Microwave spectrum analysis as solar energy release diagnostics

The possibilities of using spectrographic observations of microwave radio emission as a solar flare plasma diagnostic are discussed. The spectral fine structure of the emission is interpreted in the context of plasma emission mechanisms. The balance equations for particles and plasma turbulence together with the transfer equations for electromagnetic waves in a plasma are solved for a model containing a diverging magnetic loop. As a result of the analysis of the blip-type spectral feature, the structure of energy release region and the unperturbed plasma concentration in the preflare loop are evaluated. The number of accelerated electrons and the intensity of the plasma turbulence in the source region are estimated using the properties of the weak continuum emission following the blip. Based on the degree of circular polarization of both the narrow band and the continuum emission, estimates for the external magnetic field strength and the angular width of the radiating plasma turbulence have been obtained.     

Analysis of Theories of Fully Ionized Space Plasma

The physical sense of the main ideas, presently used in plasma physics, is discussed. An attempt is made to clarify the concepts, used in plasma physical calculations. The concept of `Coulomb collisions' with the implicitly introduced rapid stochastization plays the main negative role in the physics of fully ionized plasma. Statistical methods, which are adequate for the neutral gas and for the partially ionized plasma, are not applicable for the completely ionized case. It is the cause of large errors in evaluating real plasma parameters. A new concept is considered: a fully ionized space plasma should be treated as a dynamical system with a low level of chaos. Further progress in space physics requires a serious renewal of plasma theory.     

Incoherent Scatter Plasma Lines: Observations and Applications

Space plasmas are host to the electrostatic Langmuir waves and a rich range of processes associated with them. Many of such processes that are of interest in micro-scale plasma physics and magnetosphere-ionosphere physics are open to investigation via incoherent scatter plasma lines—i.e., a pair of resonant peaks in the incoherent scatter radar (ISR) spectrum, symmetrically displaced from the radar transmitting frequency by about the plasma frequency, as the signature of Langmuir waves in the ISR spectrum. There now exists a large body of literature devoted to the investigation of a number of topics in ionospheric physics via plasma line theory and observation. It is the goal of this work to provide a comprehensive review of this literature, from the early theoretical works on oscillations in magnetized plasma to the recent advances in plasma line measurements and applications. This review includes detailed theoretical discussions on the intensity and frequency displacement of plasma lines. It reviews the experimental observations of plasma lines enhanced by various sources of energy and discusses the implications of the observations in the context of ionospheric physics. The review also covers the practical aspects of plasma line measurements, from measurement techniques to the applications of plasma lines in estimating the bulk parameters of the ionosphere.     

Modeling of Venus, Mars, and Titan

Increased computer capacity has made it possible to model the global plasma and neutral dynamics near Venus, Mars and Saturn??s moon Titan. The plasma interactions at Venus, Mars, and Titan are similar because each possess a substantial atmosphere but lacks a global internally generated magnetic field. In this article three self-consistent plasma models are described: the magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) model, the hybrid model and the fully kinetic plasma model. Chamberlain and Monte Carlo models of the Martian exosphere are also described. In particular, we describe the pros and cons of each model approach. Results from simulations are presented to demonstrate the ability of the models to capture the known plasma and neutral dynamics near the three objects.     

国外等离子体流动控制风洞试验技术研究

等离子体是一种由大量电子、离子和中性粒子组成且总体上呈中性的物质聚集体,它不同于物质的气态、液态和固态,而被称为物质的第四态。等离子体在航空航天器隐身、降噪、推进及空气动力学等方面的应用一直是国外发达国家的重点研究领域之一。归纳总结了国外研究的主要等离子体风洞形式和等离子体发生器形式;探讨了低、跨、超声速风洞模型上等离子体的作用机理和产生的现象,介绍了在等离子体流动控制方面开展的风洞实验技术研究。     

