https://phys.org/physics-news/plasma en-us The latest news on physics of plasma It isn't just your refrigerator that has magnets on it. The Earth, the stars, galaxies, and the space between galaxies are all magnetized, too. The more places scientists have looked for magnetic fields across the universe, the more they've found them. But the question of why that is the case and where those magnetic fields originate from has remained a mystery and a subject of ongoing scientific inquiry. https://phys.org/news/2023-07-clues-source-universe-magnetic-fields.html Plasma Physics Mon, 31 Jul 2023 12:11:03 EDT news610024261 Humans may never be able to tame the sun, but hydrogen plasma—making up most of the sun's interior—can be confined in a magnetic field as part of fusion power generation: with a caveat. https://phys.org/news/2023-07-molecular-rotational-temperature-plasma-recombination.html Plasma Physics Thu, 27 Jul 2023 05:00:01 EDT news609605792 A team of researchers from the Accelerator Technology & Applied Physics (ATAP) Division at Berkeley Lab has developed a new technique for combining fiber lasers operating at different wavelengths to produce ultrashort laser pulses. The research was published in the journal Optics Express. https://phys.org/news/2023-07-spectrally-combining-lasers-unleash-potential.html Optics & Photonics Plasma Physics Mon, 24 Jul 2023 14:19:03 EDT news609427142 Fusion, which replicates the same reaction that powers the sun, has long been viewed as an ideal energy source due to its potential to be safe, clean, cheap, and reliable. https://phys.org/news/2023-07-technique-mass-production-fusion-energy.html Plasma Physics Fri, 14 Jul 2023 12:20:03 EDT news608556001 A burning flame is full of charged particles that can be affected by an electric field. KAUST researchers have now studied the use of high voltages to control these particles, which could potentially reduce soot formation and improve a flame's stability. https://phys.org/news/2023-07-laser-reveal-high-voltage-affects.html General Physics Plasma Physics Thu, 13 Jul 2023 13:24:55 EDT news608473492 How are plasma eruptions in near-Earth space formed? Vlasiator, a model designed at the University of Helsinki for simulating near-Earth space, demonstrated that the two central theories on the occurrence of eruptions are simultaneously valid: eruptions are explained by both magnetic reconnection and kinetic instabilities. https://phys.org/news/2023-06-simulation-solutions-central-mystery-space.html General Physics Plasma Physics Thu, 29 Jun 2023 12:34:03 EDT news607260841 Imagine the explosive disturbance caused by a jet going supersonic. A similar shock wave occurs when subatomic particles known as "solar wind" flow from the sun and strike the Earth's magnetic field. Now, scientists have used a recently developed technique to improve predictions of the timing and intensity of the solar wind's strikes, which sometimes disrupt telecommunications satellites and damage electrical grids. https://phys.org/news/2023-06-algorithm-plasma-space.html Plasma Physics Tue, 27 Jun 2023 15:38:27 EDT news607099101 New measurements of how particles flow from collisions of different types of particles at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) have provided new insights into the origin of the shape of hot specks of matter generated in these collisions. The results may lead to a deeper understanding of the properties and dynamics of this form of matter, known as a quark-gluon plasma (QGP). https://phys.org/news/2023-06-driver-small-quark-gluon-plasma.html General Physics Plasma Physics Tue, 27 Jun 2023 11:36:47 EDT news607084599 Developing commercial fusion energy requires scientists to understand sustained processes that have never before existed on Earth. But with so many unknowns, how do we make sure we're designing a device that can successfully harness fusion power? https://phys.org/news/2023-06-mathematical-blueprint-fusion-device.html Plasma Physics Thu, 22 Jun 2023 16:12:03 EDT news606669121 The building blocks of atomic nuclei are protons and neutrons, which are themselves made of even more fundamental particles: quarks and gluons. These particles interact via the strong force, one of the four fundamental forces of nature. They make up the nuclei at the heart of every atom. They also make up forms of hot or dense nuclear matter that exhibit exotic properties. https://phys.org/news/2023-06-mathematical-puzzle-quarks-gluons-nuclear.html Plasma Physics Mon, 05 Jun 2023 09:07:03 EDT news605174821 To produce commercial energy, future