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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 | June 22, 2020

GRAB I, First Operational Intelligence Satellite

By Daniel Parry, U.S. Naval Research Laboratory Corporate Communications

WASHINGTON  –   Shrouded in secrecy for nearly 40 years, the Galactic Radiation and Background, electronic intelligence (ELINT) satellite, was declassified by the Navy in 1998. Originally named Tattletale, the program became operationally referred to as GRAB after public disclosure of the project.
 
Having successfully developed and installed radar detectors on submarine periscopes, NRL scientist Reid Mayo of the Countermeasures Branch promoted the idea that the success of his submarine periscope antenna could function equally well in orbit aboard a Vanguard-like satellite.
 
Mayo presented his idea for ELINT collection to Howard Lorenzen, chief of NRL’s Countermeasures Branch and to the front rank of the nation’s electronic warfare program. Lorenzen agreed it could work, and in 1958 championed the idea within the Department of Defense and the Intelligence Community.
 
Shortly after a U.S. reconnaissance aircraft was shot down over the Soviet Union in June 1960, GRAB I launched atop a Navy Transit IIA satellite. From September 1960, to April 1961, GRAB I clandestinely obtained information on Soviet air defense radar that otherwise could not be observed from U.S. military aircraft.
 
Situated 500 miles above Earth, safe from surface-to-air missiles, the satellite’s circular orbit passed through energy pulses from Soviet radar. GRAB received varying bandwidths of each radar pulse, and transmitted a corresponding signal to collection huts at ground sites within its field of view.
 
Operators recorded downlinked data on magnetic tape and couriered it to NRL for evaluation. After evaluation, the tapes were duplicated and forwarded to the National Security Agency (NSA) at Fort Meade, Maryland, and the Strategic Air Command at Offut Air Force Base, Omaha, Nebraska for analysis and processing.
 
A little over one year after the first GRAB mission, NRL launched the second successful GRAB satellite, June 29, 1961. It collected signals on July 15 and operated for 14 months. Like the first GRAB mission, it produced a large volume of radar intercept data. By October 1961, NSA had developed an automatic system to improve the time-consuming processing of ELINT data it received from the GRAB satellites.
 
NRL continued research and development in coordination with other elements of the U.S. space and ELINT programs, to include the Navy Space Surveillance (NavSpaSur) System for detecting and tracking satellites.
 
The GRAB project provided proof-of-concept for satellite-collected electronic intelligence. This was accomplished by demonstrating that a platform in outer space could collect as much as all other sea-, air-, and land-based reconnaissance platforms operating within the satellite's field of view at a fraction of their cost and at no risk to personnel.
 
Secretly created in 1961, the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) was established for overseeing all satellite and overflight reconnaissance projects. The newly formed agency in 1962 absorbed NRL’s ELINT satellite program.  
 
Building on the successes of GRAB, NRL designed, developed, and operated a new generation of ELINT satellites. Codenamed POPPY, the program was designed to detect land based radar emitters and support ocean surveillance. The POPPY program was a component of NRO’s signals intelligences (SIGINT) satellite program ‘C’ and operated from December 1962 through August 1977.
 
GRAB continues to inspire space science research for the Navy and the next generations of spacecraft at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory.
 
“With roots stretching back to the end of World War II, the Naval Research Laboratory has a rich history of space science and engineering achievements," said Chris Dwyer, superintendent, NRL Space Systems Development Division. "GRAB is but one example of a long list of firsts.”


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 3,000 civilian scientists, engineers and support personnel.
 
For more information, contact NRL Corporate Communications at (202) 309-7259 or nrlpao@nrl.navy.mil.