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The ability to confine very high temperature plasmas is central to the issue of fusion power generation. RSPE hosts the H1-NF toroidal helical-axis stellarator which is used to study the physics of confined plasmas and to develop novel diagnostic instrumentation for larger power reactors. Special areas of interest include plasma turbulence and spectroscopic instrumentation.
In support of the experimental efforts, RSPE also undertakes a strong theoretical research program in modelling of plasma flow dynamics and related complex phenomena. We are also a partial host for the ARC Complex Systems Research Network.
Potential student research projects
You could be doing your own research into fusion and plasma confinement. Below are some examples of student physics research projects available in RSPE.
Thermonuclear ringtones in tokamak plasmas
Key to sustaining fusion plasmas is that they are MHD stable to disruptive mode activity, and other electromagnetic modes do not result in catastrophic performance degradation. The project involves exploiting a generalised MHD code to describe high frequency...
Electric field structure of Energetic Geodesic Acoustic Modes (EGAMs)
The project aims to add particle orbit effects to an ANU developed theory for solving the electric field structure of Energetic Geodesic Acoustic Modes (EGAMs). EGAMs are unstable electrostatic oscillations in tokamak plasmas that are harmful to plasma...
Nano-bubble formation in fusion relevant materials
Fusion energy promises millions of years of clean energy, but puts extreme stress on materials. This research will resolve scientific issues surrounding plasma-material interactions to guide and facilitate development of future advanced materials for fusion...
Constraining toroidal equilibria to accretion disc observations
In this project we would compare the construction of accretion disc and magnetic configuration Grad-Shafranov problems, and apply a recently developed toroidal magnetic confinement equilibrium code to model an accretion disc. A focus of the project will...
Inclusion of toroidal flow into multiple relaxed region MHD
A new model, multiple relaxed region MHD, has been developed to describe magnetic islands and chaotic fields in toroidal magentic cofinement. This project would extend that model to include toroidal flow.
Nonlinear evolution of energetic particle modes to saturated helical structure
At large amplitude these bursty energetic particle driven fishbones have been observed to evolve into long-lived "helical" structures in several tokamaks, notably the Mega Ampere Spherical Tokamak of the Culham Centre for Fusion Energy. In this project...
Please browse our full list of available physics research projects to find a student research project that interests you.
Updated: 15 January 2019/ Responsible Officer: Director, RSPE/ Page Contact: Physics Webmaster
