Investigating heat transport properties of turbulent, magnetised plasmas via Thomson scattering and X-ray emission

ORAL

Abstract

Experiments at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's National Ignition Facility (NIF) have replicated the micro-physics of galaxy clusters, revealing a breakdown of Spitzer's heat conduction theory in highly magnetized, turbulent, and weakly collisional plasmas [1]. Line-integrated X-ray emission analysis provided compelling evidence that turbulent-dynamo-amplified magnetic fields significantly suppress heat conduction, a phenomenon not accounted for by Spitzer's theory. To further investigate the mechanisms behind this strong heat conduction suppression, the experimental platform from NIF was replicated at the Laboratory for Laser Energetics' (LLE) OMEGA facility [2] by the introduction of a heater beam. By leveraging multiple in situ diagnostics such as probing Thomson scattering, X-ray emission, and proton radiography to characterize the heat front propagation, heat suppression at OMEGA is demonstrated for the first time.

[1] Meinecke, Sci. Adv., 8, eabj6799 (2022)

[2] Tzeferacos, Nature Comm., 9, 591 (2018)

*This material is based upon work supported by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) under Award No. DE-NA0004144, the University of Rochester, and the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority. The research leading to these results also received funding from the U.K. EPSRC (grant numbers EP/M022331/1 and EP/N014472/1); the European Research Council under the European Community's Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013)/ERC grant agreements nos. 256973 and 247039; the U.S. DOE under Contract No. B591485 to LLNL. We acknowledge support by the U.S. DOE NNSA under Awards DE-NA0002724, DE-NA0003605, DE-NA0003842, DE-NA0003934, DE-NA0003856, DE-NA0004147,and Subcontracts 536203 and 630138 with LANL; the NSF under Awards PHY-2033925 PHY-2308844; and the U.S. DOE Office of Science Fusion Energy Sciences under Award DE-SC0021990.

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Presenters

  • Hannah Poole

    • University of Oxford

Authors

  • Hannah Poole

    • University of Oxford

  • Archie F.A. Bott

    • University of Oxford

  • Petros Tzeferacos

    • University of Rochester

  • Charlotte A Palmer

    • Queen's University Belfast

  • Kassie Moczulski

    • University of Rochester

  • Dustin H Froula

    • University of Rochester
    • University of Rochester - Laboratory for Laser Energetics

  • Joseph D Katz

    • University of Rochester - Laboratory for Laser Energetics
    • Laboratory for Laser Energetics

  • Timothy Filkins

    • LLE

  • James S Ross

    • Livermore
    • Lawrence Livermore Natl Lab

  • Hye-Sook Park

    • LLNL
    • Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

  • Adam Reyes

    • University of Rochester

  • George F Swadling

    • Lawrence Livermore Natl Lab
    • Lawrence Livermore Natl Laboratory

  • Colin Bruulsema

    • Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

  • Alexander A Schekochihin

    • University of Oxford

  • Don Q Lamb

    • University of Chicago

  • Sean P Regan

    • Laboratory for Laser Energetics, University of Rochester

  • Gianluca Gregori

    • University of Oxford