等离子体对大折转角扩压叶栅性能影响的机理

利用熵和耗散函数分析了某大折转角扩压叶栅内的流动及损失特性,探讨了等离子体减小损失的作用机理。结果表明,分离区仅是低能流体聚集区,而非高损失来源区;等离子体影响叶栅流动的机制可归结为,诱导其作用区上游流体加速降压、在其作用区内构造局部顺压力梯度以及增加电极附近的气流速度;等离子体通过减弱流动分离以减小栅内损失,其本质是通过减小吸力面后半部的分离区或低速区以减弱其与主流的剪切强度和减小强剪切作用区,从而减弱该区域内的耗散;等离子作用下吸力面附近气体流速的增加使得尾迹损失减小,而电极表面附近的粘性摩擦损失增加。     

等离子体涡电磁散射特性及隐身性能

 针对非均匀等离子体在飞行器隐身中的应用,采用分段线性电流密度递归卷积时域有限差分（PLJERC-FDTD）方法计算等离子体涡及涡串电磁散射特性,分析等离子体涡对飞行器隐身性能影响。计算表明,等离子体涡在很大频率区间对电磁波吸收效果显著,RCS降低很大,具有明显的隐身效果。等离子体涡表现出一定规律性的极化特性,对L,S和C波段电磁波具有不同的吸收、反射特性。     

等离子体点火与助燃技术在航空发动机上的应用

等离子体点火与助燃技术是能源与动力领域的研究前沿。介绍了等离子体点火与助燃技术的研究背景和意义,分析了其基本原理,给出了常见的等离子体点火与助燃的类型,阐述了等离子体通过热强化、动力学强化与输运强化3种强化燃烧机制,利于点火助燃。针对国内外等离子体点火与助燃技术在航空发动机上的研究现状,提出了预燃式等离子体射流点火和旋转滑动弧助燃2种新型等离子体点火助燃方案,对等离子体点火与助燃技术在航空发动机上的实际应用进行了展望。     

天线窗材料热透波特性风洞测试方法

高超声速飞行器天线窗材料在等离子体包覆条件下的热响应和热透波特性测试,是分析天线窗材料特性、研究电磁波在等离子体和天线窗中传输特性的基础。针对等离子体和天线窗中电磁波传输特性,采用矢量网络分析仪和标准增益天线组成的电磁波传输测试系统,获得了一定频率的电磁波经过等离子体和高温天线窗之后的衰减;针对高温天线窗自身热响应特性和电磁波在其中的传输特性,研究了天线窗材料在一定热流作用下的温度分布和烧蚀特性,测试了烧蚀后处于高温状态且无等离子体覆盖的天线窗对电磁波的影响,分析了天线窗高温透波特性与常温透波特性的差异。所建立的方法,为在地面等离子体风洞中开展天线窗热透波特性研究、分析天线窗和等离子体耦合作用对电磁波传输特性的影响建立了基础。     

离子推力器放电腔内等离子体流动规律的全粒子模型

为了详细描述等离子体在放电腔内的产生、演化过程,建立了放电腔内部等离子体流动的二维轴对称全粒子数值模型。在考虑壁面二次电子发射影响的前提下,模拟得到了稳态后放电腔内电磁场、电子与离子数密度,电流密度等一系列参数分布,且与相关实验数据进行了比较,吻合较好。模型得到了实验中难以观测到的放电腔内等离子体的产生、演化过程以及稳态下的分布规律,合理解释了放电腔工作的基本原理。     

The Cold-Dense Plasma Sheet: A Geotail Perspective

GEOTAIL observations of the low-latitude boundary layer (LLBL) in the tail-flanks show that they are the region where the cold-dense plasma appears with stagnant flow signatures accompanied by bi-directional thermal electrons (< 300 eV). It is concluded from these facts that the tail-LLBL is the site of capturing the cold-dense plasma of the magnetosheath origin on to the closed field lines of the magnetosphere. There are also cases that strongly suggest that the cold-dense plasma entry from the flanks can be significant to fill a substantial part of the magnetotail. In such cases, the cold-dense plasma is not spatially restricted to a layer attached to the magnetopause (that is, the LLBL), but continues to well inside the magnetotail, constituting the cold-dense plasma sheet. Inspired by the fact that these remarkable cases are found for northward interplanetary magnetic field (IMF), a statistical study on the status of the near-Earth plasma sheet is made. The results show that the plasma sheet becomes significantly colder and denser when the northward IMF continues than during southward IMF periods, and that the cold-dense status appears most prominently near the dawn and dusk flanks. These are consistent with the idea that, during northward IMF periods, the supply of cold-dense ions to the near-Earth tail from the flanks dominates over the hot-tenuous ions transported from the distant tail.     

