Particle acceleration in magnetised shocks produced by laser and pulsed power facilities

Lead Research Organisation: UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD
Department Name: Oxford Physics

Abstract

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Description We have performed initial experiments aimed at measuring the acceleration of electrons and protons in a turbulent plasma. These experiments have been performed at the LULI and OMEGA laser facilities. At LULI, we have found evidence of electron acceleration by lower-hybrid waves. This result indicates that wave-plasma turbulence can be important in the pre-acceleration mechanism and the result obtained here can be used to explain excess x-ray emission seen, for example, around comets entering the solar system. This work has been published in Nature Physics. On the OMEGA laser, instead, we have looked at the effect of turbulence in the propagation of charged particles (protons). The results of the experiment clearly show that as the magnetized turbulence is increased, there is marked enhancement of the proton diffusion. These results are also important for the understanding of the propagation of cosmic rays throughout the interstellar and intergalactic medium. Our work has been accepted in the Astrophysical Journal.
In the last part of the project, we have also started to look at the energy change of these protons, a process known as Fermi acceleration. While we have used a simplified model of the turbulence, our calculations indicate that the energy gain is large enough to possibly become measurable on facilities like NIF and LMJ. This work could lie the basis for a future experimental proposal to those lasers.
Exploitation Route The data provided by these experiments provides important benchmarks for the understanding of processes related to cosmic ray physics. This has impact in astronomy and astrophysics as well as plasma science.
Sectors Education

Energy
 
Description The results of our work have appeared in Nature Physics. We have done a press release and expect interest in the scientific community and the general public to rise. We have also presented the work on proton diffusion at several international meetings and conferences in plasma astrophysics. Following the results of this research, we have performed experiments at both the GSI accelerator facility and at CERN. The results from this experiment are extremely encouraging and we expect this will also generate a significant impact in the scientific community.
Sector Education,Other
Impact Types Cultural
 
Description Don Lamb 
Organisation University of Chicago
Department Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics
Country United States 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution We provide the team in Chicago our expertise in the experimental diagnostics.
Collaborator Contribution Don Lamb and his team provides us access to the FLASH code. Also, because of this collaboration, we can submit applications for laser time on the Omega laser facility
Impact Astronomy, Plasma Physics, Lasers
Start Year 2010
 
Title Software for "Building high accuracy emulators for scientific simulations with deep neural architecture search" 
Description This is the code and datasets for "Building high accuracy emulators for scientific simulations with deep neural architecture search". 
Type Of Technology Software 
Year Produced 2020 
Open Source License? Yes  
URL https://zenodo.org/record/3782843
 
Title Software for "Building high accuracy emulators for scientific simulations with deep neural architecture search" 
Description This is the code and datasets for "Building high accuracy emulators for scientific simulations with deep neural architecture search". 
Type Of Technology Software 
Year Produced 2020 
Open Source License? Yes  
URL https://zenodo.org/record/3782842