fusion power plants will need to achieve temperatures of 100 million degrees C. To do so requires careful control of the plasma. In a study published in the journal Nuclear Fusion, researchers refined operating conditions to achieve the necessary temperatures in a compact spherical tokamak device called ST40. https://phys.org/news/2023-05-small-fusion-temperatures-hotter-sun.html Plasma Physics Tue, 30 May 2023 13:23:12 EDT news604671790 Scientists have conducted laboratory experiments at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) that provide new insights on the complex process of pressure-driven ionization in giant planets and stars. Their research, published today in Nature, unveils the material properties and behavior of matter under extreme compression, offering important implications for astrophysics and nuclear fusion research. https://phys.org/news/2023-05-pressure-driven-ionization-giant-planets-stars.html Plasma Physics Thu, 25 May 2023 10:59:23 EDT news604231158 Did you know that wires can be used to ionize air to make a loudspeaker? Simply put, it's possible to generate sound by creating an electric field in a set of parallel wires, aka a plasma transducer, strong enough to ionize the air particles. The charged ions are then accelerated along the magnetic field lines, pushing the residual non-ionized air in a way to produce sound. https://phys.org/news/2023-05-noise-ionizing-air.html General Physics Plasma Physics Mon, 22 May 2023 12:40:03 EDT news603978001 Better understanding the formation of swirling, ring-shaped disturbances—known as vortex rings—could help nuclear fusion researchers compress fuel more efficiently, bringing it closer to becoming a viable energy source. https://phys.org/news/2023-05-demystifying-vortex-nuclear-fusion-supernovae.html Plasma Physics Fri, 19 May 2023 12:03:43 EDT news603716617 Imperial College researchers have created a spinning disk of plasma in a lab, mimicking disks found around black holes and forming stars. https://phys.org/news/2023-05-accretion-disk-black-holes-recreated.html Plasma Physics Mon, 15 May 2023 08:52:03 EDT news603359522 A magnetic cage keeps the more than 100 million degree Celsius hot plasmas in nuclear fusion devices at a distance from the vessel wall so that they do not melt. Now researchers at the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics (IPP) have found a way to significantly reduce this distance. This could make it possible to build smaller and cheaper fusion reactors for energy production. The work was published in the journal Physical Review Letters. https://phys.org/news/2023-04-discovery-compact-fusion-power.html Plasma Physics Tue, 11 Apr 2023 09:34:03 EDT news600424441 Scientists have used a common weather forecasting technique for insights into how powerful lasers turn hunks of solid material into soups of electrically charged particles known as plasmas. https://phys.org/news/2023-03-scientists-laser-heated-plasma-doppler-weather.html Optics & Photonics Plasma Physics Fri, 31 Mar 2023 10:08:03 EDT news599476081 Accurate and fast calculation of heat flow (heat transport) due to fluctuations and turbulence in plasmas is an important issue in elucidating the physical mechanisms of fusion reactors and in predicting and controlling their performance. https://phys.org/news/2023-03-complex-plasma.html Plasma Physics Fri, 24 Mar 2023 08:47:38 EDT news598866454 Scientists using the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) to study some of the hottest matter ever created in a laboratory have published their first data showing how three distinct variations of particles called upsilons sequentially "melt," or dissociate, in the hot goo. The results, just published in Physical Review Letters, come from RHIC's STAR detector, one of two large particle tracking experiments at this U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science user facility for nuclear physics research. https://phys.org/news/2023-03-physicists-track-sequential-upsilons.html Plasma Physics Quantum Physics Tue, 14 Mar 2023 16:42:35 EDT news598030950 A new way to create high-energy ions could speed up their applications in treating cancer and probing the fundamental nature of matter. https://phys.org/news/2023-03-laser-driven-creation-high-energy-ions-boosts.html Optics & Photonics Plasma Physics Mon, 13 Mar 2023 12:01:32 EDT news597927690 Ice-cold electron beams simulated in research at the University of Strathclyde could pave the way to reducing X-ray free-electron lasers (X-FELs) to a fraction of their current