低温等离子体辅助加工综述

随着航空航天、国防科技、能源等领域的快速发展,具有优良机械性能的高强度合金材料及复合材料得到广泛应用,实现这些材料的高效精密低损伤加工具有重要意义。低温等离子体富含活性粒子,能有效改善材料的可切削性,且较易产生、维持和控制,已被广泛应用于难加工材料的辅助加工过程中。在介绍低温等离子体基本特性及分类的基础上,结合国内外低温等离子体辅助加工技术的研究现状,以表面粗糙度、材料去除率、表面损伤、切削力等参数为评价指标,分别阐述了等离子体熔射成形技术、等离子体加热辅助切削技术、冷等离子体射流辅助抛光技术、冷等离子体射流辅助切削技术等的作用机理及效果,并对其发展趋势进行了展望。     

RPC-LAP: The Rosetta Langmuir Probe Instrument

The Rosetta dual Langmuir probe instrument, LAP, utilizes the multiple powers of a pair of spherical Langmuir probes for measurements of basic plasma parameters with the aim of providing detailed knowledge of the outgassing, ionization, and subsequent plasma processes around the Rosetta target comet. The fundamental plasma properties to be studied are the plasma density, the electron temperature, and the plasma flow velocity. However, study of electric fields up to 8 kHz, plasma density fluctuations, spacecraft potential, integrated UV flux, and dust impacts is also possible. LAP is fully integrated in the Rosetta Plasma Consortium (RPC), the instruments of which together provide a comprehensive characterization of the cometary plasma. The LAP Team is listed in Table III.     

激光等离子体减阻技术研究进展

利用激光等离子体减小高超声速飞行器的气动阻力对节能和最大限度地提高飞行器性能具有重要的意义。简单概述了高超声速飞行器的军事需求及等离子体减阻技术的分类;总结了激光等离子体减阻机理的实验研究和数值模拟情况;讨论了等离子体能量、点火位置和形状等参数对减阻性能的影响,目前利用激光等离子体技术可以减小70%的波阻。针对中国的激光等离子体减阻研究工作,分析了目前国内外研究中存在的问题,提出了深入开展激光等离子体减阻机理研究等建议。     

脉冲电晕放电对减少内燃机有害排放的研究

本文对脉冲电晕放电对减少内燃机有害排放的可行性进行了研究，实验中用NDIR(非分散红外线)气体分析仪测量了SY492Q-1型汽油机在等离子装置工作或不工作时排气中CO、CO2和HC的浓度，并通过等离子发生装置结构的变化调整阴极与阳极间的放电间隙，观察并测量其对实验结果的影响。初步实验结果证明，利用等离子体技术减少汽车尾气中的HC和CO的排放是可行的，并且等离子发生装置的放电电压和放电间隙对实验结果有重要影响。     

等离子体表面技术的研究与应用

概述了离子注入、离子束沉积、等离子喷涂、离子镀、等离子体增强化学气相沉积、等离子体化学热处理和双层辉光离子渗金属等等离子体表面技术的基本原理和最新进展,并给出了部分典型实例。     

Stimulated electromagnetic emissions by high-frequency electromagnetic pumping of the ionospheric plasma

A high frequency electromagnetic pump wave transmitted into the ionospheric plasma from the ground can stimulate electromagnetic radiation with frequencies around that of the ionospherically reflected pump wave. The numerous spectral features of these stimulated electromagnetic emissions (SEE) and their temporal evolution on a wide range of time scales are reviewed and related theoretical, numerical, and simulation results are discussed. On long (thermal) time scales the SEE constitutes a self-organization of the ionospheric plasma which depends on the interaction of nonlinear processes in a hierarchy of time scales in response to the electromagnetic pumping. Particularly, the appearance of the rich SEE spectrum is associated with the slow self-structuring of the plasma density into a spectrum of magnetic field-aligned density striations. The dependence of the SEE on electron gyroharmonic effects and the presence of density striations suggests that the existence of a magnetic field in the plasma is important for plasma turbulence to dissipate into non-thermal electromagnetic radiation during the long time quasi-stationary state of the turbulence evolution.     

