Two projects, which were on the reserve list in the OPUS 25 and Preludium 22 competitions, submitted by IPPLM employees received funding.
Financing additional research projects in competitions was possible thanks to the increase in the budget of the National Science Centre (NCN) in 2024 by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education.
The project, submitted as part of the OPUS competition, entitled "Experimental studies of the proton-boron (p+B) fusion reaction in the Plasma-Focus device" will be carried out jointly with the H. Niewodniczański Institute of Nuclear Physics, PAS. Its purpose is to show the possibility of triggering the p–11B reaction in a Plasma-Focus device and to measure the products of this reaction. The experiments conducted as part of the project will verify the theoretical model and the possibility of using Plasma-Focus for proton-boron synthesis. The developed theoretical model will allow us to determine whether it is possible to obtain partially self-sustaining reactions in Plasma-Focus conditions by trapping protons and alpha particles in a strong magnetic field.
The project as part of the Preludium competition entitled "Anomalous electron transport in partially magnetized E×B plasmas induced by azimuthal oscillations" was received by a team of IPPLM employees from the Laboratory of Plasma Nudge for Satellites. The applicant of the project was M.Sc. Olgierd Cichorek.
The project deals with research on plasma flows in Hall-type thrusters. The principle of operation of Hall thrusters uses the effect of reducing electron mobility in a magnetic field. However, the classical collision theory of electron conductivity predicts significantly lower values of electron conductivity than those observed in experiments. The exact physical phenomena causing the increased conductivity observed experimentally are not known; the excess conductivity was therefore called anomalous electron conductivity. Currently, it is suspected that the key role in the mechanisms of anomalous electron conductivityis played by plasma oscillations propagating in the azimuthal direction, perpendicular to the fundamental, radial component of the magnetic field.
The project involves examining the plasma flow in the Hall thruster in order to find the conditions for generating azimuthal oscillations. For this purpose, an experiment will be carried out with plasma imaging using a high-speed camera. The obtained results will be compared with numerical calculations. The main goal of the project is to determine whether increased values of electron conductivity will occur at thruster’s operating points exhibiting the presence of azimuthal oscillations.
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The Laboratory of Plasma Nudge for Satellites |
Hall Thruster |
We would like to congratulate the winners and wish them success in their research work!
Photos: IPPLM