Particle Simulation of Controlling Particle and Heat Flux by Magnetic Field

Abstract

An idea for shielding high energy ion and electron fluxes is proposed by applying external magnetic fields. In this work, we model a flowing plasma in a small region by utilizing one spatial dimension and three coordinates for velocities (1D3V) Particle-In-Cell (PIC) code. The plasma which consists of ion and electron is produced from the source region and absorbed at the conductor wall. The external magnetic field is modified by applying the change of the magnetic field in the direction perpendicular to the plasma flow. This magnetic field is localized and switched from strong negative values to strong positive values at several locations in the simulation region. We found that this localized reversed magnetic field traps the particles, and then reduces the particle and heat fluxes to the wall. Based on the modeling results, external localized-reversed magnetic fields can control the particle and heat fluxes to the wall. These results can be applied for shielding high energy ion and electron fluxes to the satellite or spacecraft in the space.