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Plasma 2010 Committee
Plasma Science Committee
Board on Physics and Astronomy
Division on Engineering and Physical Sciences
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THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS 500 Fifth Street, N.W. Washington, DC 20001
NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing Board of the
National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils of the National Academy
of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine. The members of
the committee responsible for the report were chosen for their special competences and with regard
for appropriate balance.
This study was supported by Contract No. DE-AT01-05ER54778 between the National Academy of
Sciences and the Department of Energy, Grant No. PHY-0425966 between the National Academy of
Sciences and the National Science Foundation, and Contract No. NNG04G-I-30G between the Na-
tional Academy of Sciences and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Any opinions,
findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s)
and do not necessarily reflect the views of the organizations or agencies that provided support for
the project.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
National Research Council (U.S.). Plasma 2010 Committee.
Plasma science : advancing knowledge in the national interest / Plasma 2010 Committee, Plasma
Science Committee, Board on Physics and Astronomy, Division on Engineering and Physical
Sciences.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-0-309-10943-7 (pbk.) — ISBN 978-0-309-10944-4 (PDF) 1. Plasma (Ionized gases)—
Research—United States. I. Title.
QC718.6.N38 2007
530.4'4072073—dc22
2007041991
Cover: Magnetic energy density in a relativistic collisionless shock. In astrophysical plasmas, propa-
gating shocks such as this one are thought to accelerate particles to very high energies. Courtesy of
A. Spitkovsky, Princeton University.
Additional copies of this report are available from the National Academies Press, 500 Fifth Street,
N.W., Lockbox 285, Washington, DC 20055; (800) 624-6242 or (202) 334-3313 (in the Washing-
ton metropolitan area); Internet, http://www.nap.edu; and the Board on Physics and Astronomy,
National Research Council, 500 Fifth Street, N.W., Washington, DC 20001; Internet, http://www.
national-academies.org/bpa.
Copyright 2007 by the National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America
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The National Academy of Sciences is a private, nonprofit, self-perpetuating society of distinguished
scholars engaged in scientific and engineering research, dedicated to the furtherance of science and
technology and to their use for the general welfare. Upon the authority of the charter granted to it
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ment on scientific and technical matters. Dr. Ralph J. Cicerone is president of the National Academy
of Sciences.
The National Academy of Engineering was established in 1964, under the charter of the National
Academy of Sciences, as a parallel organization of outstanding engineers. It is autonomous in its
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the responsibility for advising the federal government. The National Academy of Engineering also
sponsors engineering programs aimed at meeting national needs, encourages education and research,
and recognizes the superior achievements of engineers. Dr. Charles M. Vest is president of the National
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The Institute of Medicine was established in 1970 by the National Academy of Sciences to secure
the services of eminent members of appropriate professions in the examination of policy matters
pertaining to the health of the public. The Institute acts under the responsibility given to the National
Academy of Sciences by its congressional charter to be an adviser to the federal government and, upon
its own initiative, to identify issues of medical care, research, and education. Dr. Harvey V. Fineberg
is president of the Institute of Medicine.
The National Research Council was organized by the National Academy of Sciences in 1916 to as-
sociate the broad community of science and technology with the Academy’s purposes of furthering
knowledge and advising the federal government. Functioning in accordance with general policies
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jointly by both Academies and the Institute of Medicine. Dr. Ralph J. Cicerone and Dr. Charles M.
Vest are chair and vice chair, respectively, of the National Research Council.
www.national-academies.org
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PLASMA 2010 COMMITTEE
STEVEN C. COWLEY, University of California at Los Angeles, Co-chair
JOHN PEOPLES, JR., Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, Co-chair
JAMES D. CALLEN, University of Wisconsin at Madison
FRANKLIN R. CHANG-DÍAZ, Ad Astra Rocket Company, Houston, Texas
TODD DITMIRE, University of Texas at Austin
WILLIAM DORLAND, University of Maryland at College Park
WALTER GEKELMAN, University of California at Los Angeles
STEVEN L. GIRSHICK, University of Minnesota
DAVID HAMMER, Cornell University
ERICH P. IPPEN, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
MARK J. KUSHNER, Iowa State University
KRISTINA A. LYNCH, Dartmouth College
JONATHAN E. MENARD, Princeton University
LIA MERMINGA, Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility
ELIOT QUATAERT, University of California at Berkeley
TIMOTHY J. SOMMERER, General Electric, Inc.
CLIFFORD M. SURKO, University of California at San Diego
MAX TABAK, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Staff
DONALD C. SHAPERO, Board Director
TIMOTHY I. MEYER, Senior Program Officer
MICHAEL H. MOLONEY, Senior Program Officer
PAMELA LEWIS, Program Associate (until January 2007)
VAN AN, Financial Associate
v
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PLASMA SCIENCE COMMITTEE
RICCARDO BETTI, University of Rochester, Chair
MICHAEL R. BROWN, Swarthmore College
LINDA M. CECCHI, Sandia National Laboratories
PATRICK L. COLESTOCK, Los Alamos National Laboratory
S. GAIL GLENDINNING, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
VALERY GODYAK, OSRAM Sylvania, Inc.
