York Plasma Institute Brochure

Image credit: CCFE

Matter is made of atoms and can exist in a number of states: solid, liquid and gas. If atoms are given enough energy a process called ionisation occurs where electrons surrounding the nucleus can escape. This forms a ‘soup’ of negatively charged electrons and positively charged ions.

This state of matter is called plasma and makes up more than 99 per cent of the visible universe. It is the stuff of stars, interstellar space and lightning.

Closer to home, plasmas are frequently used in light sources such as plasma displays and in many modern processing technologies, such as the manufacturing of computer chips.

Plasmas can also help to improve our health, provide us with clean, abundant energy, and enable us to better understand the universe.

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MAST tokamak plasma at Culham Centre for Fusion Energy

Image credit: John Houlihan

the YOrk PLASMA INSTITUTE York Plasma Institute Director Professor Howard Wilson with Dr Koki Imada

Contents Our facilities

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Our activities

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Industrial engagement

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Training the next generation

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“The York Plasma Institute provides an exciting environment for world-class interdisciplinary plasma science research, fostering links with industry and delivering innovative training programmes” Professor Sir John Beddington, The Government Chief Scientific Adviser

The York Plasma Institute (YPI), part of the Department of Physics at the University of York, is the result of a £3.7m collaboration between the University of York and the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).

The vision of the YPI is to bring a range of plasma research together under one roof, exploiting the synergies and creating critical mass for world-class research with strong industrial collaboration.

The institute comprises eleven academics, ten postdocs and 40–50 postgraduate students.

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Image credit: John Houlihan

Masters student working on a project investigating glow discharges

Our newly refurbished research building includes: Postgraduate learning and teaching environments, and the Remote Tokamak Control Room which enables remote participation on fusion facilities worldwide, including the MAST device at Culham Centre for Fusion Energy in Oxfordshire and the KSTAR device in South Korea.

Nine purpose-built laboratories dedicated to a range of topics including magnetic confinement/instrumentation, laser plasmas, plasma technology, low pressure plasma, atmospheric pressure plasma, spectroscopy bio-medical plasmas, and micro-plasmas.

High performance computing: access to HECToR (UK), HPC-FF (Germany), and Helios (Japan); in-house Beowulf cluster.

Inside the JET fusion device at Culham Centre for Fusion Energy in Oxfordshire. JET – the Joint European Torus – is currently the largest and most advanced fusion facility in the world.

Many academics, postdocs, and students from the York Plasma Institute are working on the science of this device and other projects at Culham

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Our research falls into four main areas – magnetic confinement fusion energy, low temperature plasmas, laser‑plasma interactions and astrophysical plasmas.

Magnetic confinement fusion Plasmas can be confined for long periods using magnetic fields. This is one approach to fusion energy, where plasmas can be confined at temperatures exceeding those at the centre of the Sun in a device called a tokamak. We perform state-of-the-art fusion plasma theory and high performance computer simulations, as well as experiments on two international-standard tokamaks in the UK: MAST and JET (the largest and most advanced fusion facility in the world) at Culham Science Centre.The multi-billion

Euro international fusion facility, ITER, is being constructed in France. It will be the largest international science facility on Earth, with a mission to demonstrate the technical feasibility of fusion energy in preparation for construction of demonstration fusion power plants. Much of our theoretical/computational and experimental research is in support of the ITER programme. We work closely with the national fusion programme at Culham Centre for Fusion Energy, and also a range of international collaborators worldwide.

High density plasmas are produced when high powered lasers are focused on solid materials. There is a wide range of applications including inertial fusion of relevance to energy production and national security, solar physics, particle and radiation sources, and simulating astrophysical phenomena on the laboratory scale. We have university-scale in-house laser facilities, while large-scale experiments are performed on world-class international

laser facilities here in the UK (the Central Laser Facility at Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, and AWE) and also through our international collaborations in India, Czech Republic, France, Japan and the US (including the National Ignition Facility – a multibillion dollar facility built to demonstrate inertial fusion). We also have growing computational and theoretical expertise in these areas and collaborate with groups in the UK and worldwide.

Image credit: EFDA JET

Laser-plasma interactions and inertial fusion energy

Low-temperature plasmas Low-temperature plasmas are far from equilibrium systems generating an exotic physical and chemical environment through free electrons at low gas temperatures.

This unique environment allows treatment of temperature-sensitive materials with molecular precision. Plasma technologies underpin many high-end industries.

Prominent examples include fabrication of three-dimensional nano-transistors on computer chips (such as Intel’s Ivy Bridge) and rapidly emerging bio-medical applications using cold atmospheric pressure plasmas (such as biofilm inactivation and potential cancer therapies). Our activities bring together physics, chemistry and biology, and cover a broad spectrum of advanced optical plasma diagnostics, plasma modelling and multi-scale numerical simulations, and the development of novel plasma technologies.

Our activities bring together physics, chemistry and biology, and cover a broad spectrum of advanced optical plasma diagnostics, plasma modelling and multi-scale numerical simulations, and the development of novel plasma technologies

Astrophysical plasmas Lasers can be used to recreate the extreme conditions found in astrophysical plasma phenomena at a smaller laboratory scale.

