Projects - Fusion CDT

Developing a new approach to efficient, atomistically informed, dynamic compression simulations (plasma strand project)

Supervisor: Dr Andy Higginbotham (University of York) Inertial confinement fusion (ICF) is one of a number of research fields which rely on the dynamic compression of materials. These approaches compress…

Dust transport and mobilisation in Mast-U (plasma strand)

Supervisor: Dr Paul Bryant (University of Liverpool) Dust can have a significant impact on reactor performance and efficiency [1]. Energy can be radiated from the superheated dust cooling the core…

Measuring the plasma physics impact on nuclear reaction cross-sections and lifetimes (plasma strand project)

Supervisor: Dr Chris Murphy (University of York) & Andrew Simons (AWE) Fusion in supernovae or neutron star collisions are responsible for generating around half of all material consisting of elements…

Laser-plasma based x-ray source development with applications in inertial fusion (plasma strand project)

Supervisor: Dr Chris Murphy (University of York) Inertial confinement fusion (ICF) is one of the two mainstream approaches to fusion energy (along with MCF) and involves compression of hydrogen to…

X-ray generation in high energy density plasmas (plasma strand project)

Supervisor: Christopher Ridgers (University of York) High power lasers produce extremely strong electromagnetic fields in their focus. The fields rapidly strip electrons from atoms to produce a plasma. These electrons…

Femtosecond imaging of ultra-relativistic plasma phenomena (plasma strand project)

Supervisors: Christopher Ridgers & Andrew Higginbotham (University of York) Modern high power lasers enable the focussing of light to extremely high intensities – up to 26 orders of magnitude higher…

Non-linear modelling of fast particle interactions with MHD and disruptions in spherical tokamaks (plasma strand project)

Supervisors: Marco Cecconello (Durham University), Alexandre Fil & Christopher Ham (UKAEA) The path to high performance fusion power plants requires an understanding of the interaction between fast particles in the…

Motional Stark effect (MSE) measurements of microwave-driven current profile on MAST-Upgrade (plasma strand project)

Supervisors: Roddy Vann (University of York) & Sam Gibson (UKAEA) In the next generation of spherical fusion devices, plasmas will be predominantly heated using microwave technology. It is critical to…

Digital Twin Model Development for Through-Life Management of the “Divertor” in a Fusion Power Plant (plasma / materials strand project)

Supervisors: Suresh Perin (University of York) The development of maintenance and through-life management of commercial fusion power plants present a unique set of challenges associated with the complexity of the…

Understanding Laguerre-Gaussian laser-plasma interactions for applications in inertial fusion (plasma strand project)

Supervisor: Dr Chris Murphy (University of York) Inertial confinement fusion (ICF) is one of the two mainstream approaches to fusion energy (along with MCF) and involves compression of hydrogen to…

Determining the role of plasma-molecule interactions on tokamak power exhaust (plasma strand project)

Supervisors: Dr Kirsty McKay (University of Liverpool), Kevin Verhaegh / James Harrison (UKAEA) In present-day tokamak experiments, there is strong evidence the interactions between plasma, atoms and molecules plays a…

Advanced inertial confinement fusion schemes (plasma strand project)

Supervisor: Dr John Pasley (University of York) The inertial confinement approach to fusion involves assembling small quantities of deuterium-tritium fuel to high densities and temperatures such that thermonuclear ignition and…

Off-axis neutron camera for MAST Upgrade (Plasma Strand Project)

Supervisor: M. Cecconello (Durham University) In fusion plasmas, fast ions have energies much higher than the thermal plasma background. Fast ions are generated by external auxiliary heating such as Neutral…

Development of a Fast Camera Diagnostic Platform for Real-time Control Applications (Plasma Strand Project)

Supervisor: M. Cecconello (Durham University) External Supervisor: Charles Vincent (UKAEA) Fast cameras are an important diagnostic instrument for studying plasma physics in fusion devices. Current camera based systems are used…

Flexible Grids for Complex Tokamak Topologies (Plasma Strand Project)

Supervisor: Peter Hill (University of York) External Supervisor: Ben Dudson (LLNL) The divertor of a tokamak is a critical power-handling component that must robustly handle extreme heat loads. Innovations and…

Characterisation of ion and electron scale electromagnetic turbulent transport in MAST Upgrade and STEP pedestals (Plasma Strand Project)

Supervisor: Dr David Dickinson (University of York) External Supervisor: Dr Benjamin Chapman-Oplopoiou (UKAEA) Plasma turbulence acts to degrade the confinement of particles and energy in magnetic confinement devices, such as…

