Coaxially nested intense $E\times B$ sheared flow realized an upgraded stable mirror plasma regime. After such an external control of high vorticity formation due to electron cyclotron heating, significantly unstable plasmas appeared. Thereby, the associated cross-field transport caused a crash of plasmas. Its generalized physics and interpretation could prepare or extend to another possibility of stability in a field-reversed configuration (FRC), for instance. Such underlying physics bases of vorticity formation were essentially or partially performed in tokamaks and stellarators (solved problems). Nevertheless, it remains to be seen whether this mirror-based experimental evidence is applicable or not to open ended FRC devices. This open issue may give a solution of one of unsolved important problems, and possibly provide more generalized and externally controllable opportunities for not only FRC but wider plasma confinement improvements.

The particle-in-cell (PIC) method was used to simulate heat flux mitigation experiments with partially ionised argon. The experiments demonstrate the possibility of reducing heat flux towards a target using magnetic fields. Modelling using the PIC method is able to reproduce the heat flux mitigation qualitatively. This is driven by modified electron transport. Electrons are magnetised and react directly to the external magnetic field. In addition, an increase of radial turbulent transport is also needed to explain the experimental observations in the model. Close to the target an increase of electron density is created. Due to quasi-neutrality, ions follow the electrons. Charge exchange collisions couple the dynamics of the neutrals to the ions and reduce the flow velocity of neutrals by radial momentum transport and subsequent losses. By this, the dominant heat-transport channel by neutrals gets reduced and a reduction of the heat deposition, similar to the experiment, is observed. Using the simulation a diagnostic module for optical emission is developed and its results are compared with spectroscopic measurements and photos from the experiment. The results of this study are in good agreement with the experiment. Experimental observations such as a shrank bright emission region close to the nozzle exit, an additional emission in front of the target and an overall change in colour to red are reproduced by the simulation.

In recent papers, we show how accretion disks around massive black holes could act as dynamos producing magnetic jets similar to the jets that create spheromaks in the laboratory. In this paper, we discuss how these magnetic astrophysical jets might naturally produce runaway ion beams accelerated to $10^{20}$  eV or more, finally ejected as ultra high energy cosmic rays (UHECRs) long regarded as one of the mysteries of astrophysics. The acceleration is mainly due to the drift cyclotron loss cone kinetic instability known from plasma research. Experiments and simulations are suggested to verify the acceleration process.

Rotating plasmas have the potential to offer unique capabilities for isotope and mass separation. Among the various electric and magnetic field configurations offering mass separation capabilities, rotating plasmas produced through static or oscillating fields are shown to be a leading candidate for tackling the unsolved problem of large-scale plasma separation. The successful development and deployment of industrial-scale plasma separation technologies could, among many other applications, provide an innovative path towards advanced sustainable nuclear energy. In this context, the potential and versatility of plasma rotation induced by rotating magnetic fields is uncovered and analysed. Analytical stability diagrams are derived from rotating ion orbits as a function of ion mass. Based on these findings, the basic principles of a rotating field plasma separator are then introduced. In light of these results, challenges associated with this original separation process are underlined, and the main directions for a future research program aimed at this important unsolved problem of applied plasma physics are identified.

Charge carrier transport across interfaces of dissimilar materials (including vacuum) is the essence of all electronic devices. Ultrafast charge transport across a nanometre length scale is of fundamental importance in the miniaturization of vacuum and plasma electronics. With the combination of recent advances in electronics, photonics and nanotechnology, these miniature devices may integrate with solid-state platforms, achieving superior performance. This paper reviews recent modelling efforts on quantum tunnelling, ultrafast electron emission and transport, and electrical contact resistance. Unsolved problems and challenges in these areas are addressed.

Numerical simulations have consistently shown that the reconnection rate in certain collisionless regimes can be fast, of the order of $0.1v_{A}B_{u}$ , where $v_{A}$ and $B_{u}$ are the Alfvén speed and the reconnecting magnetic field upstream of the ion diffusion region. This particular value has been reported in myriad numerical simulations under disparate conditions. However, despite decades of research, the reasons underpinning this specific value remain mysterious. Here, we present an overview of this problem and discuss the conditions under which the ‘0.1 value’ is attained. Furthermore, we explain why this problem should be interpreted in terms of the ion diffusion region length.

The self-organisation of turbulence into regular zonal flows can be fruitfully investigated with quasi-linear methods and statistical descriptions. A wave-kinetic equation that assumes asymptotically large-scale zonal flows leads to ultraviolet divergence. From an exact description of quasi-linear dynamics emerges two better geometrical optics approximations. These involve not only the mean flow shear but also the second and third derivative of the mean flow. One approximation takes the form of a new wave-kinetic equation, but is only valid when the zonal flow is quasi-static and wave action is conserved.

