NEWS: Plasma turbulence

May 31, 2023

A new mathematical “blueprint” is accelerating fusion device development

How can plasma physicists harness the power of quantum computers? Abhay K. Ram, a PSFC Principal Research Scientist, and his co-authors Efstratios Koukoutsis, Kyriakos Hizanidis, and George Vahala have an answer in their recently published paper called “Dyson maps and unitary evolution for Maxwell equations in tensor dielectric media”.

PSFC News

March 28, 2023

Exploring the bow shock and beyond

Rishabh Datta’s main focus is, “Can we create this high energy plasma that is moving supersonically in a laboratory, and can we study it? And can we learn things that are hard to diagnose in an astrophysical plasma?”

PSFC News

November 1, 2022

Machine learning facilitates “turbulence tracking” in fusion reactors

PSFC researchers and colleagues are using machine learning to track turbulent structures ("blobs") in fusion plasmas, which can affect the energy generated during fusion reactions.

MIT News

October 19, 2022

2022 Ronald C. Davidson Award goes to Ian H. Hutchinson

AIP Publishing has selected MIT Professor Ian H. Hutchinson as the recipient of its 2022 Ronald C. Davidson Award for Plasma Physics for his paper, “Electron holes in phase space: What they are and why they matter.”

AIP Publishing

June 28, 2022

Noah Mandell wins Frederick A. Howes Scholar in Computational Science award

Noah Mandell, a postdoctoral fellow at the Plasma Science and Fusion Center (PSFC), is one of two recipients of a 2022 Frederick A. Howes Scholar in Computational Science award.

PSFC News

April 6, 2022

Machine learning, harnessed to extreme computing, aids fusion energy development

MIT research scientists Pablo Rodriguez-Fernandez and Nathan Howard predict the temperature and density profiles of a magnetically confined plasma via first-principles simulation of plasma turbulence.

PSFC News

January 3, 2022

Turbulence yields to topology

NSE PhD candidate Lucio Milanese expands a theory of turbulence to include both ionized and non-ionized fluids.

PSFC News

December 13, 2021

Seeing the plasma edge of fusion experiments in new ways with AI

In a pair of recent publications, Abhilash Mathews begins directly testing the accuracy of a reduced plasma turbulence model in a new way: he combines physics with machine learning.

PSFC News

December 10, 2021

Helping make fusion a reality

Fusion has great potential as a carbon-free energy source but plasma turbulence presents a problem. Rachel Bielajew is taking on that challenge and helping make a better world—through science and community action.

MIT NSE News

October 22, 2021

Alessandro Marinoni: Returning to fusion’s D-turn

Alessandro Marinoni has continued to examine an innovative plasma shape, dubbed “negative triangularity,” extending previous research to configurations more compatible with the plasma environment of a reactor. 

PSFC News

October 22, 2021

Radiofrequency wave scattering improves fusion simulations

By incorporating the scattering of radiofrequency waves into fusion simulations, MIT physicists improve heating and current drive predictions for fusion plasmas.

PSFC News

December 21, 2020

Storm in a cosmic teacup: Discovering a new paradigm for understanding plasma turbulence

On the path to writing his PhD dissertation Lucio Milanese made a discovery - one that refocused his research and will now likely dominate his thesis.

PSFC

December 2, 2020

Pablo Rodriguez-Fernandez — Forbes 30 Under 30 in Science

PSFC postdoctoral associate Pablo Rodriguez-Fernandez (MIT PhD’19) has been named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 list in the Science sector for 2021.

PSFC

December 1, 2020

Amanda Hubbard honored with Secretary of Energy’s Appreciation Award

Amanda Hubbard, principal research scientist at MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center (PSFC), has been awarded a 2020 Secretary of Energy’s Appreciation Award.

PSFC

September 28, 2020

Using machine learning to control plasma stability in fusion experiments

PSFC principal research scientist John Wright will lead an exploration of how machine learning can accelerate radio frequency modeling for current drive prediction in tokamaks.

PSFC

July 8, 2020

How to grow a cosmic magnetic field

“Tiny magnetic fields, through interaction with plasmas, can potentially increase their coherence length by many orders of magnitude to become the enormous astronomical-scale magnetic fields observed in the universe,” says graduate student Muni Zhou.

PSFC

May 28, 2020

Meet our 2020 graduates

Norman Cao, Daniel Korsun, Adam Kuang, and Pyae Phyo graduate on May 29 in MIT's virtual commencement.

PSFC

May 20, 2020

Addressing challenges in controlling plasma and plasma turbulence

In his PhD thesis Graduate student Norman Cao seeks to correct a popularly held and intuitive belief about plasma turbulence.

PSFC

April 8, 2020

Pyae Phyo: From Myanmar to NMR

PhD candidate’s journey to the center of the plant cell wall relies on nuclear magnetic resonance technology.

PSFC

February 26, 2020

Thomas Dupree, professor emeritus of Nuclear Science and Engineering and Physics, dies at 86

PSFC

January 27, 2020

Nathan Howard wins Nuclear Fusion Award

Nathan Howard, research scientist at MIT’s Plasma Science and Fusion Center, has won the 2019 Nuclear Fusion Award for a paper that explains heat losses due to turbulence in the core of magnetically confined fusion plasmas.

PSFC

November 22, 2019

Heating by Cooling

As a graduate student Pablo Rodriguez-Fernandez (PhD’19) became intrigued by a fusion research mystery that had remained unsolved for 20 years. His novel observations and subsequent modeling helped provide the answer, earning him the 2019 Del Favero Thesis Prize.

PSFC

December 14, 2018

Francesco Sciortino: Organizing the scientific life

Physics grad student Francesco Sciortino is exploring turbulence in fusion plasmas and is engaged in creating opportunities for colleagues, students, and the general public to learn about the benefits of fusion research to a world that will be demanding more and more sources of reliable energy.

PSFC

December 12, 2018

Focus on plasma turbulence pays dividends in fusion energy, astrophysics for theorist Loureiro

Difficult problems with big payoffs are the life blood of MIT, so it’s appropriate that plasma turbulence has been an important focus for theoretical physicist Nuno Loureiro.

NSE News

October 16, 2018

Nuno Loureiro: Probing the world of plasmas

As a boy in Portugal, Nuno Loureiro wanted to be a scientist, even when “everyone else wanted to be a policeman or a fireman.” He’s now focused on the physics of plasma, with applications in both astrophysics and clean energy.

MIT News