IAN H. HUTCHINSON, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
CHADRASHEKHAR JOSHI, University of California at Los Angeles
ELIOT QUATAERT, University of California at Berkeley
EDWARD THOMAS, JR., Auburn University
MICHAEL C. ZARNSTORFF, Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory
THOMAS H. ZURBUCHEN, University of Michigan
Staff
DONALD C. SHAPERO, Board Director
TIMOTHY I. MEYER, Senior Program Officer
CARYN J. KNUTSEN, Senior Program Assistant
vi
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BOARD ON PHYSICS AND ASTRONOMY
ANNEILA L. SARGENT, California Institute of Technology, Chair
MARC A. KASTNER, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Vice-chair
JOANNA AIZENBERG, Lucent Technologies
JONATHAN A. BAGGER, Johns Hopkins University
JAMES E. BRAU, University of Oregon
RONALD C. DAVIDSON, Princeton University
ANDREA M. GHEZ, University of California at Los Angeles
PETER F. GREEN, University of Michigan
WICK C. HAXTON, University of Washington
FRANCES HELLMAN, University of California at Berkeley
JOSEPH HEZIR, EOP Group, Inc.
ERICH P. IPPEN, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
ALLAN H. MacDONALD, University of Texas at Austin
CHRISTOPHER F. McKEE, University of California at Berkeley
HOMER A. NEAL, University of Michigan
JOSE N. ONUCHIC, University of California at San Diego
WILLIAM D. PHILLIPS, National Institute of Standards and Technology
THOMAS N. THEIS, IBM T.J. Watson Research Center
C. MEGAN URRY, Yale University
Staff
DONALD C. SHAPERO, Director
TIMOTHY I. MEYER, Senior Program Officer
ROBERT L. RIEMER, Senior Program Officer
NATALIA J. MELCER, Program Officer
BRIAN D. DEWHURST, Senior Program Associate
DAVID B. LANG, Research Associate
CARYN J. KNUTSEN, Senior Program Assistant
VAN AN, Financial Associate
vii
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Preface
The National Research Council (NRC) convened the Plasma 2010 Committee
in mid-2004, with substantial input from the Plasma Science Committee concern-
ing the committee, to prepare a new decadal assessment of and outlook for the
broad field of plasma science and engineering. Support for the project was provided
by the Department of Energy, the National Science Foundation, and the National
Aeronautics and Space Administration. The committee was asked to assess the
progress in plasma research, identify the most compelling new scientific opportuni-
ties, evaluate the prospects for broader application of plasmas, and offer guidance to
the government and the research community on realizing these opportunities; the
complete charge is reproduced in Appendix A. In addressing that charge, the com-
mittee maintained an optimistic, demand-side perspective, working to identify the
most compelling scientific opportunities and the paths to realizing them. Decadal
surveys experience a strong urge to discuss about the need for funding—the supply
side of the workforce equation; this committee worked hard to be forward-looking
in its analysis of what plasma research can do for this nation. In light of the ongoing
national discussion of U.S. competitiveness, the committee recognized the value
of a prospective “international benchmarking” exercise that would compare the
U.S. plasma science and engineering enterprise to analogous enterprises in other
parts of the world. However, the committee realized that it had neither the time
nor resources to undertake such a task.
The committee’s membership included not only experts in the many subdisci-
plines of plasmas (low-temperature, magnetic fusion, high energy density physics,
space physics and astrophysics, and basic plasma science), but also several experts
ix
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Preface
x
from outside plasma science enlisted by the NRC to help place the field of plas-
mas in a broader context (see Appendix G for biographical sketches of committee
members). It was important to the committee from the outset to prepare a report
that reflected the scientific connections among the plasma subdisciplines in a clear
and compelling manner.
This report represents the third volume in the Physics 2010 series, a project
undertaken by the NRC’s Board on Physics and Astronomy. Each volume examines
a subfield of physics, assesses its status, and frames an outlook for the future.
Because the committee’s full published report is about 250 pages long, the
committee will also make available an extract that includes only the front matter,
the Summary, and the first chapter, “Overview.”
The full committee met three times in person and used a fourth smaller meet-
ing to prepare the first full draft of the report (see Appendix F for meeting agendas).
To best address its task, the committee divided the broad field of plasma science
and engineering into topical areas and formed subcommittees to study each topic
in greater depth. Hundreds of conference calls and e-mail messages kept the work
coordinated between the full meetings of the committee. The committee carefully
studied trends in federal support for plasma science and the organization of this
support (see Appendix D for a short summary) and reviewed past NRC reports on
plasma science, with a reprise given in Appendix E.