Our research includes physics relevant to astrophysical jets and supernovae explosions.

We can also make measurements of plasma opacity that underlie the radiation transport processes in the Sun. In our linear magnetised plasma device we can explore physics of

relevance to the magnetosphere and, building on this, explore whether a man-made ‘mini‑magnetosphere’ could protect satellites from the damaging solar wind in space.

Our experiments in this area in collaboration with Rutherford Appleton Laboratory have also recently been used to understand the mysterious swirl patterns observed on the surface of the moon.

Our experiments in this area in collaboration with Rutherford Appleton Laboratory have also recently been used to understand the mysterious swirl patterns observed on the surface of the moon

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Image credit: STFC

This image depicts the VULCAN petawatt laser, one of the highest intensity lasers in the world, interacting with a solid target to create hot plasma. VULCAN is based at the Central Laser Facility at the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory in Oxfordshire

The York Plasma Institute is dedicated to fully engaging with industry to strengthen existing links and to create new ones, to form collaborative projects, and to support a UK-wide network of activities in plasma science and applications.

We have appointed Dr kate Lancaster as our Plasma and Fusion Industrial Officer to work with the YPI, industry and other academic partners to achieve these aims. the YPI laboratories are designed and purpose-built to support state-of-the-art fundamental research combined with facilities for direct exploitation in technological applications, including an extensive suite of modern diagnostic facilities, a CAt 2 biology laboratory, and industrial plasma etching nano-fabrication equipment (donated by one of our collaborators, Intel Inc).

Iter is a global undertaking, to demonstrate the physics and engineering systems required to obtain net energy output from fusion reactions. the multi-billion euro Iter device will be on a scale approaching that of a power station and will be constructed with effort from many countries. Building a project of this scale means that over a period of ten years there will be hundreds of contracts for european companies to bid for. the Industry Officer, in collaboration with CCFe, is working to help industry benefit from Iter. For more information about how industry can be involved with Iter contact Dr kate Lancaster or visit the Fusion for energy website http://fusionforenergy.europa.eu.

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Dr Kate Lancaster is the Plasma and Fusion Industrial OďŹƒcer at the York Plasma Institute

a three or four year Phd programme, which will produce the next generation of leaders in fusion and related sciences. Led by York in collaboration with the Universities of durham, Liverpool, manchester and oxford, the full programme is funded by the ePsrC. students typically spend their first six months attending formal training through lectures and practical courses, before embarking on their research project. this network approach enables training across the broad range of disciplines that come together in fusion, including plasma science, materials science, instrumentation and technology. for more information visit www.york.ac.uk/ physics/fusion-dtn.

Image credit: John Houlihan

training postgraduates is a high priority for the institute. YPi runs two postgraduate training programmes: an msc in fusion energy and the fusion doctoral training network. the msc in fusion energy is a one-year taught masters programme that provides training across fusion energy science and technology, and related plasma science. it is an ideal course to prepare students for a Phd in fusion energy; it will also equip students who decide not to pursue fusion further with a range of important generic skills applicable in many sectors of employment. see the website for more details: www.york. ac.uk/physics/postgraduate/fusion-msc. the fusion doctoral training network is

Professor Howard Wilson, Director Theory of tokamak plasmas howard.wilson@york.ac.uk Dr Ben Dudson Experiments and modelling of tokamak edge plasmas benjamin.dudson@york.ac.uk Professor Timo Gans Low-temperature plasmas: diagnostics, numerical simulations, technological applications timo.gans@york.ac.uk Dr Kieran Gibson Experimental studies of tokamak plasma physics, diagnostic development for magnetically confined plasmas kieran.gibson@york.ac.uk Dr Deborah O’Connell Fundamentals of low-temperature plasmas and their applications, including plasma medicine deborah.oconnell@york.ac.uk Dr John Pasley ICF, fast ignition, radiation hydrodynamics, hohlraum modelling, shock waves and implosion hydrodynamics, physics of ignition and thermonuclear burn john.pasley@york.ac.uk

Professor Geoff Pert Laser ablation simulation, XUV/X-ray laser development, laser produced plasma theory geoff.pert@york.ac.uk Professor Greg Tallents EUV/X-ray laser development, laser ablation, laser produced plasmas greg.tallents@york.ac.uk Dr Roddy Vann Tokamak physics including microwave imaging and kinetic simulations; bio‑plasma interactions roddy.vann@york.ac.uk Dr Erik Wagenaars Low-temperature plasma experiments, optical plasma diagnostic development erik.wagenaars@york.ac.uk Dr Nigel Woolsey Laser-produced plasmas, laboratory astrophysics, ICF and fast ignition, x-ray spectroscopy nigel.woolsey@york.ac.uk Dr Kate Lancaster Plasma and fusion industrial officer kate.lancaster@york.ac.uk Rachael Stephenson YPI/Fusion DTN administrator rachael.stephenson@york.ac.uk

Front cover: A simulation of a plasma eruption using the Bout ++ code written by Dr Ben Dudson

Design: Ball Design Consultancy

www.york.ac.uk/ypi