Microwave current drive in prototype spherical tokamak reactors

我的背景是约克大学自然科学专业的综合硕士学位，将于2021年毕业。在我的学位期间，我很幸运地完成了一个暑期实习，工作是在微波电流驱动的STEP，这引发了我对等离子体物理的兴趣和把聚变能带到国家电网的热情。我的硕士项目也是等离子体物理学，研究如何模拟高功率托卡马克转向器中漂移的影响。对于我在聚变CDT上的项目，我回到了微波电流驱动的工作，特别是在原型球形托卡马克启动期间使用电子伯恩斯坦波。为了将等离子体限制在托卡马克中，我们需要通过等离子体本身产生电流。到目前为止，这是通过在设备中心使用螺线管感应来完成的。然而，如果我们正在设计一个球形托卡马克发电厂，这种方法有缺点。这包括在中心柱没有太多的空间，我们希望在相当长的时间内运行动力装置。微波电流驱动为这两个问题提供了一个解决方案，因为回旋管可以放置在离设备很远的地方，并且可以长时间使用。因此，如果我们能设计出一种系统，在启动（等离子体形成时）和稳态（主要运行阶段，能量产生时）这两个运行阶段都驱动等离子体电流，那将是理想的。稳态下的微波电流驱动已经得到了广泛的研究，但对其启动却知之甚少。因此，我的项目将致力于为等离子体的启动阶段找到一个微波系统。这是约克大学，CCFE和托卡马克能源公司的合作项目，我将在Roddy Vann， Simon Freethy， Vladimir Shevchenko和Erasmus du Toit的指导下工作。

My background is an integrated masters in Natural Sciences specialising in Physics at the University of York, graduating in 2021. During my degree I was fortunate enough to complete a summer internship working on microwave current drive for STEP which triggered my interest in plasma physics and passion for bringing fusion energy to the National Grid. My masters project was also in plasma physics, looking at how we can model the effect of drifts in the divertor of high power tokamaks.For my project on the Fusion CDT, I am back to working on microwave current drive, particularly the use of Electron Bernstein Waves during start-up for prototype spherical tokamaks.In order to confine a plasma inside a tokamak, we need to generate a current through the plasma itself. So far, this has been done through induction using a solenoid down the centre of the device. However, there are disadvantages in this approach if we are designing a spherical tokamak power plant. This includes that there is not very much space in the centre column and that we want to be operating the powerplant for substantial amounts of time. Microwave current drive offers a solution to both of these problems as the gyrotrons can be located a long way away from the device and can be used for long periods of time. Therefore, it would be ideal if we could design a system to drive the plasma current throughout both phases of operation: start-up (when the plasma is being formed) and steady-state (the main phase of operation, when energy is generated). Microwave current drive in steady-state has been studied extensively but start-up is less well understood.Therefore, my project will aim to find a microwave system for the start-up phase of the plasma. It is a collaboration between the University of York, CCFE and Tokamak Energy and I will be working under the supervision of Roddy Vann, Simon Freethy, Vladimir Shevchenko and Erasmus du Toit.