Publications

2010

• Nonlinear fan instability of electromagnetic waves
  
  • Krafft C.
  • Volokitin A.
  Physics of Plasmas, American Institute of Physics, 2010, 17, pp.102303. This paper studies the linear and nonlinear stages of the fan instability, considering electromagnetic waves of the whistler frequency range interacting resonantly with energetic electron fluxes in magnetized plasmas. The main attention is paid to determine the wave-particle interaction processes that can lead to the excitation of intense electromagnetic waves by nonequilibrium particle distributions involving suprathermal tails, and to explain under what conditions and through what mechanisms they can occur, develop, and saturate. This paper presents and discusses two main processes: (i) the linear fan instability and (ii) the nonlinear process of dynamical resonance merging, which can significantly amplify the energy carried by linearly destabilized waves after they saturate due to particle trapping. This study consists of (i) determining analytically and numerically, for parameters typical of space and laboratory plasmas, the linear growth rates of whistlers excited by suprathermal particle fluxes through the fan instability, as well as the corresponding thresholds and the physical conditions at which the instability can appear, (ii) building a theoretical self-consistent 3D model and a related numerical code for describing the nonlinear evolution of the wave-particle system, and (iii) performing numerical simulations to reveal and characterize the nonlinear amplification process at work, its conditions of development, and its consequences, notably in terms of electromagnetic wave radiation. The simulations show that when the waves have reached sufficient energy levels owing to the linear fan instability, they saturate by trapping particles and due to the complex dynamics of these particles in the electromagnetic fields, the resonant velocities' domains of the waves overlap and merge, meanwhile a strong increase of the wave energy occurs. (10.1063/1.3479829)
  DOI : 10.1063/1.3479829
• Planar Wire-Array Z-Pinch Implosion Dynamics and X-Ray Scaling at Multiple-MA Drive Currents for a Compact Multisource Hohlraum Configuration
  
  • Jones B.
  • Ampleford D. J.
  • Vesey R. A.
  • Cuneo Michael E.
  • Coverdale C. A.
  • Waisman E. M.
  • Jones M. C.
  • Fowler W. E.
  • Stygar W. A.
  • Serrano J. D.
  • Vigil M. P.
  • Esaulov A. A.
  • Kantsyrev Viktor L.
  • Safronova Alla S.
  • Williamson Kenneth M.
  • Chuvatin Alexandre S.
  • Rudakov Leonid I.
  Physical Review Letters, American Physical Society, 2010, 104 (12), pp.125001. An indirect drive configuration is proposed wherein multiple compact Z-pinch x-ray sources surround a secondary hohlraum. Planar compact wire arrays allow reduced primary hohlraum surface area compared to cylindrical loads. Implosions of planar arrays are studied at up to 15 TW x-ray power on Saturn with radiated yields exceeding the calculated kinetic energy, suggesting other heating paths. X-ray power and yield scaling studied from 16 MA motivates viewfactor modeling of four 6-MA planar arrays producing 90 eV radiation temperature in a secondary hohlraum. (10.1103/PhysRevLett.104.125001)
  DOI : 10.1103/PhysRevLett.104.125001
• Plasmas froids
  
  • Booth Jean-Paul
  • Chabert Pascal
  Flash X - La revue scientifique de l'Ecole polytechnique, Ecole polytechnique, 2010, 12, pp.3-5. ISSN : 1775-0385
• Bilan et Perspective 2006 - 2009, Programme National Soleil Terre
  
  • Fontaine Dominique
  • Vilmer N.
  , 2010.
• Plasmas Naturels : Le Programme National Soleil - Terre
  
  • Fontaine Dominique
  Flash X - La revue scientifique de l'Ecole polytechnique, Ecole polytechnique, 2010, 12, pp.27-31. ISSN : 1775-0385
• Scientific objectives and instrumentation of Mercury Plasma Particle Experiment (MPPE) onboard MMO
  
