arXiv subjects

István Pusztai

Publications and source records attributed to István Pusztai.

18 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2026

Reduced kinetic modelling of shattered pellet injection in ASDEX Upgrade

Plasma-terminating disruptions represent a critical outstanding issue for reactor-relevant tokamaks. ITER will use shattered pellet injection (SPI) as its disruption mitigation system to reduce heat loads, vessel forces, and to suppress the formation of runaway electrons. In this paper we demonstrate that reduced kinetic modelling of SPI is capable of capturing the major experimental trends in ASDEX Upgrade SPI experiments, such as dependence of the radiated energy fraction on neon content, or the current quench dynamics. Simulations are also consistent with the experimental observation of no runaway electron generation with neon and mixed deuterium-neon pellet composition. We also show that statistical variations in the fragmentation process only have a notable impact on disruption dynamics at intermediate neon doping, as was observed in experiments.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2026

Collisionless dynamo seeds from phase mixing-induced electron slippage

Magnetic fields permeating the Universe on the largest astrophysical scales are thought to result from dynamo amplification in weakly collisional turbulence, but the origin of the seed fields remains an open problem of cosmic magnetogenesis. We identify a kinetic mechanism for magnetic-field generation in initially unmagnetized, collisionless plasmas, arising from phase-mixing-induced braking of spatially varying electron flows. Using analytical theory, fully kinetic Vlasov simulations, and turbulent scaling arguments, we show that this process generates coherent magnetic seed fields on scales far larger than the characteristic kinetic scales of the plasma, with strengths comparable to or exceeding classical Biermann battery estimates. The mechanism requires neither a finite initial magnetic field nor misaligned thermodynamic gradients and occurs naturally in electron--ion plasmas.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2026

An analytical criterion for significant runaway electron generation in activated tokamaks

A disrupting plasma in a high-performance tokamak such as ITER or SPARC may generate large runaway electron currents that, upon impact with the tokamak wall, can cause serious damage to the device. To quickly identify regions of safe operation in parameter space, it is useful to develop reduced models and analytical criteria that predict when a significant fraction of the Ohmic current is converted into a current of runaway electrons. In deuterium-tritium plasmas, the seed runaway current may have a significant contribution from - or may even be dominated by - tritium beta decay and Compton scattering. In this work, a criterion for significant runaway electron generation that includes tritium beta decay and Compton scattering sources is developed. The avalanche gain factor includes the effects of partial screening of injected noble gases. The result is an analytical model that can predict significant runaway electron generation in the next generation of activated tokamak devices. The model is validated by fluid simulations using DREAM (Hoppe et al. 2021 Comput. Phys. Commun., vol. 268, p. 108098) and is shown to delineate regions in parameter space where significant runaway electron generation may occur.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2025

Eulerian and Lagrangian electron energization during magnetic reconnection

Electron energization by magnetic reconnection has historically been studied in the Lagrangian guiding-center framework. Insights from such studies include that Fermi acceleration in magnetic islands can accelerate electrons to high energies. An alternative Eulerian fluid formulation of electron energization was recently used to study electron energization during magnetic reconnection in the absence of magnetic islands. Here, we use particle-in-cell simulations to compare the Eulerian and Lagrangian models of electron energization in a setup where reconnection leads to magnetic island formation. We find the largest energization at the edges of magnetic islands. There, energization related to the diamagnetic drift dominates in the Eulerian model, while the Fermi related term dominates in the Lagrangian model. The models predict significantly different energization rates locally. A better agreement is found after integrating over the simulation domain. We show that strong magnetic curvature can break the magnetic moment conservation assumed by the Lagrangian model, leading to erroneous results. The Eulerian fluid model is a complete fluid description and accurately models bulk energization. However, local measurements of its constituent energization terms need not reflect locations where plasma is heated or accelerated. The Lagrangian guiding center model can accurately describe the energization of particles, but it cannot describe the evolution of the fluid energy. We conclude that while both models can be valid, they describe two fundamentally different quantities, and care should be taken when choosing which model to use.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2024

Evolution of the autoresonant plasma wave excitation in two-dimensional particle-in-cell simulations

