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Recent experimental campaigns in the Wendelstein 7-X stellarator, a
plasma-confining device designed to investigate the Magnetic Confinement Fusion
(MCF) approach to generating electrical power, have shown that the injection of
fuelling pellets had an unexpected and considerable impact on the performance of
the plasma. Rather than simply refuelling the device and `diluting' the plasma
energy, pellet injection is followed by a significant increase in the ratio of
the ion temperature to the electron temperature. It has been suggested that this
is not merely due to the improved confinement following the reduction of
turbulent transport after the pellet material has homogenised with the bulk
plasma, but also due to a direct transfer of energy from electrons to ions. The
proposed mechanism for this energy transfer is the ambipolar expansion of the
pellet plasmoid, the localised plasma structure produced by the
ionisation of ablated pellet material, along magnetic field lines.
Early work on pellet plasmoid expansion predicted that half the heating power
deposited in plasmoid electrons by collisions with hot ambient electrons is
transferred to plasmoid ions in the form of flow velocity as the plasmoid
expands. The complicated nature of the system of the pellet plasmoid embedded in
the ambient plasma, particularly the behaviour of electrons, which experience
many collisional and collisionless phenomena on multiple disparate timescales,
means that early models of the expansion were not wholly self-consistent, but
rather made use of strong approximations that apply in some regions of the
plasmoid but not in others. For example, only electrons and ions associated with
the plasmoid were rigorously treated, meaning that the framework was one of
`expansion into vacuum'. Combined with the assumption of Maxwellian electrons,
this led to an electric potential that was unbounded at infinity. Naturally, the
validity of the conclusions of such a model are called into question because the
approximations lose their validity far from the plasmoid and as time advances,
yet predictions about the final state of the plasma are desired. A deeper
investigation is required: careful consideration of the phenomena in question
and the timescales (and lengthscales) on which they act must be made in order to
rigorously construct a model that is valid throughout the entire expansion.
The first two papers presented in this thesis iterate on the model established
in the paper that first predicted the electron-to-ion energy transfer; their aim
was to find out how the character of the expansion changes with a more
sophisticated and accurate description of various phenomena, while remaining
within the existing framework of expansion into vacuum. Ultimately, we find that
the qualitative character is unchanged, and that approximately half the heating
power deposited in plasmoid electrons is transferred to ions.
Two other papers in this thesis address the limitations of the original model.
This is achieved by properly considering the electron kinetic problem in a
plasmoid. One paper considers the electron kinetic problem when electrons are
highly isotropised. In this case the kinetic equation can be integrated to
remove all but two independent variables, which is the maximum possible
reduction considering it is a time-dependent problem. The full nonlinear
integro-differential Landau self-collision operator is integrated exactly and
few approximations are made, leading to a rather general kinetic equation.
However, for fuelling pellets some anisotropy in the electron distribution is
expected. Another paper considers the electron kinetic problem (and the entire
plasmoid expansion) allowing for electron anisotropy. Careful consideration of
the ordering of timescales of electron phenomena in a pellet plasmoid leads to a
steady-state kinetic problem that we call collisional quasi-equilibrium (QE). QE
appears in many ways similar to the collisional steady-state characterising a
true thermal equilibrium. It was found that the time-dependent kinetic problem
of the earlier paper, with isotropic electrons, produces the QE distribution
function, corroborating the existence of the QE state. We then take moments of
the electron kinetic equation that is valid on the expansion timescale, assuming
that the electron distribution is that given as the solution to the QE kinetic
problem. This is completely analogous to what is done to obtain the Braginskii
equations or any Chapman-Enskog theory. The result is a set of equations for the
long-term evolution of the macroscopic quantities that describe the distribution
function existing in a quasi-steady-state at each point in time. It is from this
point that one may feasibly describe the plasmoid expansion with an accurate
picture of the electron kinetics and finally obtain the electron-to-ion energy
transfer so desired in a rigorous model of the expansion.
