Advanced Plasma Diagnostics

Alfvén Wave Instabilities – a collaboration between PSFC and JET

This program conducts experiments at the Joint European Torus (JET), the world's largest tokamak in England.

In these experiments researchers study instabilities driven by high-energy particles, such as neutral beam ions,

The interior of JET

RF driven energetic ions and alpha particles. These studies lead to an improved understanding of plasma stability and transport that will be important in a burning plasma experiment where the fusion process generates a substantial alpha particle component. This effort was originally led by Professor Ambrogio Fasoli who recently left MIT for Europe, but continues to participate in this experiment as a Visiting Professor.