The generation of an autoresonantly phase-locked high amplitude plasma waves to the chirped beat frequency of two driving lasers is studied in two dimensions using particle-in-cell simulations. The two-dimensional plasma and laser parameters correspond to those that optimized the plasma wave amplitude in one-dimensional simulations. Near the start of autoresonant locking, the two-dimensional simulations appear similar to one-dimensional particle-in-cell results [Luo et al., Phys. Rev. Res. 6, 013338 (2024)] with plasma wave amplitudes above the Rosenbluth-Liu limit. Later, just below wave-breaking, the two-dimensional simulation exhibits a Weibel-like instability and eventually laser beam filamentation. These limit the coherence of the plasma oscillation after the peak plasma wave field is obtained. In spite of the reduction of spatial coherence of the accelerating density structure, the acceleration of self-injected electrons in the case studied remains at $70\%$ to $80\%$ of that observed in one dimension. Other effects such as plasma wave bowing are discussed.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2022

Stimulated-Raman-scattering amplification of attosecond XUV pulses with pulse-train pumps and application to local in-depth plasma-density measurement

We present a scheme for amplifying an extreme-ultraviolet (XUV) seed isolated attosecond pulse via stimulated Raman scattering of a pulse-train pump. At sufficient seed and pump intensity, the amplification is nonlinear, and the amplitude of the seed pulse can reach that of the pump, one order of magnitude higher than the initial seed amplitude. In the linear amplification regime, we find that the spectral signature of the pump pulse train is imprinted on the spectrum of the amplified seed pulse. Since the spectral signature is imprinted with its frequency downshifted by the plasma frequency, it is possible to deduce the electron density in the region of interaction. This region can be of micrometer length scale longitudinally. By varying the delay between the seed and the pump, this scheme provides a local electron-density measurement inside solid-density plasmas that cannot be probed with optical frequencies, with micrometer resolution.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2022

Runaway dynamics in disruptions with current relaxation

The safe operation of tokamak reactors requires a reliable modeling capability of disruptions, and in particular the spatio-temporal dynamics of associated runaway electron currents. In a disruption, instabilities can break up magnetic surfaces into chaotic field line regions, causing current profile relaxation, as well as a rapid radial transport of heat and particles. Using a mean-field helicity transport model implemented in the disruption runaway modeling framework DREAM, we calculate the dynamics of runaway electrons in the presence of current relaxation events. In scenarios where flux surfaces remain intact in parts of the plasma, a skin current is induced at the boundary of the intact magnetic field region. This skin current region becomes an important center concerning the subsequent dynamics: It may turn into a hot ohmic current channel, or a sizable radially localized runaway beam, depending on the heat transport. If the intact region is in the plasma edge, runaway generation in the counter-current direction can occur, which may develop into a sizable reverse runaway beam. Even when the current relaxation extends to the entire plasma, the final runaway current density profile can be significantly affected, as the induced electric field is reduced in the core and increased in the edge, thereby shifting the center of runaway generation towards the edge.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2022

Attosecond dispersion as a diagnostics tool for solid-density laser-generated plasmas

Extreme-ultraviolet pulses can propagate through ionised solid-density targets, unlike optical pulses and, thus, have the potential to probe the interior of such plasmas on sub-femtosecond timescales. We present a synthetic diagnostic method for solid-density laser-generated plasmas based on the dispersion of an extreme-ultraviolet attosecond probe pulse, in a pump--probe scheme. We demonstrate the theoretical feasibility of this approach through calculating the dispersion of an extreme-ultraviolet probe pulse propagating through a laser-generated plasma. The plasma dynamics is calculated using a particle-in-cell simulation, whereas the dispersion of the probe is calculated with an external pseudo-spectral wave solver, allowing for high accuracy when calculating the dispersion. The application of this method is illustrated on thin-film plastic and aluminium targets irradiated by a high-intensity pump pulse. By comparing the dispersion of the probe pulse at different delays relative to the pump pulse, it is possible to follow the evolution of the plasma as it disintegrates. The high-frequency end of the dispersion provides information on the line-integrated electron density, whereas lower frequencies are more affected by the highest density encountered along the path of the probe. In addition, the presence of thin-film interference could be used to study the evolution of the plasma surface.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2020

Collisional effects on the electrostatic shock dynamics in thin-foil targets driven by an ultraintense short pulse laser