This paper reviews key aspects of the problem of magnetic islands control by electron cyclotron current drive in fusion devices. On the basis of the ordering of the basic spatial and time scales of the magnetic reconnection physics, we present the established results, highlighting some of the open issues posed by the small-scale structures that typically accompany the nonlinear evolution of the magnetic islands and constrain the effect of the control action.

Comparisons are made of two different particle simulations: one for the study of plasma-based accelerators (Gueroult & Fisch, Phys. Plasmas, vol. 23, 2016, 032113) and the other for the study of shock formation in the interstellar medium (Yamauchi & Ohsawa, Phys. Plasmas, vol. 14, 2007, 053110). In the former, shock waves used for plasma density control create ion beams by reflection. In the latter, a fast and dense beam of exploding ions penetrates a surrounding plasma. In both simulations, magnetic bumps are generated from the motion of ion beams perpendicular to a magnetic field. Despite the apparent differences of their purposes, configurations and spatial scales, the two simulations show strong similarities in the generation processes and effects of the bumps, suggesting that these are not rare plasma phenomena. The bump created by the exploding ions develops into backward and forward magnetosonic pulses.

Subsequent to the recent rigorous derivation of an energetically consistent gyrokinetic collision operator in the so-called Landau representation, this paper investigates the possibility of finding a differential formulation of the gyrokinetic Landau collision operator. It is observed that, while a differential formulation is possible in the gyrokinetic phase space, reduction of the resulting system of partial differential equations to five dimensions via gyroaveraging poses a challenge. Based on the present work, it is likely that the gyrocentre analogues of the Rosenbluth–MacDonald–Judd potential functions must be kept gyroangle dependent.

Accurate models of X-ray absorption and re-emission in partly stripped ions are necessary to calculate the structure of stars, the performance of hohlraums for inertial confinement fusion and many other systems in high-energy-density plasma physics. Despite theoretical progress, a persistent discrepancy exists with recent experiments at the Sandia Z facility studying iron in conditions characteristic of the solar radiative–convective transition region. The increased iron opacity measured at Z could help resolve a longstanding issue with the standard solar model, but requires a radical departure for opacity theory. To replicate the Z measurements, an opacity experiment has been designed for the National Facility (NIF). The design uses established techniques scaled to NIF. A laser-heated hohlraum will produce X-ray-heated uniform iron plasmas in local thermodynamic equilibrium (LTE) at temperatures ${\geqslant}150$ eV and electron densities ${\geqslant}7\times 10^{21}~\text{cm}^{-3}$. The iron will be probed using continuum X-rays emitted in a ${\sim}200$ ps, ${\sim}200~\unicode[STIX]{x03BC}\text{m}$ diameter source from a 2 mm diameter polystyrene (CH) capsule implosion. In this design, $2/3$ of the NIF beams deliver 500 kJ to the ${\sim}6$ mm diameter hohlraum, and the remaining $1/3$ directly drive the CH capsule with 200 kJ. Calculations indicate this capsule backlighter should outshine the iron sample, delivering a point-projection transmission opacity measurement to a time-integrated X-ray spectrometer viewing down the hohlraum axis. Preliminary experiments to develop the backlighter and hohlraum are underway, informing simulated measurements to guide the final design.

Penetration of a magnetic field into plasma that is faster than resistive diffusion can be induced by the Hall electric field in a non-uniform plasma. This mechanism explained successfully the measured velocity of the magnetic field penetration into pulsed plasmas. Major related issues have not yet been resolved. Such is the theoretically predicted, but so far not verified experimentally, high magnetic energy dissipation, as well as the correlation between the directions of the density gradient and of the field penetration.

Aiming at a fusion reactor, two issues must be solved for the lower hybrid current drive (LHCD), namely good lower hybrid wave (LHW)–plasma coupling and effective current drive at high density. For this goal, efforts have been made to improve LHW–plasma coupling and current drive capability at high density in experimental advanced superconducting tokamak (EAST). LHW–plasma coupling is improved by means of local gas puffing and gas puffing from the electron side is taken as a routine way for EAST to operate with LHCD. Studies of high density experiments suggest that low recycling and high lower hybrid (LH) frequency are preferred for LHCD experiments at high density, consistent with previous results in other machines. With the combination of 2.45 GHz and 4.6 GHz LH waves, a repeatable high confinement mode plasma with maximum density up to $4.5\times 10^{19}~\text{m}^{-3}$ was obtained by LHCD in EAST. In addition, in the first stage of LHCD cyclic operation, an alternative candidate for more economical fusion reactors has been demonstrated in EAST and further work will be continued.