The Near-Earth Plasma Environment

An overview of the plasma environment near the earth is provided. We describe how the near-earth plasma is formed, including photo-ionization from solar photons and impact ionization at high latitudes from energetic particles. We review the fundamental characteristics of the earth’s plasma environment, with emphasis on the ionosphere and its interactions with the extended neutral atmosphere. Important processes that control ionospheric physics at low, middle, and high latitudes are discussed. The general dynamics and morphology of the ionized gas at mid- and low-latitudes are described including electrodynamic contributions from wind-driven dynamos, tides, and planetary-scale waves. The unique properties of the near-earth plasma and its associated currents at high latitudes are shown to depend on precipitating auroral charged particles and strong electric fields which map earthward from the magnetosphere. The upper atmosphere is shown to have profound effects on the transfer of energy and momentum between the high-latitude plasma and the neutral constituents. The article concludes with a discussion of how the near-earth plasma responds to magnetic storms associated with solar disturbances.     

Type-III radio bursts and their interpretation

The observations of type-III solar radio bursts are briefly reviewed to set requirements on a model for their interpretation. The most important of these requirements is that the source must be an electron stream which is in a state of continuous quasilinear relaxation and which initially must have a nearly monotonically decreasing velocity distribution. The problem of constructing a model is broken into three parts: (1) The plasma wave source which depends on the interaction of the electron stream with electron plasma waves. (2) The radiation source which depends on the interaction of plasma waves and transverse electromagnetic waves or in a magnetized plasma the ordinary and extraordinary modes of magnetoionic theory. (3) The propagation of radiation between the source and the observer which depends on the transmission of radiation through a scattering refracting absorbing magnetized plasma.Progress on a model for the plasma wave source is reviewed and it is concluded that no existing models are adequate. The equations which would lead to an adequate model are written down, but not solved. These include, in addition to collisional damping, Landau damping both by the exciting stream and the background plasma, and spontaneous and induced processes for a three-dimensional distribution of plasma waves. Possible limitations to a quasilinear approach such as pile-up of plasma waves and nonlinear effects are considered. Processes which affect the gross structure of the source such as electron trajectories in coronal streamers and electron scattering by inhomogeneities are reviewed.Progress on the radiation source is considered both in the absence and presence of a magnetic field. At high frequencies (e.g., 80 MHz) observations of radiation near the fundamental and second harmonic of the plasma frequency allow a unique determination of source size and the energy density in plasma waves within the uncertainties of geometry by source ray tracing. This determination is extremely critical because the fundamental must be amplified and thus production of the fundamental is effectively a much more highly nonlinear process than production of the second harmonic. At low frequencies (e.g., 500 kHz) the second harmonic is shown to be dominant because amplification of the fundamental becomes an inefficient process.Calculations of scattering of radiation in a random medium are reviewed. It is concluded that these are adequate at high and low frequencies, but have not been carried out properly at intermediate frequencies where amplification of the fundamental may still be present. It is shown in particular that when scattering is taken into account at high frequencies all observations can be explained by isotropic emission near the second harmonic. At low frequencies the nature of the scatterers is determined by source occultations unlike the case at high frequencies where these are free parameters. This fact allows the possibility of determining true source sizes at low frequencies by subtracting out the contribution due to scattering. A mechanism for producing the possibly observed linear or highly elliptical polarization of type-III bursts, which must be imposed far from the source due to Faraday rotation, is reviewed.Finally, the questions of what remains to be done and what we can hope to obtain upon completion of this work are briefly considered.The National Center for Atmospheric Research is sponsored by the National Science Foundation.