size. https://phys.org/news/2023-03-ice-cold-electron-ultra-compact-x-ray-lasers.html Optics & Photonics Plasma Physics Wed, 01 Mar 2023 12:44:05 EST news596897041 High-power lasers now create record-high numbers of electron-positron pairs, opening exciting opportunities to study extreme astrophysical processes, such as black holes and gamma-ray bursts. https://phys.org/news/2023-02-illuminating-science-black-holes-gamma-ray.html Plasma Physics Tue, 28 Feb 2023 14:01:03 EST news596815257 As fusion developers around the world race to commercialize fusion energy, TAE Technologies has pioneered the pursuit of the cleanest and most economical path to providing electricity with hydrogen-boron (also known as p-B11 or p11B), an abundant, environmentally sound fuel. Today the company is announcing, in collaboration with Japan's National Institute for Fusion Science (NIFS), a noteworthy research advancement: the first-ever hydrogen-boron fusion experiments in a magnetically confined fusion plasma. https://phys.org/news/2023-02-hydrogen-boron-fusion-magnetically-confined-plasma.html Plasma Physics Tue, 28 Feb 2023 10:17:24 EST news596801838 Hot gases composed of metal ions and electrons, called plasmas, are widely used in many manufacturing processes, chemical synthesis, and metal extraction from ores and welding. A collaborative research group from Tohoku University and the Toyohashi University of Technology has invented a new and efficient method to create metallic plasmas from solid metals under a strong magnetic field in a microwave resonator. They report their innovation in the journal AIP Advances. https://phys.org/news/2023-02-strong-microwave-magnetic-fields-efficient.html Plasma Physics Mon, 27 Feb 2023 09:15:22 EST news596711717 West Virginia University physicists have made a breakthrough on an age-old limitation of the first law of thermodynamics. https://phys.org/news/2023-02-physicists-law-thermodynamics-makeover.html General Physics Plasma Physics Wed, 22 Feb 2023 14:09:41 EST news596297378 Particle accelerators are devices that use electromagnetic fields to speed up particles and collide them together or against a specific target. These devices are widely used by physicists to study particles, the forces that drive them and interactions between them. https://phys.org/news/2023-02-multi-turn-energy-recovery-high-power.html Plasma Physics Quantum Physics Tue, 14 Feb 2023 04:30:01 EST news595249336 Research in fundamental science has revealed the existence of quark-gluon plasma (QGP)—a newly identified state of matter—as the constituent of the early universe. Known to have existed a microsecond after the Big Bang, the QGP, essentially a soup of quarks and gluons, cooled down with time to form hadrons like protons and neutrons—the building blocks of all matter. https://phys.org/news/2023-02-quark-gluon-plasma-long-standing-discrepancy-theory.html Plasma Physics Quantum Physics Mon, 13 Feb 2023 17:26:03 EST news595531562 Warm dense matter (WDM) measures thousands of degrees in temperature and is under the pressure of thousands of Earth's atmospheres. Found in many places throughout the universe, it is expected to have beneficial applications on Earth. However, its investigation is a challenge. https://phys.org/news/2023-02-precise-x-ray-thermometer-dense.html General Physics Plasma Physics Thu, 02 Feb 2023 10:43:04 EST news594556982 Scientists from the Institute of Laser Engineering at Osaka University determined the mechanism and functional form for the yield of neutrons from a laser-driven source and used it to carry out a neutron resonance analysis much faster than conventional methods. This work may help bring non-invasive testing to more applications in manufacturing and medicine. https://phys.org/news/2023-02-powering-neutron-science-laser-driven-generation.html General Physics Plasma Physics Wed, 01 Feb 2023 08:50:16 EST news594463813 The standard model of particle physics tells us that most particles we observe are made up of combinations of just six types of fundamental entities called quarks. However, there are still many mysteries, one of which is an exotic, but very short-lived, Lambda resonance known as Λ(1405). For a long time, it was thought to be a particular excited state of three quarks—up, down, and strange—and understanding its internal structure may help us learn more about the extremely dense matter that exists in neutron stars. https://phys.org/news/2023-01-particle-exotic-highly-unstable-mass.html Plasma Physics Quantum Physics Thu, 26 Jan 2023 09:11:07 EST news593946663