Plasma Science and Fusion Center IAP Series
Martin Greenwald, Abhay Ram, Peter Catto, Paul Rivenberg
No enrollment limit, no advance sign up
Participants welcome at individual sessions (series)
This series introduces plasma physics research and areas of related interest at the Plasma Science and Fusion Center. See URL below.
Web: http://www.psfc.mit.edu/
Contact: Paul Rivenberg, NW16-284, x3-8101, rivenberg@psfc.mit.edu
Sponsor: Plasma Science and Fusion Center
Fusion Energy 101
Jeffrey Freidberg
A presentation of the basic principles of magnetic fusion research, including the role fusion might play in the world's energy supply, and the surprisingly difficult scientific and engineering problems that must be overcome. The talk will conclude with a status report of the world’s current fusion research program, and how fusion might likely compete economically once the technical problems are solved.
Mon Jan 9, 11am-12:00pm, NW17-218
Plasma Nuclear Science - A New Field of Research
Johan Frenje
A report on the first use of laser-driven Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF) experiments for studies of basic nuclear physics. These experiments were carried out at the OMEGA laser facility and the National Ignition Facility (NIF), in which spherical capsules were spherically irradiated with powerful lasers to compress and heat the fuel to high enough temperatures and densities for significant nuclear reactions to occur.
Mon Jan 9, 02-03:00pm, NW17-218
Stellarator Physics and Reactor Prospects
Per Helander Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics
Stellarators have always constituted an important part of the fusion program, but their properties are not very well known in the plasma physics community. This talk will give an overview of the physics of these devices, in particular how they resemble and differ from tokamaks. The scope will be broad, ranging from early ideas to recent developments and reactor prospects.
Tue Jan 10, 11am-12:00pm, NW17-218
Research on the National Ignition Facility (NIF)
Otto Landen Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
The inertial confinement approach to fusion relies on “imploding" a mm-scale capsule filled with a mixture of deuterium (D) and tritium (T) to high density. The challenges in uniformly and efficiently compressing ICF capsules at NIF using laser-produced x-rays from a high Z enclosure (“hohlraum”) will be described in context of the latest NIF hohlraum and capsule performance tuning and cryogenic implosion results.
Tue Jan 10, 03pm-04:00am, NW17-218
Turbulent Heating of the Corona and Solar Wind
Stuart Bale University of California, Berkeley
The coming decade will be a golden age for coronal and heliospheric physics. This talk details several NASA space missions and the NSF's Advanced Technology Solar Telescope, which will provide high spatial resolution magnetic field and plasma observations of the sun's transition region and corona. The Solar Orbiter and Solar Probe Plus missions will dive deep into the heliosphere to make low altitude in situ measurements.
Wed Jan 11, 11am-12:00pm, NW17-218
Exploring Plasmas Near Mercury: Solar Wind Driving and Surface Interactions
Thomas Zurbuchen University of Michigan
The MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging (MESSENGER) spacecraft entered orbit about Mercury on March 18, 2011. Primarily using a novel plasma mass spectrometer and the magnetic field instrument (MAG), MESSENGER has been observing Mercury’s violent space environment and its impact on Mercury’s magnetosphere, surface interaction and exosphere. Prof. Zurbuchen will discuss the latest findings.
Wed Jan 11, 03-04:00pm, NW17-218
Alcator C-Mod: The Little Tokamak that Could
Steve Scott
In 2007, the United States joined the ITER fusion experiment, which is expected to generate significant amounts of fusion power for the first time in 2026. Despite its modest size, MIT's Alcator C-Mod routinely produces plasma conditions that are surprisingly close to those expected in ITER. This talk will describe the research carried out by C-Mod in support of ITER and future fusion reactors.
Thu Jan 12, 11am-12:00pm, NW17-218
Tour of Alcator C-Mod
Roman Ochoukov
Visit the Alcator C-Mod tokamak, a well-tested approach to fusion research that has direct applications to ITER, the world's largest tokamak, currently under construction in France.
Thu Jan 12, 01:30-02:30pm, NW17-218
Multi-scale Physics of Materials for Fusion and Fission Energy
Brian D. Wirth University of Tennessee
Radiation damage, and its consequence to material properties, is a central issue in many advanced technologies. This presentation will introduce the inherently multiscale nature of irradiation effects in materials, and then describe a multiscale research paradigm based on close integration of materials modeling and advanced experimental characterization required to better understand irradiation effects.
Thu Jan 12, 03-04:00pm, NW17-218
Latest update: 06-Jan-2012
|
|
