Dr. Troy Carter
Professor of Physics
University of California

Tackling Fusion Science and Technology Challenges Using the Basic Plasma Science Facility

Abstract

The Basic Plasma Science Facility (BaPSF) at UCLA is a US national collaborative research facility for studies of fundamental processes in magnetized plasmas sponsored by DOE and NSF. The centerpiece of the facility is the Large Plasma Device (LAPD), a 20m long, magnetized linear plasma device. LAPD has been utilized to study a number of fundamental processes, for example: collisionless shocks, magnetic reconnection, three-wave interactions and parametric instabilities of Alfvén waves, and interactions of energetic ions and electrons with plasma waves. An overview of research utilizing the facility will be given, followed by a more detailed discussion of fusion-energy-relevant studies. Confinement in magnetic fusion experiments is limited by turbulence and turbulent transport; improved confinement regimes like the “H-mode” are associated with shear-flow suppression of this transport. The capability to continuously vary the edge flow and flow shear was developed in LAPD using biasing of an annular limiter; this control was used to document in detail the response of turbulent transport to flow shear in LAPD. Turbulent transport is reduced monotonically with increasing shear, regardless of the sign of the flow (or flow shear). Another series of experiments using LAPD have studied wave physics relevant to ion cyclotron range of frequencies (ICRF) heating and current drive in fusion devices. This includes high power fast wave excitation experiments that have documented the structure and scaling of RF sheaths, the formation of convective cells and associated density modification, and the interaction of high-harmonic fast waves (or “helicon” waves) with filamentary structures to study turbulent scattering processes.

Biography

Troy Carter is a Professor of Physics at the University of California, Los Angeles. Prof. Carter is the Director of the Basic Plasma Science Facility (BaPSF), a national user facility for plasma science supported by DOE and NSF. He is also the Director of the Plasma Science and Technology Institute (PSTI) at UCLA. His research into waves, instabilities, turbulence and transport in magnetically confined plasmas is motivated by the desire to understand processes in space and astrophysical plasmas as well as by the need to develop carbon-free electricity generation via nuclear fusion. Prof. Carter led the DOE FESAC Long Range Planning process that resulted in the 2021 report “Powering the Future: Fusion and Plasmas.” He is a Fellow of the APS and is a recipient of the APS DPP John Dawson Excellence in Plasma Physics Research Award and of the Fusion Power Associates Leadership Award. Prof. Carter received BS degrees in Physics and Nuclear Engineering from North Carolina State University in 1995 and a PhD in Astrophysical Sciences from Princeton University in 2001.

Thursday, March 28. 2024
4:00 PM Seminar
Talley Room 4280

zoom link upon request