The committee pursued several mechanisms to engage the broader community
of researchers in plasma science and engineering. Site visits by small teams from
the committee to the major centers of plasma research were conducted all over
the United States. Among the places visited were the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, Princeton University, the University of Wisconsin, the Naval Research
Laboratory, the University of Rochester, Sandia National Laboratories, Los Ala-
mos National Laboratory, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Lawrence Livermore
National Laboratory, the University of California at San Diego, General Atomics,
and others. The committee appreciates the time and effort expended by its hosts
at each of these visits; the discussions were enlightening and invaluable. The com-
mittee also held a series of town-hall meetings in conjunction with conferences
of the various professional societies, including meetings of the American Physical
Society’s Division of Plasma Physics and its Division of Atomic, Molecular, and Op-
tical Physics; the University Fusion Association; the American Geophysical Union;
the IEEE International Conference on Plasma Science; the AVS: Science and Tech-
nology of Materials, Interfaces, and Processing; the International Symposium on
Plasma Chemistry; and the Gaseous Electronics Conference. The committee thanks
the organizers of each of these meetings for their support and encouragement.
Finally, the committee also developed a written questionnaire that was electroni-
cally distributed; more than a hundred responses provided valuable contributions
to the committee’s discussions.
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Preface xi
The committee thanks the speakers who made formal presentations at each of
the meetings; their presentations and the ensuing discussions were extremely infor-
mative and had a significant impact on the committee’s deliberations. As co-chairs,
we are grateful to our colleagues on the committee for their patience, wisdom,
and deep commitment to the integrity of this report. We are especially grateful to
the outsider members of the committee for their commitment and dedication to
helping prepare this report. Their shrewd questions and creative suggestions sub-
stantially elevated the level of its discussions. Finally, the committee also thanks the
NRC staff (Timothy Meyer, Michael Moloney, Don Shapero, and Pamela Lewis)
for their guidance and assistance throughout this process.
Steven C. Cowley, Co-chair John Peoples, Jr., Co-chair
Plasma 2010 Committee
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Acknowledgment of Reviewers
This report has been reviewed in draft form by individuals chosen for their
diverse perspectives and technical expertise, in accordance with procedures ap-
proved by the National Research Council’s Report Review Committee. The purpose
of this independent review is to provide candid and critical comments that will
assist the institution in making its published report as sound as possible and to
ensure that the report meets institutional standards for objectivity, evidence, and
responsiveness to the study charge. The review comments and draft manuscript
remain confidential to protect the integrity of the deliberative process. We wish to
thank the following individuals for their review of this report:
Paul Bellan, California Institute of Technology,
Riccardo Betti, University of Rochester,
Amitava Bhattacharjee, University of New Hampshire,
Patrick Colestock, Los Alamos National Laboratory,
Ronald C. Davidson, Princeton University,
Cary B. Forest, University of Wisconsin at Madison,
Edward Frieman, Scripps Institution of Oceanography,
Valery Godyak, OSRAM Sylvania, Inc.,
W.G. Graham, Queen’s University, Belfast,
Mark C. Hermann, Sandia National Laboratories,
Ian H. Hutchinson, Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
Arnold Kritz, Lehigh University,
J. Patrick Looney, Brookhaven National Laboratory,
xiii
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acknowledgment reviewers
xiv of
Thomas M. O’Neil, University of California at San Diego,
Robert Rosner, Argonne National Laboratory,
Alvin W. Trivelpiece, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (retired),
Jonathan S. Wurtele, University of California at Berkeley, and
Michael C. Zarnstorff, Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory.
Although the reviewers listed above have provided many constructive com-
ments and suggestions, they were not asked to endorse the conclusions or recom-
mendations, nor did they see the final draft of the report before its release. The
review of this report was overseen by John F. Ahearne of Sigma Xi and Duke Uni-
versity and Nathaniel J. Fisch of Princeton University. Appointed by the National
Research Council, they were responsible for making certain that an independent
examination of this report was carried out in accordance with institutional proce-
dures and that all review comments were carefully considered. Responsibility for
the final content of this report rests entirely with the authoring committee and
the institution.