  • Saito Y.
  • Sauvaud J.-A.
  • Hirahara M.
  • Barabash S.
  • Delcourt Dominique C.
  • Takashima T.
  • Asamura K.
  Planetary and Space Science, Elsevier, 2010, 58 (1-2), pp.182-200. Mercury is one of the least explored planets in our solar system. Until the recent flyby of Mercury by MESSENGER, no spacecraft had visited Mercury since Mariner 10 made three flybys: two in 1974 and one in 1975. In order to elucidate the detailed plasma structure and dynamics around Mercury, an orbiter BepiColombo MMO (Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter) is planned to be launched in 2013 as a joint mission between ESA and ISAS/JAXA. Mercury Plasma Particle Experiment (MPPE) was proposed in order to investigate the plasma/particle environment around Mercury. MPPE is a comprehensive instrument package for plasma, high-energy particle and energetic neutral atom measurements. It consists of seven sensors: two Mercury electron analyzers (MEA1 and MEA2), Mercury ion analyzer (MIA), Mercury mass spectrum analyzer (MSA), high-energy particle instrument for electron (HEP-ele), high-energy particle instrument for ion (HEP-ion), and energetic neutrals analyzer (ENA). Since comprehensive full three-dimensional simultaneous measurements of low to high-energy ions and electrons around Mercury as well as measurements of energetic neutral atoms will not be realized before BepiColombo/MMO's arrival at Mercury, it is expected that many unresolved problems concerning the Mercury magnetosphere will be elucidated by the MPPE observation. (10.1016/j.pss.2008.06.003)
  DOI : 10.1016/j.pss.2008.06.003
• RPWS_ViToS
  
  • Piberne Rodrigue
  • Canu Patrick
  , 2010. RPWS_ViToS is an IDL software for data processing and visualization of the RPW instrument of the Cassini mission.
• Non adiabatic electron behavior through a supercritical perpendicular collisionless shock: Impact of the shock front turbulence
  
  • Savoini Philippe
  • Lembège Bertrand
  Journal of Geophysical Research Space Physics, American Geophysical Union/Wiley, 2010, 115 (A11), pp.A11103. Adiabatic and nonadiabatic electrons transmitted through a supercritical perpendicular shock wave are analyzed with the help of test particle simulations based on field components issued from 2 − D full-particle simulation. A previous analysis (Savoini et al., 2005) based on 1 − D shock profile, including mainly a ramp (no apparent foot) and defined at a fixed time, has identified three distinct electron populations: adiabatic, overadiabatic, and underadiabatic, respectively, identified by μds/μus ≈ 1, >1 and <1, where μus and μds are the magnetic momenta in the upstream and downstream regions. Presently, this study is extended by investigating the impact of the time evolution of 2 − D shock front dynamics on these three populations. Analysis of individual time particle trajectories is performed and completed by statistics based on the use of different upstream velocity distributions (spherical shell of radius vshell and a Maxwellian with thermal velocity vthe). In all statistics, the three electron populations are clearly recovered. Two types of shock front nonstationarity are analyzed. First, the impact of the nonstationarity along the shock normal (due to the front self-reformation only) strongly depends on the values of vshell or vthe. For low values, the percentages of adiabatic and overadiabatic electrons are almost comparable but become anticorrelated under the filtering impact of the self-reformation; the percentage of the underadiabatic population remains almost unchanged. In contrast, for large values, this impact becomes negligible and the adiabatic population alone becomes dominant. Second, when 2 − D nonstationarity effects along the shock front (moving rippling) are fully included, all three populations are strongly diffused, leading to a larger heating; the overadiabatic population becomes largely dominant (and even larger than the adiabatic one) and mainly contributes to the energy spectrum. (10.1029/2010JA015381)
  DOI : 10.1029/2010JA015381
• Chorus source region localization in the Earth's outer magnetosphere using THEMIS measurements
  
