CAREER: The Bryn Mawr Plasma Laboratory---A liberal-Arts Centered Facility for Basic Plasma Research and Plasma Science Education

Bryn Mawr College, Bryn Mawr PA

Investigators

Abstract

This CAREER award supports establishment of the Bryn Mawr Plasma Laboratory that has the dual goal of expanding small scale experimental research into the physics of a turbulent plasma, a gas of electrically charged particles, and serving as a gateway for increasing the number of women plasma physicists entering the field. The laboratory has been constructed at Bryn Mawr College, one of the few remaining women's liberal-arts colleges in the nation. It centers around a plasma wind-tunnel experiment in which turbulent plasma is generated and launched down a cylindrical column. Measurements of this plasma will be used to better understand the characteristics of plasma turbulence and to compare it to conventional fluid and air turbulence. The project will also benefit our understanding of plasmas observed in space, such as the solar wind launched by the sun into the solar system, and will help improve prediction of space weather here on Earth. A coaxial plasma gun will be used to generate a stream of magnetized plasma structures called spheromaks down a vacuum chamber, which then evolve via turbulent fluctuations toward relaxation into a Taylor state. High spatial resolution of access ports along the chamber will allow for many simultaneous direct measurements of fluctuating fields, flows, plasma density and temperature. Experimental goals include evaluation and study of the turbulence that is generated as well as establishing this flowing turbulent plasma as an environment in which to study other phenomena - much like the flowing air in a conventional wind-tunnel is used to study aerodynamics. Plans include observations of changes in turbulence in the presence of magnetic dipoles or insulating obstacles, as well as modifications due to injection of energetic particles or waves. Within a controllable laboratory setting, the program seeks to better understand the state of plasma that is observed throughout the solar system - magnetized, turbulent, and fully three-dimensional. Comparisons of this system will be made to data from major spacecraft-based endeavors including the Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission in orbit within Earth's magnetosphere, and the Parker Solar Probe, examining the plasma at the origin of the solar wind itself. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.