From a broader point of view, the two frameworks provided by these rigorous
investigations of the electron kinetic problem serve as a basis for the future
study of plasmoids. Such a `first-principles' approach to plasmoid dynamics is
novel and interesting in its own right, but it will be demonstrated that such an
approach is essential for pellet plasmoids owing to the fact that they are
poorly described by the `standard tools' of plasma physics.
Using the QE framework it was found that, once more, about half the heating
power experienced by plasmoid electrons is transferred to plasmoid ions. The
incredible robustness of the prediction of such an energy transfer is, in the
author's opinion, the result of the self-similar nature of the expansion found
as a solution to the original model. As a rule, the profiles of self-similar
solutions tend to be attractors for the `real', more complicated, system, and
the qualitative predictions involving no parameters, of which the
electron-to-ion energy transfer is one, tend to be very sturdy.
Aside from fuelling pellets, composed of hydrogen or deuterium, one paper in
this thesis investigates the physics of high-Z pellets that are designed to
terminate the plasma safely in the event of a `disruption', where much of the
magnetic field energy is channelled into a runaway electron beam with
potentially disastrous consequences if the beam encounters a plasma-facing
component. The paper draws on the work carried out in the paper concerning the
kinetic problem of isotropised electrons in a plasmoid.
This thesis is `cumulative'; the vast majority of the work carried out is
described within a set of Papers, labelled A-E, placed at the back of the text.
There is a preceding `wrapper text' (given in numbered Sections) tasked with
introducing the reader to the topic, guiding the reader through the papers, and
expounding some of their main results. Some amount of material not present in
the papers is also provided in the wrapper text. Naturally, the wrapper text
mainly focusses on the results of the papers which are under my first
authorship. In the course of publishing papers over an extended period of time
the nomenclature is bound to vary. Although it is mostly consistent between the
papers, a few difference do arise, and the section `Common symbols and
subscripts' is provided in the frontmatter to alleviate confusion. Particular
care should be taken with the symbols x and z; both can refer to the
coordinate parallel to the magnetic field line, but in papers where z is used
for this purpose x tends to have another definition. In the wrapper text the
choice of symbols is generally chosen to reflect those in the corresponding
paper.
Objectives:
This study investigates the effectiveness of the Cold AP on the alteration of the enamel surface
without using acid etchant by using Conventional photo-activated resin bond to bond the
orthodontic brackets.
Materials and Methods:
One hundred and twenty-five Enamel specimens are prepared from disinfected bovine
mandibular incisors are divided into five groups. Group I: brackets are attached on the enamel
surface with the standard adhesive technique (etch + primer +bond). Group II: the brackets are
attached with the Standard Orthodontic adhesive technique without etching. Group III: the
enamel surface is conditioned with pure Argon Cold atmospheric plasma before the application
of the primer without using an acid etchant. Group IV: the enamel surface is conditioned with
the admixture of Argon Cold atmospheric plasma with 0.5 % Oxygen before the application of
the primer without using acid etchant Group V: after the application of Argon Cold atmospheric
plasma with 0.5 % Oxygen the surface is rewetted by deionized water before the application
of the primer and adhesive. After that, the samples are exposed to thermal cycling. The shear
bond strength of the samples is tested by the universal testing machine which measured the
maximum force at which the brackets are deboned from the tooth surface at a speed of
1mm/minute is measured.
Results:
Significant intergroup differences were found. Group V showed the highest shear bond
strength followed by Group I, VI, III, II respectively. There isn’t a statistical difference in the
values of The Shear bond strength values between Group III and IV.
