Igor Bykov studies how plasmas interact with fusion reactor walls using high speed imaging and spectroscopy. The tokamak approach to magnetic confinement fusion uses a toroidal solenoid to confine high-temperature plasmas. With peak plasma temperatures above 100 million degrees Celsius, no physical measurements are possible beyond the very edge of the devices. The unique diagnostic […]
Research
Profiles in Diagnostics: A Hot Pursuit to Understand ICE
Kathreen Thome studies how particles travel through fusion plasmas using high frequency magnetic fluctuations known as ion cyclotron emission (ICE). The tokamak approach to magnetic confinement fusion uses a toroidal solenoid to confine high temperature plasmas. With peak plasma temperatures above 100 million degrees Celsius, no physical measurements are possible beyond the very edge of […]
A Trip to Stockholm: One Old Ship and Lots of New Research
I spent a few days in Stockholm (my first visit there) and will cut straight to the highlight: The Vasa. The Vasa, seen at right in its home at the Vasa Museum, was built by Sweden in the early 1600’s as the largest warship in the world. The Vasa sank during its maiden voyage in […]
Making Our Fusion Reactor Better
Update, November 9, 2018: the video above highlights some of the upgrade projects. This video was shot at about the halfway point of the 11-month schedule for all engineering upgrades. Our lab, the DIII-D National Fusion Facility, has ended its experimental campaign and entered into a nearly one year period of upgrade construction. This […]
Dynamic Neutral Beam Current and Voltage Control to Improve Beam Efficacy in Tokamaks
The publication provided below is concerned with showing how we can reduce the energy of particle beams injected in tokamaks while actually improving the performance. The trick is that the reduced energy, i.e., beam voltage, must be accompanied by an increase in the beam current. This allows a larger number of lower energy particles to […]
Diary of a Graduate Thesis Experiment
The lengthy diary that follows was originally written in 2007. Diary of a Graduate Thesis Experiment The laboratory in which I am performing my thesis work (LAPD at UCLA) is used by researchers from all over the world. Groups that are using the device for a research project receive an allotted time in which to […]