One of the biggest obstacles to achieving commercial fusion energy is the excessive heat and particle fluxes that the divertor (exhaust system) of future magnetic fusion reactors will be subject to. Transport of heat and particles in Scrape Off Layer (SOL), which is the key area of the plasma that determines the fluxes on this critical component, is largely determined by the motions of coherent plasma structures called filaments that are significantly more dense and hot than their surrounding plasma and highly elongated along the magnetic field. The research project being undertaken seeks to use computer simulations to advance current understanding of the dynamics of these filaments, to gain insight into SOL turbulence and transport.
ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9087-9180