Conclusions:
this study implies that Cold Atmospheric Plasma is a safe method to change the chemical
surface characteristics of the enamel surface.in addition to the significant importance of plasma
treatment followed by water rewetting, which could enhance adhesion between the orthodontic
attachments and the enamel layer
Kinetic modeling and infrared spectroscopy of charge carriers across the plasma-wall interface
(2022)
In this thesis, charge transport at the plasma-wall interface is investigated theoretically, on a semiclassical, microscopic level. Based on the Boltzmann and Poisson equations a set of equations is derived and numerically solved to model charge carriers both within a semiconducting wall and a gaseous plasma in front of it. While the plasma is considered collision-free, within the solid, phonon collisions, as well as recombination processes between conduction band electrons and valence band holes are considered. This results, for the first time, in a self-consistent modeling of both the gaseous electron-ion plasma and the electron-hole plasma in the solid on the same footing. Utilizing specific approximations for different physical scenarios, numerical solutions are presented both for the floating and the electronically contacted (biased) interface. In the latter case, the current voltage characteristic is calculated and shown to heavily depend on the charge kinetics within the wall.
Furthermore, we present optical methods to measure the wall charge noninvasively. These utilize the influence of the deposited surplus charges on the optical reflection coefficient of the surface. By calculating the optical response of these charges, we show that the magnitude of the surface charge can be inferred from the change in the reflectivity of the surface caused by the presence of the plasma. While nonlocal effects are considered, it is shown analytically and numerically that these can be neglected at the scales of the considered physical systems.
Modern space missions depend more and more on electric propulsion devices for in-space
flights. The superior efficiency by ionizing the feedgas and propelling them using electric
fields with regard to conventional chemical thrusters makes them a great alternative. To
find optimized thruster designs is of high importance for industrial applications. Building
new prototypes is very expensive and takes a lot of time. A cheaper alternative is to rely
on computer simulations to get a deeper understanding of the underlying physics. In order
to gain a realistic simulation the whole system has to be taken into account including the
channel and the plume region. Because numerical models have to resolve the smallest time
and spatial scales, simulations take up an unfeasible amount of time. Usually a self-similarity
scaling scheme is used to greatly speed up these simulations. Until now the limits of this
method have not been thoroughly discussed. Therefore, this thesis investigates the limits
and the influence of the self-similarity scheme on simulations of ion thrusters. The aim
is to validate the self-similarity scaling and to look for application oriented tools to use
for thruster design optimization. As a test system the High-Efficiency-Multistage-Plasma
thruster (HEMP-T) is considered.
To simulate the HEMP-T a fully kinetic method is necessary. For low-temperature plasmas,
as found in the HEMP-T, the Particle-in-Cell (PIC) method has proven to be the best
choice. Unfortunately, PIC requires high spatial and temporal resolution and is hence
computationally costly. This limits the size of the devices PIC is able to simulate as well
as limiting the exploration of a wider design space of different thrusters. The whole system
is physically described using the Boltzmann and Maxwell equations. Using these system
of equations invariants can be derived. In the past, these invariants were used to derive a
self-similarity scaling law, maintaining the exact solution for the plasma volume, which is
applicable to ion thrusters and other plasmas. With the aid of the self-similarity scaling
scheme the computation cost can be reduced drastically. The drawback of the geometrical
scaling of the system is, that the plasma density and therefore the Debye length does not
scale. This expands the length at which charge separation occurs in respect to the system
size. In this thesis the limits of this scaling are investigated and the influence of the scaling
at higher scaling factors is studied. The specific HEMP-T design chosen for these studies is
the DP1.
Because the application of scaling laws is limited by the increasing influence of charge separation with increased scaling, PIC simulations still are computationally costly. Another approach to explore a wider design space is given using Multi-Objective-Design-Optimization
(MDO). MDO uses different tools to generate optimized thruster designs in a comparatively
short amount of time. This new approach is validated using the PIC method. During this
validation the drawback of the MDO surfaces. The MDO calculations are not self-consistent
and are based on empirical values of old thruster designs as input parameters, which not
necessarily match the new optimized thruster design. By simulating the optimized thruster
design with PIC and recalculate the former input parameters, a more realistic thruster design is achieved. This process can be repeated iteratively. The combination of self-consistent
PIC simulations with the performance of MDO is a great way to generate optimized thruster
designs in a comparatively short amount of time. The proof of concept of such a combination
is the pinnacle of this thesis.
