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Home : Our Work : Areas of Research : Plasma Physics

    Plasma Physics
Phone: (202) 767-5635

 

Overview

The Plasma Physics Division conducts broad theoretical and experimental programs of basic and applied research in plasma physics, laboratory discharge, and space plasmas, intense electron and ion beams and photon sources, atomic physics, pulsed power sources, laser physics, advanced spectral diagnostics, and nonlinear systems. 

The effort of the Division is concentrated on a few closely coordinated theoretical and experimental programs. Considerable emphasis is placed on large-scale numerical simulations related to plasma dynamics; ionospheric, magnetospheric, and atmospheric dynamics; nuclear weapons effects; inertial confinement fusion; atomic physics; plasma processing; nonlinear dynamics and chaos; free electron lasers and other advanced radiation sources; advanced accelerator concepts; and atmospheric laser propagation.

Core Capabilities 

  • Radiation Hydrodynamics - The principal emphasis is in the development and application of theoretical models and state-of-the-art numerical simulations combining magnetohydrodynamics, high energy density physics, atomic and radiation physics, and spectroscopy.
  • Laser Plasma - Primary areas of research include physics underpinnings of laser fusion, high-energy-gain laser-inertial- fusion target designs, experiments and simulations of laser-matter interactions at high intensity, advancing the science and technologies of high-energy krypton fluoride and argon fluoride lasers, advancing the technologies of durable high-repetition-rate pulse power and electron-beam diodes for laser pumping and other applications, laser fusion as a power source.
  • Space and Laboratory Plasmas - Space research includes theoretical, numerical, and laboratory and space experimental investigations of the dynamic behavior of the near-Earth space plasmas and radiation belts, and the modification of space plasmas for strategic effects on HF communications, satellite navigation, over-the-horizon radar, and UHF satellite communications.  Applications-oriented plasma research is performed in the production, characterization, and use of low-temperature plasmas and related technology for applications to advance capabilities across the Navy and DOD.  Pulsed-power investigations include electromagnetic launch science and technology and research on directed energy systems for the U.S. Navy.
  • Pulsed Power Physics - Experimental and theoretical research is performed to advance pulsed power driven accelerator technology in areas relevant to defense applications. Research concerns the production, transport, characterization, and modeling of pulsed plasmas and intense high-power, charged particle beams using terawatt-class hundred-kilojoule pulsed power systems that employ capacitive or inductive energy storage and advanced switching. 
  • Directed Energy Physics - Research encompasses the integration of theoretical/computational and experimental research relevant to DOD, ONR, DARPA, and DoE in the areas of ultra-high field laser physics, atmospheric propagation of intense lasers, advanced radiation and accelerator physics, laser-generated plasma-microwave interactions, and dynamics of nonlinear systems. 

Facilities Fact Sheets

  • Electra Experimental Lab Facility - Electron beam pumped laser.  [ Download PDF]
  • NIKE KrF Laser Target Facility.  [Download PDF]
  • Space Plasma Simulation Chamber.  [Download PDF]

Plasma Physics News

NEWS | Feb. 9, 2021

SoloHI Imager Captures Rare Shot of Venus, Earth, Mars, and Uranus

By Paul Cage, U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, Corporate Communications

WASHINGTON  –   The European Space Agency’s (ESA) and NASA’s Solar Orbiter Heliospheric Imager (SoloHI) recorded an image showing three of the four inner rocky planets Nov. 18, 2020.

The image captured more than the local neighborhood; it also captured the ice giant Uranus which was more than 1.7 billion miles (2.7 billion kilometers) from the orbiter.

The original video visibly shows Venus, Earth, & Mars moving against the stellar background as the spacecraft & planets moved on their orbits. It was not until ESA/NASA posted the imagery and video online that celestial detectives worldwide posed the question, was Uranus also captured in the footage.

“We commonly observe multiple planets in NRL’s other space-based instruments that are near Earth,” said Robin Colaninno, Ph.D., U.S. Naval Research Laboratory SoloHI principal investigator. “We did take an image of Earth with the WISPR instrument on the Parker Solar Probe. However, Solar Orbiter is far away from Earth, so it is rare to have a picture with Earth and other planets.”
            
NRL’s SoloHI camera is the heliospheric imager for the ESA and NASA Solar Orbiter. The mission provides unique observations of heliospheric plasmas, determining the 3D electron density and velocity structure of the inner heliosphere and how it spreads out to one Astronomical Unit (AU), about 93 million miles (150 million kilometers) from the Sun.

“SoloHI is designed to look at the solar wind and coronal mass ejections far away from the Sun,” Colaninno said. “We were not expecting to see the planets in this data, so it is a nice surprise.”

Solar Orbiter is a collaboration of 20 countries for a payload of 10 scientific instruments. While NASA provided other instrument components, SoloHI is the only wholly American instrument onboard. The heliographic imager, a specialized camera that captured the celestial neighbors, was developed at NRL.

Solar Orbiter was launched in February 2020 and released its first images five months later, the closest-ever pictures of the Sun taken to this date. Currently, as it spirals closer inwards, the equipment onboard continues to be fine-tuned before beginning routine operations in November 2021. Solar Orbiter was on its way to Venus for its first gravity assist flyby when the recording was captured. These Venus and Earth flybys help bring the spacecraft closer to the Sun and tilt its orbit to observe the Sun from different viewpoints.
 
Kai Noeske, Ph.D., ESA Science Programme Communication Officer, summed it up saying, “It's quite a unique perspective to ride along on a spacecraft on its way through the inner solar system, traveling to never before visited vantage points of the Sun, looking at the different worlds, including the one we call home.”


About the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory 

NRL is a scientific and engineering command dedicated to research that drives innovative advances for the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps from the seafloor to space and in the information domain. NRL is located in Washington, D.C. with major field sites in Stennis Space Center, Mississippi; Key West, Florida; Monterey, California, and employs approximately 2,500 civilian scientists, engineers and support personnel.