Energetic particle in fusion plasmas
Understanding how energetic particles interact with and regulate plasma turbulence
Suitable for Postdoctoral researchers, PhD students, Master’s students, final-year undergraduate students, and interns
Energetic particles play an important role in magnetically confined fusion plasmas, not only as a key channel for plasma heating and current drive, but also through their nonlinear interaction with microturbulence and meso-scale fluctuations. In reactor-relevant regimes, these interactions can significantly modify turbulent transport and, under certain conditions, contribute to turbulence suppression and improved confinement.
The main goal of this project is to improve the physics understanding of energetic-particle interactions with plasma turbulence using first-principles gyrokinetic modelling. In particular, the project will use the GYSELA code to investigate the nonlinear interplay between energetic particles, turbulence, and mode activity such as EGAMs (energetic-particle-driven geodesic acoustic modes), TAEs (toroidal Alfvén eigenmodes), and other AEs (Alfvén eigenmodes), and to assess how these interactions influence turbulence saturation, transport reduction, and confinement properties across different plasma conditions and magnetic geometries.