The here presented dissertation investigated the molecular mechanisms, by which the food industry model bacteria Pseudomonas fluorescens and Listeria monocytogenes, grown either as planktonic cultures, were inhibited by plasma treated water (PTW) produced by a microwave-induced plasma source (MidiPLexc). As a starting point, optimal operating parameters were determined with 5 standard liters per minutes(slm)compressed air during the treatment of 10 ml deionized water within a treatment time of up to 15 min (pre-treatment time). Treatment times of 1, 3 and 5 min were selected (post-treatment time). In addition to physical parameters, i.e. temperature measurements at different spots at the plasma source during the production of the PTW, the chemical composition of PTW was determined by pH measurements, chronoamperometry (determination of the H2O2 concentration), ion chromatography (determination of the NO2-, NO3- and ONOO- concentrations) and mass spectrometry (qualitative determination of the molecules). In addition, concentration changes of reactive species over a period of 3 h indicated a decrease of the NO2- concentration as well as an increase of the NO3- and ONOO- concentration in the PTW. Microbiological assays, i.e. quantification of colony-forming units (CFU), fluorescence and XTT assays, revealed a significant reduction of the proliferation ability of the cells, membrane damages and metabolic activity have been demonstrated for planktonic cultures as well as mono- and multispecies biofilms. PTW effects on biofilm structures were investigated using microscopic methods such as fluorescence microscopy, confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), as well as physical methods such as contact angle measurements. Significant changes in the biofilm structure have been shown, which indicate an ablation of the biofilm mass from top to bottom by approximately 2/3 of the biofilm mass and a destruction of the extracellular matrix (ECM) by the reactive species within the PTW. Subsequently, fresh-cut lettuce has been treated with PTW produced by up-scaled plasma sources. Apart from qualitative parameters of the lettuce after PTW treatment such as texture and color, the concentration of PTW reactive species have been determined. These experiments showed that the composition of the reactive species were slightly different from that of the laboratory-scaled plasma source MidiPLexc. Notably, the PTW treatment did not cause significant changes in texture and color of the fresh-cut lettuce. Finally, a synergistic effect of PTW treatment followed by plasma-processed air (PPA) drying was demonstrated application-specific.
In this work, studies with respect to the exhaust problem were performed
in the stellarator experiment Wendelstein 7-X with different target concepts and different magnetic field geometries. Different infrared cameras were used to study the heat flux from the plasma onto the PFC. In the first publication, the limiter set-up was used with a simpler magnetic topology in the plasma edge. The radial fall-off of the parallel heat flux for inboard limiters in W7-X shows, similar to inboard limiters in tokamaks, two different radial fall-off lengths, a short (narrow) one, characterizing the near-SOL, and a long (broad) characterizing the far-SOL. For the far-SOL, the heating power and connection length have been identified as the main scaling parameters, while for the near-SOL, the electron temperature close to the LCFS has been identified as the main scaling parameter. The two fall-off lengths differ by a factor 10, and the found scalings for both regimes differ from known models and experimental scalings in tokamaks. A turbulent-driven feature was discussed in the publication as a possible explanation for the behavior of the fall-off length in W7-X.
The gained information and data have been further used to support many
other publications, covering the symmetry of the heat loads, the
energy balance of the machine, and seeding experiments.
The heat exhaust in W7-X with an island divertor was studied in the second
and third publication. Definitions of parameters such as peaking factor and
wetted area were applied for the heterogeneous heat flux pattern on the
W7-X divertor. It was shown that the island divertor concept is capable
of spreading out the heat efficiently, resulting in large wetted areas of up to 1.5 m2. The reached values for the wetted area are comparable to the ones of the larger tokamak JET but with a much smaller ratio of wetted
area to the area of the last closed flux surface. Furthermore, a positive
scaling of the wetted area with the power in the SOL was observed. This
scaling is beneficial for future reactors but needs further investigation of the involved transport processes. The peaking factor (discussed in the second publication) describes how concentrated the heat load is within the region of the strike line. It was shown that this factor is decreasing for increasing densities without affecting the wetted area. The present work paves the way for further analysis of the transport processes of the heat flux towards the island divertor of Wendelstein 7-X.