  • Agapitov O
  • Krasnoselskikh V
  • Zaliznyak Yu
  • Angelopoulos V
  • Le Contel Olivier
  • Rolland G
  Annales Geophysicae, European Geosciences Union, 2010, 28, pp.1377–1386. Discrete ELF/VLF chorus emissions, the most intense electromagnetic plasma waves observed in the Earth's radiation belts and outer magnetosphere, are thought to propagate roughly along magnetic field lines from a localized source region near the magnetic equator towards the magnetic poles. THEMIS project Electric Field Instrument (EFI) and Search Coil Magnetometer (SCM) measurements were used to determine the spatial scale of the chorus source lo-calization region on the day side of the Earth's outer magne-tosphere. We present simultaneous observations of the same chorus elements registered onboard several THEMIS spacecraft in 2007 when all the spacecraft were in the same orbit. Discrete chorus elements were observed at 0.15–0.25 of the local electron gyrofrequency, which is typical for the outer magnetosphere. We evaluated the Poynting flux and wave vector distribution and obtained chorus wave packet quasi-parallel propagation to the local magnetic field. Amplitude and phase correlation data analysis allowed us to estimate the characteristic spatial correlation scale transverse to the local magnetic field to be in the 2800–3200 km range. Keywords. Electromagnetics (Random media and rough surfaces) – Magnetospheric physics (Plasma waves and in-stabilities) – Radio science (Remote sensing) (10.5194/angeo-28-1377-2010)
  DOI : 10.5194/angeo-28-1377-2010
• Observation and theoretical modeling of electron scale solar wind turbulence
  
  • Sahraoui Fouad
  • Belmont Gérard
  • Goldstein M. L.
  • Kiyani K. H.
  • Robert Patrick
  • Canu Patrick
  , 2010.
• Observations multi-satellitaires de l'interaction Vent Solaire - Magnétosphère
  
  • Sahraoui Fouad
  • Cornilleau-Wehrlin Nicole
  Flash X - La revue scientifique de l'Ecole polytechnique, Ecole polytechnique, 2010, 12, pp.33-34. ISSN : 1775-0385
• Operation of a load current multiplier on a nanosecond mega-ampere pulse forming line generator
  
  • Chuvatin Alexandre S.
  • Kantsyrev Viktor L.
  • Rudakov Leonid I.
  • Cuneo Michael E.
  • Astanovitskiy A. L.
  • Presura Radu
  • Safronova Alla S.
  • Cline W.
  • Williamson Kenneth M.
  • Shrestha Ishor
  • Osborne Glenn C.
  • Le Galloudec B.
  • Nalajala Vidya
  • Pointon T. D.
  • Mikkelson K. A.
  Physical Review Special Topics: Accelerators and Beams, American Physical Society, 2010, 13 (1), pp.010401. We investigate the operation of a load current multiplier (LCM) on a pulse-forming-line nanosecond pulse-power generator. Potential benefits of using the LCM technique on such generators are studied analytically for a simplified case. A concrete LCM design on the Zebra accelerator (1.9 Ohm, &#8764;1&#8201;&#8201;MA, 100 ns) is described. This design is demonstrated experimentally with high-voltage power pulses having a rise time of dozens of nanoseconds. Higher currents and magnetic energies were observed in constant-inductance solid-state loads when a better generator-to-load energy coupling was achieved. The load current on Zebra was increased from the nominal 0.80.9 MA up to about 1.6 MA. This result was obtained without modifying the generator energetics or architecture and it is in good agreement with the presented numerical simulations. Validation of the LCM technique at a nanosecond time scale is of importance for the high-energy-density physics research. (10.1103/PhysRevSTAB.13.010401)
  DOI : 10.1103/PhysRevSTAB.13.010401
• Formation of a sodium ring in Mercury's magnetosphere
  
  • Yagi Manabu
  • Seki K.
  • Matsumoto Y.
  • Delcourt Dominique C.
  • Leblanc François
  Journal of Geophysical Research Space Physics, American Geophysical Union/Wiley, 2010, 115 (A10), pp.A10253. We have performed a statistical analysis of exospheric sodium ion paths in Mercury's magnetosphere under northward interplanetary magnetic field conditions. Electric and magnetic field models used in the simulation were obtained from a global MHD simulation model, whereas the initial conditions of test Na+ ions were derived from a sodium exosphere model. We observe the formation of a ring-shaped high-pressure region consisting of energetic sodium ions traveling around the planet close to the equatorial plane. The configuration of this "sodium ring" as well as the acceleration processes leading to its formation strongly depend on the solar wind conditions. When the dynamic pressure is low, most of the Na+ are picked up in the magnetosphere and accelerated by the large-scale convective electric field. In contrast, in the case of high dynamic pressure, ions that are picked up in the magnetosheath and penetrate into the magnetosphere significantly contribute to the sodium ring. The configuration of this ring also depends upon the intensity of the solar wind electric field. Our analysis reveals that the pressure built by the Na+ ions may be significant as compared to the MHD pressure around the planet. (10.1029/2009JA015226)
  DOI : 10.1029/2009JA015226
• Wave-particle interactions in the equatorial source region of whistler-mode emissions
  
