Award Abstract # 1561912
Basic Plasma Science Facility Renewal

NSF Org: PHY
Division Of Physics
Recipient: UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, LOS ANGELES
Initial Amendment Date: July 5, 2016
Latest Amendment Date: May 14, 2025
Award Number: 1561912
Award Instrument: Continuing Grant
Program Manager: Vyacheslav (Slava) Lukin
vlukin@nsf.gov  (703)292-7382
PHY  Division Of Physics
MPS  Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences
Start Date: August 15, 2016
End Date: July 31, 2026 (Estimated)
Total Intended Award Amount: $1,500,000.00
Total Awarded Amount to Date: $1,800,000.00
Funds Obligated to Date: FY 2016 = $300,000.00
FY 2017 = $300,000.00
FY 2018 = $300,000.00
FY 2019 = $300,000.00
FY 2020 = $300,000.00
FY 2022 = $300,000.00
History of Investigator:
  • Stephen Vincena (Principal Investigator)
     vincena@physics.ucla.edu
  • George Morales (Co-Principal Investigator)
  • Walter Gekelman (Co-Principal Investigator)
  • Troy Carter (Former Principal Investigator)
  • Stephen Vincena (Former Co-Principal Investigator)
Recipient Sponsored Research Office: University of California-Los Angeles
 10889 WILSHIRE BLVD STE 700
 LOS ANGELES
 CA  US  90024-4200
(310)794-0102
Sponsor Congressional District: 36
Primary Place of Performance: University of California-Los Angeles
 1000 Veteran Ave
 Los Angeles
 CA  US  90095-1547
Primary Place of Performance
Congressional District:		 36
Unique Entity Identifier (UEI): RN64EPNH8JC6
Parent UEI:
NSF Program(s): MAGNETOSPHERIC PHYSICS,
PLASMA PHYSICS,
AERONOMY
Primary Program Source: 01001718DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT
01002223DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT
01002021DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT
01001920DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT
01001617DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT
01001819DB NSF RESEARCH & RELATED ACTIVIT
Program Reference Code(s): 4444, 1242, 1062, 8396
Program Element Code(s): 575000, 124200, 152100
Award Agency Code: 4900
Fund Agency Code: 4900
Assistance Listing Number(s): 47.049, 47.050

ABSTRACT

The Basic Plasma Science Facility (BaPSF) at UCLA is a national user facility for the study of ionized gases, or plasmas. Plasmas pervade our universe with almost all visible matter, such as stars, in the plasma state. Earth is immersed in a plasma environment, with plasma flowing from our sun in the form of the solar wind and intercepting the Earth's magnetosphere; plasma processes help generate the charged particles that populate the Van Allen radiation belts and also lead to phenomena such as the Aurora Borealis. In addition, there are many important terrestrial applications for plasmas, including processing of semiconductor chips and magnetically-confined plasmas for producing energy by nuclear fusion. Studying fundamental plasma processes in the laboratory is therefore essential to further our understanding of the cosmos and enable important advances in terrestrial applications of plasmas. The BaPSF provides a unique and cutting-edge platform for these studies. The National Science Foundation, along with the Department of Energy Office of Fusion Energy Sciences, provides funding to support the operation of the BaPSF for the use of researchers across the United States. Users apply for experimental time on the facility; if approved, this experimental time is free of charge to researchers who will publish the results of their research in peer-reviewed journals.

The core of the BaPSF is the Large Plasma Device which produces 20 meter long, ~60cm diameter magnetized plasmas using cathode discharge plasma sources. Typical plasma parameters are electron density of 10^12 per cubic cm, electron temperature of 5 eV and magnetic field strength from 0.04 Tesla to 0.2 Tesla. Recent research by users of the facility has included studies of collisionless shocks generated by laser-blowoff; electron-beam-driven chirping whistler waves; nonlinear parametric instability of Alfven waves; current sheets, flux ropes and magnetic reconnection; and acceleration of electrons by inertial Alfven waves. An upgrade of the plasma source will be undertaken in the current award period, using a Lanthanum Hexaboride cathode to produce much higher density and temperature plasmas with electron densities of 10^13 per cubic cm, electron temperatures of ~12 eV, and ion temperatures of ~6 eV.

