How are solar wind, space plasma, and the like studied?
We measure the plasma through remote observations that look at the atom not in its ionized state but after it has been neutralized through charge exchange with an ambient nonionized atom. Charged particles in space are confined to rotate about magnetic field lines, but when they become ENAs they move in essentially a straight line, as when you spin a stone in a sling and then release it. That’s when we can capture them in our instruments, which allows us to image the plasma from a distance. What instruments do you develop? The problem with these observations is that it is fairly difficult to detect charged particles, especially in the energy ranges we’re concerned with. Ironically, the best way to study the neutral atoms is to reionize them once they are in the instrument’s aperture. One instrument I developed is called the “Turbo Trap,” which was designed to improve the ionization process. Traditionally particles were ionized by interacting with a treated surface, but this was very in