  • Santolík Ondrej
  • Gurnett D. A.
  • Pickett J. S.
  • Grimald S.
  • Décréau Pierrette
  • Parrot Michel
  • Cornilleau-Wehrlin Nicole
  • El-Lemdani Mazouz Farida
  • Schriver D.
  • Meredith N. P.
  • Fazakerley A.
  Journal of Geophysical Research Space Physics, American Geophysical Union/Wiley, 2010, 115 (A8). Wave-particle interactions can play a key role in the process of transfer of energy between different electron populations in the outer Van Allen radiation belt. We present a case study of wave-particle interactions in the equatorial source region of whistler-mode emissions. We select measurements of the Cluster spacecraft when these emissions are observed in the form of random hiss with only occasional discrete chorus wave packets, and where the wave propagation properties are very similar to previously analyzed cases of whistler-mode chorus. We observe a positive divergence of the Poynting flux at minima of the magnetic field modulus along the magnetic field lines, indicating the central position of the source. In this region we perform a linear stability analysis based on the locally measured electron phase space densities. We find two unstable electron populations. The first of them consists of energy-dispersed and highly anisotropic injected electrons at energies of a few hundreds eV to a few keV, with the perpendicular temperature more than 10 times higher than the parallel temperature with respect to the magnetic field line. Another unstable population is formed by trapped electrons at energies above 10 keV. We show that the injected electrons at lower energies can be responsible for a part of the waves that propagate obliquely at frequencies above one half of the electron cyclotron frequency. Our model of the trapped electrons at higher energies gives insufficient growth of the waves below one half of the electron cyclotron frequency and a nonlinear generation mechanism might be necessary to explain their presence even in this simple case. (10.1029/2009JA015218)
  DOI : 10.1029/2009JA015218
• Plasmas de Fusion Magnétique
  
  • Hennequin Pascale
  Flash X - La revue scientifique de l'Ecole polytechnique, Ecole polytechnique, 2010, 12, pp.25-26. ISSN : 1775-0385
• A simple model of intrinsic rotation in high confinement regime tokamak plasmas
  
  • Gürcan Özgür D.
  • Diamond P.H.
  • Mcdevitt C.J.
  • Hahm T.S.
  Physics of Plasmas, American Institute of Physics, 2010, 17, pp.032509. A simple unified model of intrinsic rotation and momentum transport in high confinement regime (H-mode) tokamak plasmas is presented. Motivated by the common dynamics of the onset of intrinsic rotation and the L-H transition, this simple model combines E×B shear-driven residual stress in the pedestal with a turbulent equipartition pinch to yield rotation profiles. The residual stress is the primary mechanism for buildup of intrinsic rotation in the H-mode pedestal, while the pinch drives on-axis peaking of rotation profiles. Analytical estimates for pedestal flow velocities are given in terms of the pedestal width, the pedestal height, and various model parameters. The predicted scaling of the toroidal flow speed with pedestal width is found to be consistent with the International Tokamak Physics Activity database global scaling of the flow speed on-axis with the total plasma stored energy. (10.1063/1.3339909)
  DOI : 10.1063/1.3339909
• A comparison of global models for the solar wind interaction with Mars
  
