Research areas
The research undertaken by students on the Fusion CDT covers a wide range of topics crucial to the development of fusion energy from high performance computing to advanced instrumentation; materials characterisation to plasma turbulence measurements; plasma-material interaction to laser-plasma interaction.
Inertial Fusion Energy
Inertial Fusion Energy (IFE) research uses large lasers to compress fuel to achieve fusion. Physics issues related to IFE are researched at the YPI with student projects available as part of the of CDT in Fusion Power. Experimental work is undertaken at large laser systems based at the Central Laser Facility and at international facilities (e.g. the US National Ignition Facility, the European Extreme Light Infrastructure). High power laser experiments are relevant to IFE, but also provide valuable insights into the physics of astrophysical processes, high energy density physics and atomic physics. Laser-produced plasmas are used for producing x-ray, and high energy electrons and ions. At the very highest of laser irradiances, quantum electrodynamic effects become important and laser-plasmas produce exotic particles such as positrons. There are projects for CDT students in all of these research areas.
A key partner in our inertial fusion research is the private fusion company First Light Fusion, and we often have PhD projects in collaboration with them.
There are projects for CDT students in all of these research areas.
Magnetic Confinement Fusion
Magnetic Confinement Fusion (MCF) involves heating a plasma fuel (deuterium and tritium) to temperatures ten times hotter than the Sun’s core. This superheated plasma is confined in a toroidal (doughnut-shaped) device, called a tokamak, using magnetic fields to keep it away from material surfaces, preventing damage.
Our research is closely tied to the UK’s fusion efforts at the Culham Centre for Fusion Energy (CCFE) and focuses on key challenges for the ITER tokamak, under construction in France, and the UK’s STEP programme.
Private fusion companies are driving ambitious programmes to deliver fusion early, and we work closely with them. These include Tokamak Energy in the UK, but we also have connections with international companies, such as Commonwealth Fusion Systems and General Fusion amongst others.
Materials for Fusion
The materials used in future fusion devices must withstand extreme conditions, including high temperatures, irradiation by high-energy neutrons, and intense plasma interactions. These materials need to resist erosion, avoid retaining tritium, and prevent the formation of long-lived radioactive isotopes, while maintaining their thermal and mechanical properties for over five years.
Key materials under investigation include reduced activation steels, tungsten and tungsten alloys, superconductors, copper alloys, and silicon carbide composites. Research focuses on processing, joining, microstructure, irradiation resistance and tritium issues, employing advanced techniques such as:
- Advanced processing and joining methods: Including mechanical alloying, additive manufacturing, and friction-stir welding.
- Irradiation studies: Using high-energy ion-beams, protons, and neutrons.
- Microscopy and microanalysis: Through SEM, TEM, APT, and X-ray diffraction.
- Mechanical testing: Using micromechanical techniques across a range of temperatures.
- Advanced studies of superconductors in high magnetic fields at cryogenic temperatures: Including the critical current under near-operational conditions.
- Advanced multi scale computer modelling, from atomistics to the macroscale: To understand radiation damage, deformation, microstructural development, and resulting mechanical performance.
CDT students typically combine several of these techniques in their research to tackle key technological challenges, such as studying radiation effects on tungsten alloys or tracking microstructural changes in steels during processing.