We numerically investigate the impact of Coulomb collisions on the ion dynamics in high-$Z$, solid density caesium hydride and copper targets, irradiated by high-intensity ($I\approx2{-}5\times10^{20}{\rm\,Wcm^{-2}}$), ultrashort (${\sim}10{\rm\,fs}$), circularly polarized laser pulses, using particle-in-cell simulations. Collisions significantly enhance electron heating, thereby strongly increasing the speed of a shock wave launched in the laser-plasma interaction. In the caesium hydride target, collisions between the two ion species heat the protons to ${\sim}100{-}1000{\rm\,eV}$ temperatures. However, in contrast to previous work (A.E. Turrell etal., 2015 Nat. Commun. 6, 8905), this process happens in the upstream only, due to nearly total proton reflection. This difference is ascribed to distinct models used to treat collisions in dense/cold plasmas. In the case of a copper target, ion reflection can start as a self-amplifying process, bootstrapping itself. Afterwards, collisions between the reflected and upstream ions heat these two populations significantly. When increasing the pulse duration to $60{\rm\,fs}$, the shock front more clearly decouples from the laser piston, and so can be studied without direct interference from the laser. The shock wave formed at early times exhibits properties typical of both hydrodynamic and electrostatic shocks, including ion reflection. At late times, the shock is seen to evolve into a hydrodynamic blast wave.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2020

Dynamo in weakly collisional nonmagnetized plasmas impeded by Landau damping of magnetic fields

We perform fully kinetic simulations of flows known to produce dynamo in magnetohydrodynamics (MHD), considering scenarios with low Reynolds number and high magnetic Prandtl number, relevant for galaxy cluster scale fluctuation dynamos. We find that Landau damping on the electrons leads to a rapid decay of magnetic perturbations, impeding the dynamo. This collisionless damping process operates on spatial scales where electrons are nonmagnetized, reducing the range of scales where the magnetic field grows in high magnetic Prandtl number fluctuation dynamos. When electrons are not magnetized down to the resistive scale, the magnetic energy spectrum is expected to be limited by the scale corresponding to magnetic Landau damping or, if smaller, the electron gyroradius scale, instead of the resistive scale. In simulations we thus observe decaying magnetic fields where resistive MHD would predict a dynamo.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2020

Fast collisional electron heating and relaxation in thin foils driven by a circularly polarized ultraintense short-pulse laser

The creation of well-thermalized, hot and dense plasmas is attractive for warm dense matter studies. We investigate collisionally induced energy absorption of an ultraintense and ultrashort laser pulse in a solid copper target using particle-in-cell simulations. We find that, upon irradiation by a $2\times10^{20}{\rm\,W\,cm^{-2}}$ intensity, $60{\rm\,fs}$ duration, circularly polarized laser pulse, the electrons in the collisional simulation rapidly reach a well-thermalized distribution with ${\sim}3.5{\rm\,keV}$ temperature, while in the collisionless simulation the absorption is several orders of magnitude weaker. Circular polarization inhibits the generation of suprathermal electrons, while ensuring efficient bulk heating through inverse bremsstrahlung, a mechanism usually overlooked at relativistic laser intensity. An additional simulation, taking account of both collisional and field ionization, yields similar results: the bulk electrons are heated to ${\sim}2.5{\rm\,keV}$, but with a somewhat lower degree of thermalization than in the pre-set, fixed-ionization case. The collisional absorption mechanism is found to be robust against variations in the laser parameters. At fixed laser pulse energy, increasing the pulse duration rather than the intensity leads to a higher electron temperature.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2019

Proton Acceleration in a Laser-induced Relativistic Electron Vortex

We show that when a solid plasma foil with a density gradient on the front surface is irradiated by an intense laser pulse at a grazing angle, around 80 degrees, a relativistic electron vortex is excited in the near-critical-density layer after the laser pulse depletion. The vortex structure and dynamics are studied using particle-in-cell simulations. Due to the asymmetry introduced by nonuniform background density, the vortex drifts at a constant velocity, typically 0.2 to 0.3 times the speed of light. The strong magnetic field inside the vortex leads to significant charge separation; in the corresponding electric field initially stationary protons can be captured and accelerated to twice the velocity of the vortex (100-200 MeV). A representative scenario - with laser intensity of 10^21 W/cm^2 -is discussed: two dimensional simulations suggest that a quasi-monoenergetic proton beam can be obtained with a mean energy 140 MeV and an energy spread of about 10%. We derive an analytical estimate for the vortex velocity in terms of laser and plasma parameters, demonstrating that the maximum proton energy can be controlled by the incidence angle of the laser and the plasma density gradient.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2019

Effect of a weak ion collisionality on the dynamics of kinetic electrostatic shocks