The active screen plasma nitrocarburizing (ASPNC) technology is a state-of-the-art plasma-assisted heat treatment for improving surface hardness and wear resistance of metallic workpieces based on thermochemical diffusion. In comparison to conventional plasma nitrocarburizing, the use of an active screen (AS) improves thermal homogeinity at the workload and reduces soot formation. Further it can serve as a chemical source for the plasma processes, e.g. by use of an AS made of carbon-fibre reinforced carbon. This compilation of studies investigates the plasma-chemical composition of industrial- and laboratory-scale ASPNC plasmas, predominantly using in-situ laser absorption spectroscopy with lead-salt tuneable diode lasers, external-cavity quantum cascade lasers, and a frequency comb. In this way the temperatures and concentrations of the dominant stable molecular species HCN, NH3, CH4, C2H2, and CO, as well as of less prevelant species, were recorded as functions of e.g. the pressure, the applied plasma power, the total feed gas flow and its composition. Additionally, the diagnostics were applied to a chemically similar plasma-assisted process for diamond deposition.
Resulting from this thesis are new insights into the practical application of an AS made of CFC, the plasma-chemistry involving hydrogen, nitrogen, and carbon, and the particular role of CO as an indicator for reactor contamination. The effect of the feed gas composition on the resulting nitrogen- and carbon-expanded austenite layers was proven by combination of in-situ laser absorption spectroscopy with post-treatment surface diagnostics. Furthermore this work marks the first use of frequency comb spectroscopy with sub-nominally resolved Michelson interferometry for investigation of a low-pressure molecular discharge. This way the rotational bands of multiple species were simultaneously measured, resulting in temperature information at a precision hitherto not reached in the field of nitrocarburizing plasmas.
Background: Hyperthyroidism is known to induce a hypercoagulable state. It stimulates plasma levels of procoagulative factors and reduces fibrinolytic activity. So far most of the data have been derived from patients with endogenous hyperthyroidism with a wide variability in the underlying pathogenesis and severity of the disease. Objectives: In this study we experimentally induced thyrotoxicosis in healthy volunteers to explore the effects of thyroxine excess on the plasma proteome. Using a shotgun proteomics approach, the abundance of plasma proteins was monitored before, during and after thyrotoxicosis. Methods: Sixteen healthy male subjects were sampled at baseline, 4 and 8 weeks under 250 µg/day thyroxine p.o., as well as 4 and 8 weeks after stopping the application. Plasma proteins were analyzed after depletion of 6 high-abundance proteins (MARS6) by LC-ESI-MS/MS mass spectrometry. Mass spectrometric raw data were processed using a label-free, intensity-based workflow. Subsequently, the linear dependence between protein abundances and fT<sub>4</sub> levels were calculated using a Pearson correlation. Results: All subjects developed biochemical thyrotoxicosis, and this effect was reversed within the first 4 weeks of follow-up. None of the volunteers noticed any subjective symptoms. Levels of 10 proteins involved in the coagulation cascade specifically correlated with fT<sub>4</sub>, supporting an influence of thyroid hormone levels on blood coagulation even at nonpathological levels. Conclusions: The results suggest that experimental thyrotoxicosis exerts selective and specific thyroxine-induced effects on coagulation markers. Our study design allows assessment of thyroid hormone effects on plasma protein levels without secondary effects of other diseases or therapies.