PUBLICATIONS PRODUCED AS A RESULT OF THIS RESEARCH

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(Showing: 1 - 10 of 109)
M S Weidl and P Heuer and D Schaeffer and R Dorst and D Winske and C Constantin and C Niemann "Towards a parallel collisionless shock in LAPD" Journal of Physics: Conference Series , v.900 , 2017 , p.012020
Anirudh, Rushil and Archibald, Rick and Asif, M. Salman and Becker, Markus M. and Benkadda, Sadruddin and Bremer, Peer-Timo and Budé, Rick H. S. and Chang, C. S. and Chen, Lei and Churchill, R. M. and Citrin, Jonathan and Gaffney, Jim A. and Gainaru, Ana "2022 Review of Data-Driven Plasma Science" IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science , v.51 , 2023 , p.1750 10.1109/TPS.2023.3268170
An, X. and Van Compernolle, B. and Bortnik, J. and Thorne, R. M. and Chen, L. and Li, W. "Resonant excitation of whistler waves by a helical electron beam" Geophysical Research Letters , v.43 , 2016 , p.2413--242 10.1002/2015GL067126
An,Xin and Bortnik,Jacob and Van Compernolle,Bart "Linear unstable whistler eigenmodes excited by a finite electron beam" Physics of Plasmas , v.26 , 2019 , p.082114 10.1063/1.5097837
A. S. Bondarenko and D. B. Schaeffer and E. T. Everson and S. E. Clark and B. R. Lee and C. G. Constantin and S. Vincena and B. Van Compernolle and S. K. P. Tripathi and D. Winske and C. Niemann "Collisionless momentum transfer in space and astrophysical explosions" Nature Physics , v.13 , 2017 , p.573 10.1038/nphys4041
A. S. Bondarenko and D. B. Schaeffer and E. T. Everson and S. E. Clark and B. R. Lee and C. G. Constantin and S. Vincena and B. Van Compernolle and S. K. P. Tripathi and D. Winske and C. Niemann "Laboratory study of collisionless coupling between explosive debris plasma and magnetized ambient plasma" Physics of Plasmas , v.24 , 2017 , p.082110 10.1063/1.4995480
A. S. Bondarenko and D. B. Schaeffer and E. T. Everson and S. E. Clark and B. R. Lee and C. G. Constantin and S. Vincena and B. Van Compernolle and S. K. P. Tripathi and D. Winske and C. Niemann "Laboratory study of collisionless coupling between explosive debris plasma and magnetized ambient plasma" Physics of Plasmas , v.24 , 2017 , p.082110 10.1063/1.4995480
Bondarenko, A. S. and Schaeffer, D. B. and Everson, E. T. and Clark, S. E. and Lee, B. R. and Constantin, C. G. and Vincena, S. and Van Compernolle, B. and Tripathi, S. K. P. and Winske, D. and Niemann, C. "Collisionless momentum transfer in space and astrophysical explosions" Nat Phys , v.13 , 2017 , p.573--577 1745-2473
Bondarenko, A. S. and Schaeffer, D. B. and Everson, E. T. and Clark, S. E. and Lee, B. R. and Constantin, C. G. and Vincena, S. and Van Compernolle, B. and Tripathi, S. K. P. and Winske, D. and Niemann, C. "Collisionless momentum transfer in space and astrophysical explosions" Nat Phys , v.13 , 2017 , p.573--577 1745-2473
B. Van Compernolle and G. J. Morales "Avalanches driven by pressure gradients in a magnetized plasma" Physics of Plasmas , v.24 , 2017 , p.112302 10.1063/1.5001321
B. Van Compernolle and G. J. Morales "Avalanches driven by pressure gradients in a magnetized plasma" Physics of Plasmas , v.24 , 2017 , p.112302 10.1063/1.5001321
(Showing: 1 - 10 of 109)

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