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.
Reducing high electron and ion heat fluxes is one of the critical issues for shielding satellites and spacecraft. One of the ideas for shielding high particle and heat fluxes is to apply an external magnetic field generated by injecting current filaments. In this work, we model a flow of plasma, which includes electrons and ions in a small region, by using two spatial dimensions and three coordinates for velocities (2D3V) Particle-In-Cell (PIC) code to study the effects of the injected current filaments on particle and heat fluxes to the wall. The plasma enters the simulation domain from the source region at the left boundary and is fully absorbed in the conductor wall at the right boundary. Current filaments are injected to change the magnetic field structure of the system. We compare particle density, particle flux, and heat flux with and without injecting the current filaments into the domain in two dimensions. Based on the simulation results, we found that injecting current filaments can reduce the peak fluxes to the wall and transfer some of those fluxes along the wall. Therefore, injecting the current filaments is a good candidate for shielding satellites and spacecraft from high-energy ion and electron fluxes.
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