The importance of ion propulsion devices as an option for in-space propulsion of space
crafts and satellites continues to grow. They are more efficient than conventional chemi-
cal thrusters, which rely on burning their propellant, by ionizing the propellant gas in a
discharge channel and emitting the heavy ions at very high velocities. The ion emission
region of a thruster is called the plume and extends several meters axially and radially
downstream from the exit of a thruster. This region is particularly important for the effi-
ciency of a thruster, because it determines energy and angular distribution of the emitted
ions. It also determines the interaction with the carrier space craft by defining the electric
potential shape and the fluxes and energies of the emitted high energy ions, which are the
key parameters for sputter erosion of satellite components such as solar panels. Developing
new ion thrusters is expensive because of the high number of prototypes and testing cycles
required. Numerical modeling can help to reduce the costs in thruster development, but
the vastly differing length and time scales of the system, particularly the large differences of
scales between the discharge chamber and the plume, make a simulation challenging. Often
both regions are considered to be decoupled and are treated with different models to make
their simulation technically feasible. The coupling between channel and plume plasmas and
its influence on each other is disregarded, because there is no interaction between the two
regions. Therefore, this thesis investigates the physical effects which arise from this cou-
pling as well as models suitable for an integrated simulation of the whole coupled problem
of channel and plume plasmas. For this purpose the High Efficiency Multistage Plasma
Thruster (HEMP-T) ion thruster is considered.
For the discharge channel plasma, a fully kinetic model is required and the Particle-in-Cell
(PIC) method is applied. The PIC method requires very high spatial and temporal resolu-
tions which makes it computationally costly. As a result, only the discharge channel and the
near-field plume close to the channel exit can be simulated. In the channel, the results show
that electrons are magnetized and follow the magnetic field lines. The orientation of the
magnetic field there is mostly parallel to the symmetry axis and the channel walls which re-
sults in a high parallel electron transport and leads to a flat electric potential and a reduced
plasma-wall sheath. Only at the magnetic cusps, which are characteristic of HEMP-Ts the
electrons are guided towards the wall, with ions following due to quasineutrality, where a
classical plasma-wall sheath develops. The ion-wall contact is thus limited to the cusp re-
gion. The small radial drop of the potential towards the wall gives rather low energies of
ions impinging at the wall and minimizes erosion in the HEMP-T.
In the near-field plume, which extends from the thruster exit plane to some centimeters
downstream, the ion emission characteristics is defined. The ratio of radial and axial elec-
tric field components in this region determines the ion emission angle which should be
minimized for maximum thruster efficiency. The plasma discharge in the channel produces
high plasma densities and the subsequent drop from plasma to vacuum potential occurs
further downstream for higher densities. This increases the ratio of radial and axial electric
field components because the plasma expands radially outside of the confinement from the
dielectric discharge channel walls. The potential structure in the near-field plume impacts
also the supply of electrons for the channel discharge because the electrons enter the channel
from the plume. An effect which arises from this coupling is the breathing mode oscilla-
tion. It is an oscillation which is observed in all plasma quantities and is located near the
thruster exit. The oscillation frequency measured in the simulation is in good agreement
with a predator-prey estimate which validates this ansatz. However, the electron tempera-
ture, assumed constant in the predator-prey model, correlates inversely with the oscillation,
i.e. it is minimal at the current maximum and vice versa, which contributes to the observed
oscillations. Because of the oscillation of the plasma number density, the potential drop also
oscillates in the exit region and thus the ratio of radial to axial electric field components,
which results in the oscillation of the mean ion emission angle.
Regarding suitable models for a combined simulation of channel and plume plasmas, the
PIC model for channel and near-field plume is explicitly coupled to a hybrid fluid-PIC
model for the plume. The latter treats the electrons as a fluid, hence increasing the effective
spatial and temporal resolutions which can be applied in the plume simulations at the cost
of reduced accuracy of the electron model. Plasma densities decrease by two orders of
magnitude two meters downstream from the channel exit. The explicitly coupled kinetic
and hybrid PIC models are well suited for the computation of a HEMP-T and its plume
expansion, but they disregard the coupling of channel and plume plasmas for which other
methods are necessary. For this purpose a new approach is presented with a proof-of-
principle validation. The limited spatial resolution in the plume can be overcome with the
mesh-coarsening method, which increases the resolution in regions of low plasma density
without numerical artifacts. Sub-cycling for the electrons in the plume can then be used
to increase the temporal resolution in the plume. The combination of both methods, called
the sub-cycling mesh-coarsening (SMC) algorithm in the scope of this work, promises high
savings in computational cost which can make a combined simulation of plume and channel
plasmas feasible.