  • Brain D.
  • Barabash S.
  • Boesswetter A.
  • Bougher S.
  • Brecht S.
  • Chanteur Gérard
  • Hurley D.
  • Dubinin Eduard
  • Fang X.
  • Fraenz M.
  • Halekas J.
  • Harnett E.
  • Holmstrom M.
  • Kallio E.
  • Lammer H.
  • Ledvina S.
  • Liemohn M.
  • Liu K.
  • Luhmann J.
  • Ma Y.
  • Modolo Ronan
  • Nagy A.
  • Motschmann U.
  • Nilsson Hans
  • Shinagawa H.
  • Simon Sunil
  • Terada N.
  Icarus, Elsevier, 2010, 206 (1), pp.139-151. We present initial results from the first community-wide effort to compare global plasma interaction model results for Mars. Seven modeling groups participated in this activity, using MHD, multi-fluid, and hybrid assumptions in their simulations. Moderate solar wind and solar EUV conditions were chosen, and the conditions were implemented in the models and run to steady state. Model output was compared in three ways to determine how pressure was partitioned and conserved in each model, the location and asymmetry of plasma boundaries and pathways for planetary ion escape, and the total escape flux of planetary oxygen ions. The two participating MHD models provided similar results, while the five sets of multi-fluid and hybrid results were different in many ways. All hybrid results, however, showed two main channels for oxygen ion escape (a pickup ion 'plume' in the hemisphere toward which the solar wind convection electric field is directed, and a channel in the opposite hemisphere of the central magnetotail), while the MHD models showed one (a roughly symmetric channel in the central magnetotail). Most models showed a transition from an upstream region dominated by plasma dynamic pressure to a magnetosheath region dominated by thermal pressure to a low altitude region dominated by magnetic pressure. However, calculated escape rates for a single ion species varied by roughly an order of magnitude for similar input conditions, suggesting that the uncertainties in both the current and integrated escape over martian history as determined by models are large. These uncertainties are in addition to those associated with the evolution of the Sun, the martian dynamo, and the early atmosphere, highlighting the challenges we face in constructing Mars' past using models. (10.1016/j.icarus.2009.06.030)
  DOI : 10.1016/j.icarus.2009.06.030
• Determination of the averaged charge-to-mass ratio of the heavy charged constituents of a magnetoplasma using whistler wave measurements
  
  • Krafft C.
  • Lundin B. V.
  Annales Geophysicae, European Geosciences Union, 2010, 28, pp.2237-2247. In a cold magnetized plasma with two light ions of comparable gyrofrequencies and any species of heavy ions and/or charged dust particulates, a technique is developed to recover the relative charge density of the heavy plasma population and to estimate its effective averaged charge-to-mass ratio. Such results can be obtained without using mass spectrometer data but only the measurements of the ion plasma frequency, the electron gyro- and plasma frequencies as well as the two highest ion cutoff frequencies. (10.5194/angeo-28-2237-2010)
  DOI : 10.5194/angeo-28-2237-2010
• Measurements of stray antenna capacitance in the STEREO/WAVES instrument: Comparison of the measured voltage spectrum with an antenna electron shot noise model
  
  • Zouganelis I.
  • Maksimovic M.
  • Meyer-Vernet N.
  • Bale S. D.
  • Eastwood Jonathan P.
  • Zaslavsky A.
  • Dekkali M.
  • Goetz K.
  • Kaiser M. L.
  Radio Science, American Geophysical Union, 2010, 45, pp.1005. One of the most accurate techniques for in situ measuring the electron density and temperature in space plasmas is the quasi-thermal noise spectroscopy, which uses the voltage fluctuation spectrum on an electric antenna. This technique has been used successfully on the WIND and ULYSSES spacecraft; however, on STEREO this technique may only work in high-density filamentary structures, where the Debye length is small, because the STEREO/WAVES antennas have a large surface area, so that the resulting shot noise spectrum in the solar wind dominates the power at lower frequencies. In the unperturbed solar wind, we can use instead the electron shot noise to infer the plasma density. For doing so, we use well calibrated WIND particle data to deduce the stray capacitance of the STEREO/WAVES antenna system in a special configuration when the STEREO-B spacecraft was just downstream of WIND. This stray capacitance is also compared to ground experiments done on the flight spare equipment and independent calibrations performed using the galactic radio background. (10.1029/2009RS004194)
  DOI : 10.1029/2009RS004194
• Evidence of atomic adsorption on TiO<SUB>2</SUB> under plasma exposure and related C<SUB>2</SUB>H<SUB>2</SUB> surface reactivity
  
