Tony Bell FRS

Abstract:

Inertial fusion energy (IFE) offers one possible route to commercial energy generation. In the proposed 'shock ignition' route to fusion, the target is compressed at a relatively low temperature and then ignited using high intensity laser irradiation which drives a strong converging shock into the centre of the fuel. With a series of idealized calculations we analyse the electron transport of energy into the target, which produces the pressure responsible for driving the shock. We show that transport in shock ignition lies near the boundary between ablative and heat front regimes. Moreover, simulations indicate that non-local effects are significant in the heat front regime and might lead to increased efficiency by driving the shock more effectively and reducing heat losses to the plasma corona. © 2011 IOP Publishing Ltd.

Abstract:

Relativistic charged particles (CRs for cosmic rays) produced by supernova explosion of the first generation of massive stars that are responsible for the reionization of the universe escape into the intergalactic medium, carrying an electric current. Charge imbalance and induction give rise to a return current, → jt , carried by the cold thermal plasma which tends to cancel the CR current. The electric field, →E = n→ jt , required to draw the collisional return current opposes the outflow of low-energy CRs and ohmically heats the cold plasma. Owing to inhomogeneities in the resistivity, ν (T ), caused by a structure in the temperature, T, of the intergalactic plasma, the electric field possesses a rotational component which sustains Faraday's induction. It is found that a magnetic field is robustly generated throughout intergalactic space at a rate of 10-17 to 10-16GGyr-1, until the temperature of the intergalactic medium is raised by cosmic reionization. The magnetic field may seed the subsequent growth of magnetic fields in the ntergalactic environment. The role of CR-driven instabilities is discussed, and nonlinear effects are briefly considered.

Abstract:

OSHUN is a parallel relativistic 2D3P Vlasov-Fokker-Planck code, developed primarily to study electron transport and instabilities pertaining to laser-produced-including laser-fusion-plasmas. It incorporates a spherical harmonic expansion of the electron distribution function, where the number of terms is an input parameter that determines the angular resolution in momentum-space. The algorithm employs the full 3D electromagnetic fields and a rigorous linearized Fokker-Planck collision operator. The numerical scheme conserves energy and number density. This enables simulations for plasmas with temperatures from MeV down to a few eV and densities from less than critical to more than solid. Kinetic phenomena as well as electron transport physics can be recovered accurately and efficiently. © 2011 Elsevier Inc.

Abstract:

Gamma-ray and electron-positron pair production will figure prominently in laser-plasma experiments with next generation lasers. Using a Monte Carlo approach we show that straggling effects arising from the finite recoil an electron experiences when it emits a high-energy photon, increase the number of pairs produced on further interaction with the laser fields. © 2011 IOP Publishing Ltd.