Noe Bundschuh
Postgraduate Researcher
University of Liverpool
Co-hort year: 2024 entry
During the second year of my Mathematics and Physics integrated master’s degree at the University
of Manchester I got in contact with the Fusion Plasma Physics Department (FPL) at the HUN-REN
Centre for Energy Research in Budapest, Hungary. I worked with the group for three consecutive
summers and collaborated with them on my physics master’s project. These experiences instilled my
enthusiasm for fusion energy research.
The focus of my first two internships was a Python package developed by the FPL team to simulate
the thermodynamics of cryogenic pellet production for Shattered Pellet Injection designed for the
ITER Disruption Mitigation System. My job was to implement an adaptive curvilinear coordinate
system, as well as to improve and validate the thermodynamic model.
My connection with FPL allowed me to propose a master’s project in fusion energy at the University
based on the analysis of MAST-U data. I worked on the characterisation of perturbations in the edge
plasma using the Beam Emission Spectroscopy (BES) diagnostic. After graduating from Manchester in
2024 I returned to FPL to investigate how experimental parameters can be adjusted to best utilise
the capabilities of the BES.
On the mathematics side I specialised in discrete time dynamical systems. I dedicated a bachelor’s
and a master’s project to the study of Border Collision Normal Form, developing a classification
framework that relates all possible dynamical scenarios to geometric constraints on a system’s
parameter space.
As a student on the Fusion Power CDT my research concerns the optimisation of exhaust
performance on the MAST-U and TCV tokamaks via changes in their divertor magnetic geometry.
The project aims to reproduce key experimental results using the SOPLS-ITER code.
Power exhaust at the plasma boundary remains a challenging issue foreseen in fusion power plants,
such as the UK’s prototype, STEP. Novel magnetic geometries offer a potential solution, as MAST-U
has demonstrated since its restart in 2021 with a tightly baffled advanced outer divertor [1].
Experiments show improvements in facilitating detachment over the conventional divertor
configuration.
Based on attached to partially detached MAST-U plasmas with similar core conditions but different
magnetic geometries in double null (up-down symmetric) configuration, my objective is to develop a
reduced theoretical model that can match power exhaust measurements using SOLPS-ITER
simulations. The possibility of extrapolating to power plant scale devices like STEP will also be
investigated.
Studying the asymmetries in the evolution of exhaust on the inner and outer divertors in single null
configuration on MAST-U will offer valuable insight for STEP where this operational scenario has yet
to be numerically explored.
Additionally, we will collaborate with TCV to reproduce partially detached hydrogen plasmas in a
variety of magnetic geometries. Interpretative simulations of TCV plasmas with tight baffle will
provide additional data for determining the regimes of improved power exhaust.
[1] K. Verhaegh et al 2023 Nucl. Fusion 63 016014
