Sanjana Reddy

The supervisors for my project within the Fusion CDT are Dr. Istvan Cziegler (University of York), Dr. Kevin Verhaegh (UKAEA), and Dr. Chris Bowman (UKAEA). Under their supervision, I will be researching divertor diagnostics in the MAST-U.

I’ve been interested in nuclear fusion since I learned about it during my GCSEs. However, during my A-Levels and undergraduate degree at the University of Bath, I didn’t have the opportunity to study it again. When I went to do my Master’s at the University of Strathclyde, I revived my interest in fusion research, and as a result I chose to do my MSc project in simulating a Gaussian beam-based plasma turbulence diagnostic for the MAST-U and apply for a project within the CDT.

The role of a divertor in a magnetically confined fusion reactor is as a power exhaust and heat management component of the vessel, as well as other critical functions such as minimising plasma contamination and managing plasma-edge instabilities. My work as part of the Fusion CDT will be experimental and simulation work in divertor diagnostics for efficient power exhaust of the MAST-U, studying burn-through dynamics of edge-localised modes (ELMs) and other high-power transients as a function of divertor topology, and researching the behaviour of divertor filaments. The aim is to develop and experimentally verify simulations that more accurately predict plasma-edge behavior in the reactor and explore analysis techniques for alternative divertor concepts (ADCs).

Supervisors

• Dr. Istvan Cziegler
• Dr. Kevin Verhaegh
• Dr. Chris Bowman