In strictly collisionless electrostatic shocks, the ion distribution function can develop discontinuities along phase-space separatrices, due to partial reflection of the ion population. In this paper, we depart from the strictly collisionless regime and present a semi-analytical model for weakly collisional kinetic shocks. The model is used to study the effect of small but finite collisionalities on electrostatic shocks, and they are found to smooth out these discontinuities into growing boundary layers. More importantly, ions diffuse into and accumulate in the previously empty regions of phase space, and, by upsetting the charge balance, lead to growing downstream oscillations of the electrostatic potential. We find that the collisional age of the shock is the more relevant measure of the collisional effects than the collisionality, where the former can become significant during the lifetime of the shock, even for weak collisionalities.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2016

Turbulent transport of MeV range cyclotron heated minorities as compared to alpha particles

We study the turbulent transport of an ion cyclotron resonance heated (ICRH), MeV range minority ion species in tokamak plasmas. Such highly energetic minorities, which can be produced in the three ion minority heating scheme [Ye. O. Kazakov et al. (2015) Nucl. Fusion 55, 032001], have been proposed to be used to experimentally study the confinement properties of fast ions without the generation of fusion alphas. We compare the turbulent transport properties of ICRH ions with that of fusion born alpha particles. Our theoretical predictions indicate that care must be taken when conclusions are drawn from experimental results: While the effect of turbulence on these particles is similar in terms of transport coefficients, differences in their distribution functions - ultimately their generation processes - make the resulting turbulent fluxes different.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2016

Plasma rotation from momentum transport by neutrals in tokamaks

Neutral atoms can strongly influence the intrinsic rotation and radial electric field at the tokamak edge. Here, we present a framework to investigate these effects when the neutrals dominate the momentum transport. We explore the parameter space numerically, using highly flexible model geometries and a state of the art kinetic solver. We find that the most important parameters controlling the toroidal rotation and electric field are the major radius where the neutrals are localized and the plasma collisionality. This offers a means to influence the rotation and electric field by, for example, varying the radial position of the X-point to change the major radius of the neutral peak.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2014

Impurity transport in Alcator C-Mod in the presence of poloidal density variation induced by ion cyclotron resonance heating

Impurity particle transport in an ion cyclotron resonance heated Alcator C-Mod discharge is studied with local gyrokinetic simulations and a theoretical model including the effect of poloidal asymmetries and elongation. In spite of the strong minority temperature anisotropy in the deep core region, the poloidal asymmetries are found to have a negligible effect on the turbulent impurity transport due to low magnetic shear in this region, in agreement with the experimental observations. According to the theoretical model, in outer core regions poloidal asymmetries may contribute to the reduction of the impurity peaking, but uncertainties in atomic physics processes prevent quantitative comparison with experiments.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2014

A current driven electromagnetic mode in sheared and toroidal configurations

The induced electric field in a tokamak drives a parallel electron current flow. In an inhomogeneous, finite beta plasma, when this electron flow is comparable to the ion thermal speed, the Alfven mode wave solutions of the electromagnetic gyrokinetic equation can become nearly purely growing kink modes. Using the new "low-flow" version of the gyrokinetic code GS2 developed for momentum transport studies [Barnes et al 2013 Phys. Rev. Lett. 111, 055005], we are able to model the effect of the induced parallel electric field on the electron distribution to study the destabilizing influence of current on stability. We identify high mode number kink modes in GS2 simulations and make comparisons to analytical theory in sheared magnetic geometry. We demonstrate reassuring agreement with analytical results both in terms of parametric dependences of mode frequencies and growth rates, and regarding the radial mode structure.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2013

Radio frequency induced and neoclassical asymmetries and their effects on turbulent impurity transport in a tokamak

Poloidal asymmetries in the impurity density can be generated by radio frequency heating in the core and by neoclassical effects in the edge of tokamak plasmas. In a pedestal case study, using global neoclassical simulations we find that finite orbit width effects can generate significant poloidal variation in the electrostatic potential, which varies on a small radial scale. Gyrokinetic modeling shows that these poloidal asymmetries can be strong enough to significantly modify turbulent impurity peaking. In the pedestal the ExB drift in the radial electric field can give a larger contribution to the poloidal motion of impurities than that of their parallel streaming. Under such circumstances we find that up-down asymmetries can also affect impurity peaking.

physics.plasm-ph↗