Cambridge University, B.A., Physics, (1972)
Cambridge University, M.A. (1975)
Australian National University, Ph.D., Engineering Physics (1976)
Plasma physics is the enabling science for fusion energy. It also governs most of the universe outside the earth's atmosphere, and some important phenomena inside. Many of the crucial scientific challenges to bringing the energy of the stars down to the human scale apply also to the behavior of space and astrophysical plasmas. A most fundamental problem is the interaction of flowing plasma with an obstacle such as a probe in the edge of a tokamak or a satelite or moon in the solar wind plasma. Understanding how the plasma currents are collected and how the plasma wake behaves is a long-standing theoretical topic that has progressed rapidly recently. The ability of computational models to represent accurately the dimensional complexity and nonlinearity has led to several fascinating discoveries. And there's much more to come by combining computational plasma physics with fundamental theory and experiment. MORE
In magnetically confined plasmas such as tokamaks, the plasma has been found to produce spontaneous flow. Flow plays a vital role in regulating the plasma turbulence and transport, and it also causes measurable impurity density gradients within the magnetic flux surfaces. A major area of challenge for understanding magnetic confinement is therefore to understand the mechanisms, including turbulence, that control the flow. Impurity measurements provide an important diagnostic that helps us to understand flow, and controlling impurities is essential to making fusion work.