  • Guaitella Olivier
  • Lazzaroni Claudia
  • Marinov Daniil
  • Rousseau Antoine
  Applied Physics Letters, American Institute of Physics, 2010, 97, pp.011502. Adsorption/reaction kinetics of C2H2 on the surface of plasma-treated SiO2 and TiO2 catalysts is studied. The catalysts are pretreated with a dc discharge in Ar, O2, N2, or air. Then 950 ppm of C2H2 in air is introduced in the closed-volume reactor. It is found that TiO2 pretreated with O2 or air plasma catalyzes C2H2 removal from the gas phase without any UV activation. During 10 min after introduction the loss of C2H2 in the whole reactor is about 5×1015 molecules. Comparison between different pretreatment procedures shows that weakly bonded oxygen atoms may remain on TiO2 long after plasma exposure (10.1063/1.3462295)
  DOI : 10.1063/1.3462295
• On the Boltzmann relation in a cold magnetized plasma
  
  • Nasi L.
  • Raimbault Jean-Luc
  Physics of Plasmas, American Institute of Physics, 2010, 17, pp.113513. A systematic and exact comparison between the forces acting on magnetized electrons in a current-free plasma is considered within a fluid model. We show that the Boltzmann relation is fulfilled in the drift-diffusion approximation when (hi/he)(1 he2)/(1 hi2)&#10913;1 where he (or hi) is the ratio of the electron (or ion) cyclotron to the collision frequency. When the nonlinear inertia terms are taken into account, the previous criterion is too rough and must be modified. In particular it is proved that the Boltzmann relation is not uniformly valid in the plasma. The case of bounded plasmas where the electron temperature must be determined self-consistently is discussed in detail. (10.1063/1.3517174)
  DOI : 10.1063/1.3517174
• Evidence for surface oxidation on Pyrex of NO into NO<SUB>2</SUB> by adsorbed O atoms
  
  • Guaitella Olivier
  • Hübner M.
  • Welzel S.
  • Marinov Daniil
  • Röpcke J.
  • Rousseau Antoine
  Plasma Sources Science and Technology, IOP Publishing, 2010, 19, pp.045026. The surface of a Pyrex discharge tube was treated by a capacitively coupled RF plasma at low pressure. In cases where the plasma contained oxygen, O atoms deposition on the tube surface could be confirmed via the time-dependent conversion of NO to NO2 in a post-plasma experiment. Inside the discharge tube, the evolution of the concentrations of NO and of NO2 was measured using quantum cascade laser absorption spectroscopy in the mid-infrared spectral range. The surface density of atomic oxygen was estimated to be about 2 × 1014&#8201;cm&#8722;2 based on NO oxidation in the closed reactor. The production rate of NO2 is in the range of 2 × 1011&#8201;molecules&#8201;cm&#8722;3&#8201;s&#8722;1. (10.1088/0963-0252/19/4/045026)
  DOI : 10.1088/0963-0252/19/4/045026
• Comparison of the use of SQUID an Hall effect sensors in NDE
  
  • Bettaieb L.
  • Kokabi H.
  • Poloujadoff M.
  • Sentz A.
  • Krause H. J
  • Coillot Christophe
  Materials Evaluation, American Society for Nondestructive Testing, 2010, 68 (5), pp.535-554. ...
• Residual parallel Reynolds stress due to turbulence intensity gradient in tokamak plasmas
  
  • Gürcan Özgür D.
  • Diamond P.H.
  • Hennequin Pascale
  • Mcdevitt C.J.
  • Garbet X.
  • Bourdelle C.
  Physics of Plasmas, American Institute of Physics, 2010, 17, pp.112309. A novel mechanism for driving residual stress in tokamak plasmas based on k&#8741; symmetry breaking by the turbulence intensity gradient is proposed. The physics of this mechanism is explained and its connection to the wave kinetic equation and the wave-momentum flux is described. Applications to the H-mode pedestal in particular to internal transport barriers, are discussed. Also, the effect of heat transport on the momentum flux is discussed. (10.1063/1.3503624)
  DOI : 10.1063/1.3503624
• Une recherche ITER...ative
  
  • Hennequin Pascale
  Pour la science, Pour la Science, 2010 (392).