Nuclear fusion carries the potential for a safe, plentiful, and non-carbon-emitting source of energy. Science has made significant progress toward demonstrating the controlled release of fusion energy, but substantial scientific and technological obstacles to the practical realization of a fusion reactor remain. These include the presence of violent plasma instabilities leading to the sudden termination of the fusion discharge, localized thermal loads limiting the lifetime of critical components, and the turbulent transport of heat, particles, and momentum. Our research in this area focuses on describing the fundamental plasma processes underlying these challenges and identifying their impact on fusion components.
Faculty
Education: Ph.D., 2008, University of California San Diego
Research Interests: Computational plasma physics, magnetic fusion, tokamak disruptions, scientific machine learning, plasma-material interaction.
Lab Website: McDevitt Lab