Dr. Benedikt Geiger
Phone:03834 88-2641

Particle transport

Particle transport in high temperature plasmas
(Helmholtz junior scientists group)

The junior scientists group „Particle transport in high temperature plasmas“ was established with financial support of the Helmholtz Association.

The issue involves two different particle species: Firstly, there are the fast helium nuclei produced in the fusion process, these ensuring through their high kinetic energy that the plasma retains its temperature even without heating. The energy balance of the power plant requires that these particles remain confined in the magnetic cage long enough to allow them to pass on their energy to the plasma. Secondly, there are the heavy impurity particles emitted by the wall of the plasma vessel. These extract thermal energy from the plasma and conduct it out of the plasma in the form of electromagnetic waves. These unwanted particles should therefore be removed from the magnetic cage as soon as possible.

The group is determine in detail what mechanisms are involved in these transport processes and how they are to be controlled. As two different devices are available to IPP, viz. at Garching the ASDEX Upgrade tokamak, at Greifswald the Wendelstein 7-X stellarator, the group will be able to test how the different structures of the magnetic cages affect their particle transport.

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