and accelerates the solar wind, addressing the coronal heating puzzle and improving space-weather forecasts while providing insights into plasma behavior across the cosmos.
Nuno Loureiro, a prominent plasma physicist and head of MIT's Plasma Science and Fusion Center, was tragically shot and killed at his home in Brookline, Massachusetts, in an apparent homicide, shocking the scientific community and highlighting recent tragedies involving US universities.
Nuno Loureiro, a renowned MIT professor and director of the Plasma Science and Fusion Center, has passed away at 47. He made significant contributions to plasma physics and fusion research, advancing understanding of plasma behavior and astrophysical phenomena, and was highly regarded as a mentor and scientist. His work brought fusion energy closer to reality and influenced astrophysics, earning numerous awards and recognition.
Scientists at CERN recreated cosmic jet conditions using particle accelerators to investigate missing gamma-rays from blazars, finding that plasma beam instabilities are too weak to explain the phenomenon, which supports the idea of relic magnetic fields in intergalactic space. This experiment provides new insights into cosmic jet physics and the universe's magnetic history.
Researchers at Seoul National University have demonstrated multiscale coupling in plasma, revealing how microscopic magnetic ripples can induce large-scale structural changes, with significant implications for fusion energy technology and understanding cosmic phenomena, marking a major breakthrough in plasma physics.
South Korean researchers have experimentally demonstrated how microscopic plasma turbulence can lead to large-scale structural changes, a breakthrough that could advance the development of stable, limitless fusion energy as a clean power source.
Researchers at Caltech have discovered a new stable equilibrium state of braided magnetic flux ropes, called a double helix, which applies to structures from solar prominences to nebulae, and developed a mathematical model that accurately describes their behavior across vastly different scales, from laboratory experiments to light-year-sized astrophysical phenomena.
Scientists using supercomputer simulations, led by Andrew Chael, have modeled the environment around the supermassive black hole in M87, revealing new details about the plasma and magnetic fields near the event horizon, and showing that the black hole's shadow and photon ring can change over time due to chaotic plasma flows.
Researchers at The University of Osaka have developed a novel laser-driven method called bladed microtube implosion (BMI) to generate ultra-high magnetic fields approaching one megatesla, using microstructured targets to induce strong loop currents without external seed fields, opening new avenues in laboratory astrophysics and high-field physics.
Scientists have developed a new symmetry-based, non-perturbative modeling method that accurately predicts particle escape in fusion reactors, significantly improving speed and reliability over traditional techniques, and advancing the design of safer, more efficient fusion energy systems.
A new two-dimensional nanomaterial, tungsten semi-carbide, has been developed by researchers at Western University, demonstrating an unprecedented expansion behavior known as auxetics. The nanosheets can expand perpendicular to the applied force, setting a new world record of 40% expansion, surpassing the previous 10% record. This innovation was achieved through the use of remote plasma vapor deposition, a technique that relies on plasma physics to form single-atom layers. The material's potential applications include strain gauges, sensors, and stretchable electronics due to its enhanced electrical conductivity when subjected to stretching.