Title: Frontiers in Plasma Science: a high energy density perspective

Abstract:

The potential for ground-breaking research in plasma physics in high energy density (HED) regimes is compelling. The combination of HED facilities around the world spanning microjoules to megajoules, with time scales ranging from femtoseconds to microseconds enables new regimes of plasma science to be experimentally probed. The ability to shock and ramp compress samples and simultaneously probe them allows dense, strongly coupled, Fermi degenerate plasmas relevant to planetary interiors, as well as solid-state lattice dynamics and plastic flows, to be studied. Shock driven hydrodynamic instabilities evolving into turbulent flows relevant to the dynamics of exploding stars are being probed. High temperature, high velocity interacting flows are being probed for evidence of astrophysical collisionless shock formation. Turbulent, high magnetic Reynolds number flows are being experimentally generated to look for evidence of the turbulent magnetic dynamo effect. The physics and dynamics of imploding plasma systems reaching ultrahigh pressures and densities for inertial confinement fusion (ICF) represent a central research focus area.

And experiments to probe thermonuclear reactions in dense hot plasmas relevant to stellar interiors are starting to emerge. A selection of examples providing a compelling vision for frontier plasma science in the coming decade will be presented.