Tobin Munsat -听Professor

Tobin Munsat

Fellow, CIPS

Professor 鈥� Associate Chair - Graduate Studies, PHYSICS

Ph.D. 2001, Princeton University
Gamow Tower - Room: F827
munsat@colorado.edu
Phone: 303-735-5596

听

Research

My research is in the general area of space plasma physics, cosmic dust, and planetary science.听 My primary work takes place at the Institute for Modeling Plasmas, Atmospheres, and Cosmic DusT (IMPACT,听), where we have several parallel experimental and modeling efforts related to plasma/surface interactions at airless bodies, the evolution of planetary surfaces, the dynamics of cosmic dust, the physics of hypervelocity impacts at small scales, and the development of flight instruments for the detection of cosmic dust.听 The centerpiece experimental facility is the Colorado Dust Accelerator, a 3 MV linear electrostatic accelerator capable of accelerating micron-sized particles up to 10's of km/s into a variety of targets.听 Recent experiments involve accelerating hypervelocity particles into frozen icy targets in order to study the production and survivability of organic materials.听 A second significant experiment, The Colorado Solar Wind Experiment, is a large-area flowing plasma device to model the interaction of the Solar Wind with airless surfaces in the laboratory. Close collaborators at IMPACT include Mihaly Horanyi (Physics), Sascha Kempf (Physics), Zoltan Sternovsky (Aerospace Engineering), Jordy Bouwman (Chemistry), and Xu Wang (LASP).

Selected Publications:

  1. Zach Ulibarri, Jia Han, Mihaly Horanyi, Tobin Munsat, Xu Wang, Guy Whittall-Scherfee, and Li Hsia Yeo, 鈥淎 large ion beam device for laboratory solar wind studies,鈥澨�Review of Scientific Instruments听88(11) 115112 (2017).
  2. M. DeLuca, T. Munsat, E. Thomas, and Z. Sternovsky, 鈥淭he ionization efficiency of aluminum and iron at meteoric velocities,鈥澨�Planetary and Space Sciences,听156听111-116 (2018).
  3. Evan Thomas, Mihaly Horanyi, Diego Janches, Tobin Munsat, Jonas Simolka, Zoltan Sternovsky, "Measurements of the Ionization Coefficient of Simulated Iron Micrometeoroids,"听Geophysical Research Letters听43听3645鈥�3652 (2016).
  4. A.O. Nelson, R. Dee, M.S. Gudipati, M. Horanyi, D. James, S. Kempf, T. Munsat, Z. Sternovsky, and Z. Ulibarri, "New experimental capability to investigate the hypervelocity micrometeoroid bombardment of cryogenic surfaces,"听Review of Scientific Instruments听87听024502 (2016).
  5. S.E. Zemedkun, S. Che, Y. Chen, C.W. Domier, N.C. Luhmann, Jr., T. Munsat, S.E. Parker, B. Tobias, W. Wan, and L. Yu, "Spatially resolved measurements of two-dimensional turbulent structures in DIII-D plasmas,"听Physics of Plasmas听22听122508 (2015).
  6. S.J. Zweben, W.M. Davis, S.M. Kaye, J.R. Myra, R.E. Bell, B.P LeBlanc, R.J. Maqueda, T. Munsat, S.A. Sabbagh, Y. Sechrest, D.P. Stotler, and the NSTX Team, "Edge and SOL turbulence and blob variations over a large database in NSTX,"听Nuclear Fusion听55听093035 (2015).
  7. A. Collette, K. Drake, A. Mocker, Z. Sternovsky, T. Munsat, C. Anaya, and M. Horanyi, "Time-Resolved Temperature Measurements in Hypervelocity Dust Impact,"听Planetary and Space Science听89听58-62 (2013).
  8. A.D. Light, S.C. Thakur, C. Brandt, Y. Sechrest, G.R. Tynan, and T. Munsat, "Direct extraction of coherent mode properties from imaging measurements in a linear plasma column,"听Physics of Plasmas听20听082120 (2013).
  9. P. Northway, S. Auer, K. Drake, M. Hor谩nyi, A. Mocker, T. Munsat, A. Shu, Z. Sternovsky, E. Thomas, and J. Xie, 鈥淐haracteristics of a new dust coordinate sensor,鈥澨�Measurement Science and Technology听23听105902 (2012).
  10. A. Shu, A. Collette, K. Drake, E. Gr眉n, M. Hor谩nyi, S. Kempf, A. Mocker, T. Munsat, P. Northway, R. Srama, Z. Sternovsky, and E. Thomas, 鈥�3 MV Hypervelocity Dust Accelerator at the Colorado Center for Lunar Dust and Atmospheric Studies,鈥澨�Review of Scientific Instruments听83(7)听 075108 (2012).
  11. Y. Sechrest, T. Munsat, S.J. Zweben, R.J. Maqueda, D. Russell, D.A. D鈥橧ppolito, and J.R. Myra, 鈥淔low and Shear Behavior in the Edge and Scrape-off Layer in NSTX L-Mode Plasmas,鈥澨�Physics of Plasmas听18听012502 (2011).
  12. T. Munsat, C.W. Domier, X. Kong, T. Liang, N.C. Luhmann, Jr., B.J. Tobias, W. Lee, H.K. Park, G. Yun, I.G.J. Classen, and A.J.H. Donn茅, 鈥淓lectron Cyclotron Emission Imaging in Tokamak Plasmas,鈥澨�Applied Optics听49(19) (2010).
  13. T. Munsat, H.K. Park, I.G.J. Classen, C.W. Domier, A.J.H. Donn茅, N.C. Luhmann Jr., E. Mazzucato, M.J. van de Pol, and the TEXTOR team, 鈥淟ocalization of the magnetic reconnection zone during sawtooth crashes in tokamak plasmas,鈥澨�Nuclear Fusion听47(11) L31-L35 (2007).
  14. T. Munsat and S.J. Zweben, 鈥淒erivation of time-dependent two-dimensional velocity field maps for plasma turbulence studies,鈥澨�Review of Scientific Instruments听77(10) 103501:1-13 (2006).
  15. H.K. Park, N.C. Luhmann, Jr., A.J.H. Donn茅, I.G.J. Classen, C.W. Domier, E. Mazzucato, T. Munsat, M.J. van de Pol, Z. Xia, and the TEXTOR team, 鈥淥bservation of high-field-side crash and heat transfer during sawtooth oscillation in magnetically confined plasmas,鈥澨�Physical Review Letters听96(19) 195003:1-4 (2006).
  16. T. Munsat, E. Mazzucato, H. Park, B.H. Deng, C.W. Domier, N.C. Luhmann Jr., J. Wang, Z.G. Xia, A.J.H. Donn茅, and M. van de Pol, 鈥淢icrowave Imaging Reflectometer for TEXTOR (invited),鈥澨�Review of Scientific Instruments听74(3) 1426-1432 (2003).