Manipulating and utilizing plasmas becomes a more and more important task in various research fields of physics and in industrial developments. Especially in nowadays spacerelevant applications there are different ideas to modify plasmas concerning particular tasks.
One major point of interest is the ability to influence plasmas using magnetic fields. To study the underlying physical effects that were achieved by these magnetic fields for both scenarios Particle-in-Cell simulations were done. Two examples are discussed in this thesis.
The first example originates from an experiment performed by the European Space Agency ESA in collaboration with the German Space Agency DLR. To verify the possibility of heat-flux reduction by magnetic fields onto the thermal protection system of a space vehicle a simplified experiment on earth was developed. Most of the heat that is created during re-entry comes from compression of the air ahead of the hypersonic vehicle, as a result of the basic thermodynamic relation between temperature and pressure. The shock front, which builds up in front of the vehicle deflects most of the heat and prohibits the surface of the space vehicle from direct contact with the maximum flux. State of the art spacecrafts use highly developed materials like ceramics to handle the enormous heat. An attractive approach to reduce costs is to use magnetic fields for heat-flux reduction. This would allow the use of cheaper materials and thus reduce costs for the whole space mission. A partially-ionized Argon beam was used to create a certain heat-flux onto a target. The main finding of the experimental campaign was a large mitigation of heat-flux by applying a dipole-like magnetic field. The Particle-in-Cell method was able to reproduce experimental observations like the heat-flux reduction. An additionally implemented optical diagnostics module allowed to confirm the results of the spectroscopy done during the experiment. The underlying effect that is responsible for the heat-flux reduction was identified as a coupling between the modified plasma and the dominating neutral flux component. The plasma, that is guided towards the target, act as a shield in front of the target surface for arriving neutrals. These neutrals are slowed down by charge-exchange collisions. Furthermore the magnetic field induces an increased turbulent transport that is also needed to reach a reduction in heat-ux. The turbulent transport was also obtained by three-dimensional Direct Simulation Monte Carlo simulations. Unfortunately, such source driven turbulence can not be expected in space, so that a heat flux reduction in real space applications is questionable. Nevertheless, other effects like the induced turbulence by the rotating vehicle can compensate the missing source driven effect.
The second scenario in which a magnetic field is used to modify the heat flux of a plasma is the operation of the pulsed cathodic arc thruster. The same Particle-in-Cell code was used to simulate a typical pulse of this newly developed thruster of Neumann Space Pty Ltd. The typical behavior of the thruster could be reproduced numerically. The thrust is mainly produced by fast electrons. These electrons are accelerated by electric fields as a result of a plasma-beam instability. This plasma-beam instability was verified by a phase space diagnostics for the electrons. To demonstrate the influence of the magnetic field a simulation of the cathodic arc thruster without magnetic field and one with magnetic field were compared. It was shown that the use of a magnetic field leads to a ten times larger thrust by directing the heat ux. The resulting narrow plume is an additional Advantage of the particle guiding magnetic field. This narrowness of the plume reduces the danger of interaction with other components of the space vehicle.
Both scenarios demonstrate the different capabilities for electromagnetic fields to manipulate plasmas and especially the corresponding heat-flux with respect to certain tasks. The possibilities range from reducing the heat-flux onto a target to maximizing the thrust by directing the heat-ux. This thesis demonstrates that simulations are a great tool to support experiments and to deliver an improved physics understanding. They help to identify the basic physics principles in the different systems, because they can deliver information not accessible to experiments.
In particular, a better understanding of the influence of electromagnetic fields on the heat-flux distribution in space-relevant applications was obtained. This can be the basis for further simulation-guided optimization, e.g. for the design of more effective cathodic arc thrusters. Here, the goal is to minimize costs for prototypes by replacing the hardware by virtual prototypes in the simulations. This allows to test basic design ideas in advance and get more highly-optimized designs at a fraction of time and costs.