I am a Fusion CDT student working under the supervision of Prof. Bruce Lipschultz of University of York and Dr. Matthew Reinke of the Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
In the pathway of developing reliable fusion energy, plasma exhaust management is becoming of increasing importance, to preserve wall components and to prolong a fusion reactor’s operational life. To maximise reactor lifetime it is important to achieve a deep understanding of power fluxes and losses and improved diagnostics are needed. My work will focus on radiated power in the divertor and x-point regions of the tokamak. Given a large amount of power loss is in wavelength ranges where reflective and refractive optics cannot be used, I will utilise specialized sensors which must be placed in vacuum with a direct view of the high-temperature plasma. A promising diagnostic technique is that of an InfraRed Video Bolometer (IRVB), where the radiation from the plasma is imaged onto an absorbing surface and the resulting temperature change of the thermal absorber is interpreted from the change in black-body radiation using a sensitive, high resolution infrared camera, which is viewing the absorber.
My research project title is “Development of Infrared Video Bolometers (IRVB) for Divertor Radiated Power Measurements”. Its target is to design, build and operate a IRVB diagnostic device to be installed on MAST-U tokamak at CCFE, Culham, UK. In order to understand the device characteristics and improve its design, complementary work will be done on an existing IRVB diagnostic device currently under development at ORNL to be installed in the NSTX-U tokamak at Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, USA. With the knowledge from those tests an improved version will be designed for MAST-U and installed there. Following that I will operate and use the IRVB to study the role of radiation in the divertor and in the region of the x-point.