Non-linear modelling of performance limiting MHD and disruptions in spherical tokamaks (Plasma Strand Project)

Supervisor: Prof. Jonathan P. Graves (University of York) External Supervisor: Dr. C. Ham (CCFE) Future energy producing fusion reactors such as EU-DEMO and STEP need to avoid unmitigated disruptions of…

Laser Thomson scattering measurements in fusion-relevant magnetised plasma (plasma strand project)

Supervisors: Professor James Bradley and Dr Mark Bowden (University of Liverpool) At the University of Liverpool, we have developed a world-class magnetically confined plasma experiment, furnished with an array of…

Development of tungsten diamond composites for nuclear fusion applications (Materials Strand Project)

Supervisor/s: Aneeqa Khan, Ed Pickering, Paul Mummery (University of Manchester) This project will focus on the analysis and development of tungsten diamond composites for fusion applications, building on existing work…

Developing MAX phase coatings for nuclear fusion (Materials Strand Project)

Supervisor/s: Dr Philipp Frankel, Prof Sarah Haigh (University of Manchester). External Supervisor/s: Dr Max Rigby-Bell (UKAEA) Background MAX phases possess an extensive chemical and structural diversity which results in a…

Developing SiC for fusion application (Materials Strand Project)

Supervisor/s: Ping Xiao & Philip Withers (University of Manchester). SiC/SiC composites have been proposed for fusion application as blanket materials to achieve high-operation-temperature of up to ~1000 oC (for high…

Numerical modelling of plasma turbulence via a novel two-fluid lattice Boltzmann method (Plasma Strand Project)

Supervisor/s: Dr Alessandro De Rosis, Dr Alex Skillen, Prof Alistair Revell (University of Manchester) Plasma turbulence is a complex topic that involves the transport of ions and electrons. Turbulence in…

Joining tungsten for nuclear fusion applications (Materials Strand Project)

Supervisor/s: Aneeqa Khan, John Francis, Anastasia Vasileiou (University of Manchester) External Supervisor/s: Yiqiang Wang (UKAEA), Simon Kirk (UKAEA), Saurabh Kabra (STFC) Typically components in a fusion reactor need to be…

An Investigation into the Potential for the Development of a Tritium Production Industry to service Fusion Power Plants for Electricity and Industrial Heat Production (materials strand)

Supervisors: Professor Laurence G Williams OBE FREng (Bangor University), Dr Simon Middleburgh (Bangor University), Dr Mark Gilbert (UKAEA, Culham) & Dr Lee Packer (UKAEA, Culham). The current view of the…

Novel heat treatment of Reduced Activation Ferritic/Martensitic steel welds (Materials Strand Project)

Supervisor/s: Aneeqa Khan, Ed Pickering, Anastasia Vasileiou (University of Manchester). External Supervisor/s: Yiqiang Wang (UKAEA) Saurabh Kabra (STFC) Structural components in a fusion reactor must withstand the diverse range of…

Using Computational Time-Dependent Ginzburg-Landau (TDGL) Theory to calculate and visualise the current density of high-field superconductors in fusion tokamaks: a Computational PhD (materials strand project)

Supervisor: Prof. D. P Hampshire (Durham University) Background: The ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) Tokomak that is being built in Cadarache in France is one of the most exciting scientific…

Tungsten Coatings for Nuclear Fusion Applications (Materials Strand Project)

Supervisor/s: Dr Ying Chen and Dr David Hall (University of Manchester) The requirements for high resistance against extreme heat flux and sputter erosion caused by the incident particle flux has…

High-Field Superconductors under biaxial strain that enable commercial fusion power tokamaks – an Experimental PhD. (Materials Strand Project)

Supervisor: Professor D. P Hampshire (Durham University). Background to the PhD Research Project: The ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor) Tokomak that is being built in Cadarache in France is one…

Understanding the ablation of plasma facing components in Tokamak devices using Smoothed Particle Hydrodynamics. (Plasma Strand Project)

Supervisor/s: Dr Steven Lind, Dr Jack King, Prof Benedict Rogers, Prof Lee Margetts (University of Manchester). Divertor components in Tokamak devices are subjected to significant thermal loads, both in steady…

Multiphysics Modelling of High Energy Density Advanced Manufacturing Processes (Materials Strand Project)

Supervisor/s: Dr Tom Flint , Dr Ed Pickering (University of Manchester). Construction of a fusion reactor will require the joining or additive manufacture (AM) of alloys to create high-integrity components….