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Contents
SUMMARY 1
1 OVERVIEW 5
Definition of the Field, 5
Importance of Plasma Science and Engineering, 8
Selected Highlights of Plasma Science and Engineering, 11
Biotechnology and Health Care, 12
Accelerating Particles with Plasma Wake Fields, 15
Fusion Burning Plasmas in a Magnetic Bottle, 17
Magnetic Reconnection and Self-Organization, 22
Fusion Ignition in an Exploding Pellet, 24
Plasma Physics and Black Holes, 25
Key Themes of Recent Scientific Advances, 28
Prediction in Plasma Science, 28
New Plasma Regimes, 29
Common Intellectual Threads of Plasma Research, 29
The Report’s Principal Conclusion and Principal Recommendation, 31
2 LOW-TEMPERATURE PLASMA SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING 38
Introduction and Unifying Scientific Principles, 41
Plasma Heating, Stability, and Control, 41
Efficiency and Selectivity, 41
Stochastic, Chaotic, and Collective Behavior, 42
xv
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contents
xvi
Plasma Interactions with Surfaces, 42
Plasmas in Dusty and Other Nonideal Media, 43
Diagnostics and Predictive Modeling, 44
Recent Progress and Trends, 48
Generation, Stability, and Control of Very Small Area and
Very Large Area Plasmas at Low and High Pressures, 49
Interaction of Plasmas with Very Complex Surfaces, 52
Turbulent, Stochastic, and Chaotic Behavior of Complex Plasmas
and Plasmas in Liquids, 54
Reliable Quantitative Prediction of Plasma Behavior, 58
Emergence of Diffuse, High-Pressure Nonequilibrium Plasmas, 59
Future Opportunities, 59
Basic Interactions of Plasmas with Organic Materials and
Living Tissue, 60
Methods to Describe the Behavior of Plasmas That Contain
Chaotic and Stochastic Processes, 60
Stability Criteria for Large-Area, Uniform, High-Pressure Plasmas, 62
Interaction of High-Density Plasmas with Surfaces, 62
Flexible, Noninvasive Diagnostics, 62
Fundamental Data, 64
The International Perspective, 64
The Academic Perspective, 66
The Industrial Perspective, 68
Stewardship of the Field, 69
Conclusions and Recommendations for This Topic, 70
3 PLASMA PHYSICS AT HIGH ENERGY DENSITY 75
Introduction, 75
What Constitutes HED Plasma Physics?, 76
Enabling Technologies and HED Science in Context, 76
Importance of This Research, 80
Economic and Energy Security, 81
National Security, 81
Intellectual Importance, 82
Role of Education and Training, 84
Recent Progress and Future Opportunities, 84
Inertial Confinement Fusion, 85
Stockpile Stewardship, 91
Properties of Warm Dense Matter and Hot Dense Matter, 93
Plasma-Based Electron Accelerators, 98
Laboratory Simulation of Astrophysical Phenomena, 102
Fundamental HED Research, 104
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contents xvii
Addressing the Challenges, 108
Conclusions and Recommendations for This Topic, 110
4 THE PLASMA SCIENCE OF MAGNETIC FUSION 115
Introduction, 115
A New Era in Magnetic Fusion Research, 115
Magnetic Fusion: A Brief Description, 116
Concept Improvement Is Important for ITER and Beyond, 120
Importance of This Research, 124
Recent Progress and Future Opportunities, 125
Macroscopic Stability and Dynamics, 126
Microinstabilities, Turbulence, and Transport, 127
Boundary Plasma Properties and Control, 133
Wave–Particle Interactions in Fusion Plasmas, 141
Conclusions and Recommendations for This Topic, 146
5 SPACE AND ASTROPHYSICAL PLASMAS 152
Introduction, 152
Recent Progress and Future Opportunities, 153
What Are the Origins and the Evolution of Plasma Structure
Throughout the Magnetized Universe?, 155
How Are Particles Accelerated Throughout the Universe?, 166
How Do Plasmas Interact with Nonplasmas?, 175
Conclusions and Recommendations for This Topic, 179
6 BASIC PLASMA SCIENCE 184
Introduction, 184
Recent Progress and Future Opportunities, 185
Nonneutral and Single-Component Plasmas, 187
Ultracold Neutral Plasmas, 190
Dusty Plasmas, 191
Laser-Produced and HED Plasmas, 194
Microplasmas, 197
Turbulence and Turbulent Transport, 199
Dynamo Action, Reconnection, and Magnetic Self-Organization, 202
Plasma Waves, Structures, and Flows, 206
Improved Methodologies for Basic Plasma Studies, 209
Conclusions and Recommendations for This Topic, 210
University-Scale Investigations, 211
Intermediate-Scale Facilities, 213
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contents
xviii
APPENDIXES
A CHARGE TO THE COMMITTEE 219
B INTERNATIONAL THERMONUCLEAR EXPERIMENTAL REACTOR 221
C NATIONAL IGNITION FACILITY 226
D FEDERAL SUPPORT FOR PLASMA SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING 230
Department of Energy, 231
Office of Naval Research, 238
National Science Foundation, 238
National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 241
E REPRISE OF PAST NRC REPORTS ON PLASMA SCIENCE 243
F COMMITTEE MEETING AGENDAS 249
G BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES OF COMMITTEE 254
MEMBERS AND STAFF
