Magnetized Plasma Research Laboratory (MPRL): Transport, Turbulence, and Coherent Structures in Low Temperature Plasmas and Dusty Plasmas at High Magnetic Fields

This award supports operation of the Magnetized Plasma Research Laboratory (MPRL) facility at Auburn University to study structure and pattern formation in plasmas, and specifically dusty plasmas, at high magnetic fields and to broaden external user access to the facility. Dusty plasma is a gas-like state of matter composed of electrons, ions, neutral atoms, and small charged solid particles. The study of pattern formation in dusty plasmas is connected to many areas of fundamental and applied research, from planet formation within protoplanetary disks, to fabrication of computer chips by the semiconductor industry, to plasma dust contamination in magnetic confinement fusion research. The supported research effort seeks to understand how the extremely fast interactions that occur between electrons, ions, and solid particles on very small scales can lead to long-lived and large scale patterns in a magnetized dusty plasma. The MPRL facility has the unique high magnetic field capability for conducting these studies. The award will also enable broad external user access to the MPRL, support local graduate students and postdoctoral researchers at Auburn University, develop a network of institutions to broaden the introduction of plasma science and engineering at the undergraduate level, and support a week-long plasma physics summer/winter school for undergraduates. The technical mission of the Magnetized Plasma Research Laboratory is to understand and control how micro-scale spatial and temporal behavior enables the emergence of long-lived, macro-scale structures in strongly magnetized plasmas and dusty plasmas. This mission is centered on three main questions: (1) What makes ion magnetization act as the apparent threshold condition for the emergence of self-organized phenomena in magnetized plasmas and dusty plasmas at high magnetic fields? (2) How do the thermodynamic properties of a strongly coupled dusty or complex plasma evolve as it transitions from a self-organized to an imposed organized state with increasing magnetic field, and can this be used as an analogue for two-dimensional magnetic materials? (3) How are the transport, diffusive, and turbulent properties of plasmas and dusty plasmas modified in the presence of a strong magnetic field? Targeted experiments will include investigating the temporal and morphological stability of confined filamentary structures, validating the structural transitions of a plasma crystal at high magnetic fields, using a combination of experiments, data mining, and machine learning tools to characterize the transport, diffusion, and turbulent properties of plasmas and dusty plasmas, extending the use of dust particles as probes of flows and potential structures within plasmas and plasma filamentary structures, and continuing the development of new, non-invasive diagnostic techniques for studying plasmas and dusty plasmas in high magnetic fields. 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.