Mini-Conference Descriptions
Mini-Conferences perform a valuable function at Division of Plasma Physics (DPP) Annual Meetings. They provide opportunities to focus on areas of research in plasma science and interdisciplinary discourse not ordinarily covered in the regular annual meeting program and encourages participation from scientists who do not usually attend DPP Meetings. The oral presentations of a Mini-Conference include a combination of solicited and unsolicited papers.
11.01 Multi-Petawatt Physics at New and Future Laser User Facilities
Organizers: Jonathan Zuegel (University of Rochester), Antonino Di Piazza (University of Rochester), Karl Krushelnick (University of Michigan), Andrew Harrison (ELI ERIC)
The Multi-Petawatt Physics Prioritization (MP3) Workshop held April 20-22, 2022 at Sorbonne Université in Paris, France developed science questions to guide research and future experiments at Multi-Petawatt laser facilities identified by working groups in four areas: laser plasma driven particle acceleration and advanced light sources (PAALS); high-field physics and quantum electrodynamics (HFP/QED); relativistic plasmas for laboratory astrophysics and planetary physics (LAPP); and laser-driven nuclear physics (LDNP). New multi-petawatt (MPW) facilities have come online, others approach or have commissioning underway, and several more are in design/construction phases. This mini-conference will include solicited contributed talks from leading experts and researchers who will update progress in the MPW arena since the MP3 workshop, including theoretical, computational, experimental, and technical advances.
11.02 Progress in Making IFE-based Concepts a Reality
Organizers: V. A. Kruse (LLNL), C. Menoni (CSU), D. Froula (University of Rochester), S. Glenzer (Stanford University)
The repeated success of the National Ignition Facility (NIF) to demonstrate ignition and scientific energy gain in the last 1.5 years has reinvigorated interest in making inertial fusion energy (IFE) fusion power plants a reality. In 2023, the Department of Energy revitalized the public IFE program with its launch of the IFE-STAR (Science and Technology Accelerated Research) Hubs, and several new IFE companies are now pursuing diverse inertial fusion approaches. The commercialization of IFE power plants will require overcoming many scientific, engineering, and economic viability hurdles. The mini-conference will host speakers from academia, national labs, industry, and private startup companies to present their progress over the last 12 months in furthering IFE-based research. We are interested in contributions that broadly cover the themes of system-level concepts, target design, advanced driver systems, pulse-power advances, and target manufacturing capabilities. We aim to foster an ongoing dialogue between the public and private spheres.
11.03 Pulsed Magnetic Fusion Energy
Organizers: Alex Zylstra (Pacific Fusion), Pat Knapp (Los Alamos National Laboratory), Gary Grim (Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory), Kyle Peterson (Sandia National Laboratories), Farhat Beg (University of California, San Diego)
An underappreciated fact is that pulsed magnetic fusion energy (PMF), in which a magnetically driven implosion reaches fusion conditions, has demonstrated high P𝞽 performance, among leading concepts, with only modest investment in recent years. PMF theory predicts advantageous scaling to high fusion gain. Considering this demonstrated performance, well-established scaling relations, and opportunities for further innovations, it is timely to invigorate research in this community towards the goal of commercial PMF energy. This mini-conference will cover the breadth of PMFE research across public and private institutions including the development of new facilities, experiments, modeling and simulation, power flow, and diagnostics.
11.04 Digital Twins for Fusion Research
Organizers: David P. Schissel, Raffi Nazikian (General Atomics), Brian Spears (Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory)
Fusion energy technology has matured to a level of complexity where the design, operation and modification of large-scale devices require innovative new tools to inform decision making. The Mini-Conference will include presentations and panel discussion on how digital twins can be used for both existing and future fusion devices of all types. Present day fusion devices as well as those being proposed involve many interacting pieces of equipment, high fidelity sensors, and coupled systems. Historically, the computational cost in time to solution, limitations with interoperability and scale for conventional science models such as MHD or particle in cell models for the fusion energy problem was too great to be used as part of an engineering design or control system. Recently, there have been significant advances in machine learning, which when utilizing high-speed parallel computing, has resulted in surrogate models and advanced control models that offer high physics fidelity and high speed. This combination has led recently to the exploration of Digital Twins to support fusion research. But the advances come with their own challenges and the objective of this mini conference will be to stimulate discussion and share ideas that can increase the pace of science discovery. We invite submission of talks on all aspects of the design, development, and operation of digital twins in fusion energy sciences.
11.05 Topological Plasma Physics
Organizers: Hong Qin (Princeton University), Brad Marston (Brown University), Jeffrey Parker (Google Research), Steven Tobias (University of Leeds, United Kingdom), Ziyan (Zoe) Zhu (Stanford University), Yichen Fu (Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory)
Topological plasma physics is an emerging research area that has witnessed significant growth in the last five years. The application of topological methods led to revolutionary success in condensed matter physics and quantum optics over the past few decades. Recent theoretical and experimental studies by different research groups have demonstrated the importance of waves and excitations of topological origin in plasmas. It is expected that the study of topological plasma physics will provide new ideas for the development of innovative technologies in plasma applications. The mini-conference aims to bring together leading experts and researchers in the field to survey recent advances and discuss future research plans. It will also serve the purpose of propagating the knowledge of this new research topic to the entire plasma physics community and promoting interdisciplinary collaborations between researchers in plasma physics, condensed matter physics, and mathematical physics. We encourage you to submit abstracts for in-person oral presentations, sharing your latest research findings, theoretical insights, and experimental results. (Virtual oral presentations are also welcome.)
11.06 Proton Transport in High Energy Density Plasmas
Organizers: Sophia Malko (Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory), Xavier Vaisseau (Focused Energy)
Proton transport plays a crucial role across various domains of high-energy-density plasma physics and inertial confinement fusion science. This mini-conference aims to facilitate the sharing and discussion of recent advancements in both experimental and numerical studies related to proton and ion transport in high-energy-density plasmas. Topics to be covered include proton stopping power, proton heating of warm dense matter, proton focusing and scattering, proton fast ignition, and advanced proton measurement techniques. The conference will comprise oral presentations and a panel discussion to explore future directions and foster collaborations in this rapidly evolving area of research.
11.07 Plasma Equilibria, Stability and Nonlinear Dynamics In Honour of Robert Dewar
Organizers: Matthew Hole (Australian National University), Amitava Bhattacharjee (Princeton University), Stuart Hudson (Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory), Adelle Wright (University of Wisconsin)
This Mini-Symposium celebrates the accomplishments of Professor Robert (Bob) Leith Dewar, FAA, FAPS, FAIP (1944 -2024), who was a giant in the field of theoretical plasma physics and made important contributions to magnetohydrodynamics (MHD), nonlinear kinetic theory, and dynamical systems theory. His work was highly original, foundational, and characterized by elegant mathematics. Bob worked closely with computer simulations and with experimentalists. While his work was primarily focused on toroidal magnetic fusion research, it was also influential in plasma astrophysics. Over the last decade, he had been instrumental in the development of a multiple region relaxed MHD model to describe general stellarator fields, and he was presently working on a generalization of such models to systems that preserve magnetic helicity with a weak ideal Ohm’s law constraint. Perhaps most importantly, he has left a legacy in both research and teaching, mentoring numerous students and early-career scholars, many of whom now hold prominent positions in the field. Oral contributed presentations are requested that draw on or are inspired by Bob’s research.