In traditional electron/ion laboratory plasmas, the system size $L$ is much larger than both the plasma skin depth $l_{s}$ and the Debye length $\unicode[STIX]{x1D706}_{D}$. In current and planned efforts to create electron/positron plasmas in the laboratory, this is not necessarily the case. A low-temperature, low-density system may have $\unicode[STIX]{x1D706}_{D}<L<l_{s}$; a high-density, thermally relativistic system may have $l_{s}<L<\unicode[STIX]{x1D706}_{D}$. Here we consider the question of what plasma physics phenomena are accessible (and/or diagnostically exploitable) in these different regimes and how this depends on magnetization. While particularly relevant to ongoing pair plasma creation experiments, the transition from single-particle behaviour to collective, ‘plasma’ effects – and how the criterion for that threshold is different for different phenomena – is an important but often neglected topic in electron/ion systems as well.

Ion angular current and energy distributions are important parameters for ion thrusters, which are typically measured at a few tens of centimetres to a few metres distance from the thruster exit. However, fully kinetic particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations are not able to simulate such domain sizes due to high computational costs. Therefore, a parallelisation strategy of the code is presented to reduce computational time. The calculated ion beam angular distributions in the plume region are quite sensitive to boundary conditions of the potential, possible additional source contributions (e.g. from secondary electron emission at vessel walls) and charge exchange collisions. Within this work a model for secondary electrons emitted from the vessel wall is included. In order to account for limits of the model due to its limited domain size, a correction of the simulated angular ion energy distribution by the potential boundary is presented to represent the conditions at the location of the experimental measurement in $1~\text{m}$ distance. In addition, a post-processing procedure is suggested to include charge exchange collisions in the plume region not covered by the original PIC simulation domain for the simulation of ion angular distributions measured at $1~\text{m}$ distance.

The results obtained by the plasma physics community for the validation and the prediction of turbulence and transport in magnetized plasmas come mainly from the use of very central processing unit (CPU)-consuming particle-in-cell or (gyro)kinetic codes which naturally include non-Maxwellian kinetic effects. To date, fluid codes are not considered to be relevant for the description of these kinetic effects. Here, after revisiting the limitations of the current fluid theory developed in the 19th century, we generalize the fluid theory including kinetic effects such as non-Maxwellian super-thermal tails with as few fluid equations as possible. The collisionless and collisional fluid closures from the nonlinear Landau Fokker–Planck collision operator are shown for an arbitrary collisionality. Indeed, the first fluid models associated with two examples of collisionless fluid closures are obtained by assuming an analytic non-Maxwellian distribution function (e.g. the INMDF (Izacard, O. 2016b Kinetic corrections from analytic non-Maxwellian distribution functions in magnetized plasmas. Phys. Plasmas 23, 082504) that stands for interpreted non-Maxwellian distribution function). One of the main differences with the literature is our analytic representation of the distribution function in the velocity phase space with as few hidden variables as possible thanks to the use of non-orthogonal basis sets. These new non-Maxwellian fluid equations could initiate the next generation of fluid codes including kinetic effects and can be expanded to other scientific disciplines such as astrophysics, condensed matter or hydrodynamics. As a validation test, we perform a numerical simulation based on a minimal reduced INMDF fluid model. The result of this test is the discovery of the origin of particle and heat diffusion. The diffusion is due to the competition between a growing INMDF on short time scales due to spatial gradients and the thermalization on longer time scales. The results shown here could provide the insights to break some of the unsolved puzzles of turbulence.

The long-standing challenge to describing charged particle dynamics in strong classical electromagnetic fields is how to incorporate classical radiation, classical radiation reaction and quantized photon emission into a consistent unified framework. The current, semiclassical methods to describe the dynamics of quantum particles in strong classical fields also provide the theoretical framework for fundamental questions in gravity and hadron–hadron collisions, including Hawking radiation, cosmological particle production and thermalization of particles created in heavy-ion collisions. However, as we show, these methods break down for highly relativistic particles propagating in strong fields. They must therefore be improved and adapted for the description of laser–plasma experiments that typically involve the acceleration of electrons. Theory developed from quantum electrodynamics, together with dedicated experimental efforts, offer the best controllable context to establish a robust, experimentally validated foundation for the fundamental theory of quantum effects in strong classical potentials.