The course will provide an overview of the key plasma physics issues associated with magnetic fusion research. It will enable students to make an informed decision on an appropriate research degree project, while at the same time providing the essential foundations necessary to pursue a research degree in the field. It will provide the necessary background for students to appreciate seminars in this research field. With magnetically confined fusion, a magnetic field confines the plasma at much lower density, but for much longer times. We will focus on tokamak physics, while other toroidal confinement devices such as stellarators, will be introduced. Plasma waves, additional heating, particle transport, instabilities, turbulence and plasma edge physics will be treated. The motivation and physics of the next generation tokamak ITER currently under construction will be presented.
Module learning outcomes
At the end of this module successful students will be able to:
Describe and contrast different toroidal confinement devices, including tokamaks, spherical tokamaks, stellarators and reverse field pinches.
Describe the physics of the various heating and current drive schemes employed in magnetic confinement fusion experiments including neutral beam injection and radio-frequency waves. Demonstrate an understanding of wave resonances and cut-offs.
Demonstrate an understanding of neoclassical transport processes, including the role of trapped particles and the origin of different particle collision frequency regimes. This will include a qualitative understanding of the physical origin of neoclassical diffusion coefficients, as well as neoclassical currents, such as the bootstrap current and Pfirsch-Schl ¼ter current
Describe the physics processes responsible for the various plasma instabilities in magnetic confinement devices, including the kink mode, the ballooning mode, tearing mode and fast particle instabilities.
Demonstrate a knowledge of the various performance-limiting phenomena observed in tokamaks, and the link with plasma instabilities. This will include disruptions, operational limits, edge-localised modes (or ELMs), sawteeth and fishbones.
Describe the basic principles of turbulent transport in tokamaks, including a qualitative understanding of the role of flow shear in transport barrier formation (for example, the L-H transition). Demonstrate a basic understanding of the importance and limitations of gyro-kinetic theory.
Describe the various operational scenarios for ITER and how they are motivated.