Raffi M. Nazikian is a physicist known for his contributions to nuclear fusion research and plasma physics. He has been associated with the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) and has conducted significant work at the DIII-D National Fusion Facility. [1]
In 1990, after completing his doctorate, Nazikian joined PPPL. Subsequently, he was stationed at the DIII-D National Fusion Facility in San Diego, a facility operated by General Atomics for the Department of Energy (DOE). Throughout his tenure at PPPL, Nazikian held several important roles, including leading the DIII-D Collaborations division and serving as the head of the ITER and Tokamak Department. In these roles, he was instrumental in developing initiatives and partnerships that addressed physics challenges on ITER, aiming to advance the technical foundation for U.S. fusion energy aspirations.
One of Nazikian's most notable contributions to the field is the development of a model predicting the challenges posed by Edge Localized Modes (ELMs) to tokamaks, including the international fusion experiment, ITER. [2] [3] Collaborating with scientists Qiming Hu and Jong-Kyu Park, Nazikian integrated distinct simulation codes, achieving a comprehensive understanding of ELM suppression using 3D fields. This research provided insights into the behavior of plasma, revealing that specific deformations in the plasma allow for the gradual release of heat, thus mitigating the risks of heat bursts. [4] This understanding was key to demonstrating the role of minor magnetic fields in effectively counteracting ELMs.
Throughout his professional journey, Nazikian has received several accolades. He is a two-time recipient of the Kaul award, with his first recognition in 1998 being shared with fellow PPPL researcher Guoyong Fu. Furthermore, Nazikian has been elected as a fellow of the American Physical Society (APS) and has been designated as a distinguished APS lecturer. [5] [6]
Nazikian is originally from Australia. He completed his doctoral studies at the Australian National University in Canberra in 1990. [7] From a young age, Nazikian showed an inclination towards scientific exploration, particularly in the realms of microscopy and astronomy. He resides in the San Diego area with his family.[ citation needed ]
A tokamak is a device which uses a powerful magnetic field to confine plasma in the shape of a torus. The tokamak is one of several types of magnetic confinement devices being developed to produce controlled thermonuclear fusion power. As of 2016, it was the leading candidate for a practical fusion reactor. The word "tokamak" is derived from a Russian acronym meaning "toroidal chamber with magnetic coils".
Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) is a United States Department of Energy national laboratory for plasma physics and nuclear fusion science. Its primary mission is research into and development of fusion as an energy source. It is known for the development of the stellarator and tokamak designs, along with numerous fundamental advances in plasma physics and the exploration of many other plasma confinement concepts.
Magnetic confinement fusion (MCF) is an approach to generate thermonuclear fusion power that uses magnetic fields to confine fusion fuel in the form of a plasma. Magnetic confinement is one of two major branches of controlled fusion research, along with inertial confinement fusion.
DIII-D is a tokamak that has been operated since the late 1980s by General Atomics (GA) in San Diego, USA, for the U.S. Department of Energy. The DIII-D National Fusion Facility is part of the ongoing effort to achieve magnetically confined fusion. The mission of the DIII-D Research Program is to establish the scientific basis for the optimization of the tokamak approach to fusion energy production.
The National Spherical Torus Experiment (NSTX) is a magnetic fusion device based on the spherical tokamak concept. It was constructed by the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) in collaboration with the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Columbia University, and the University of Washington at Seattle. It entered service in 1999. In 2012 it was shut down as part of an upgrade program and became NSTX-U, for Upgrade.
An edge-localized mode (ELM) is a plasma instability occurring in the edge region of a tokamak plasma due to periodic relaxations of the edge transport barrier in high-confinement mode. Each ELM burst is associated with expulsion of particles and energy from the confined plasma into the scrape-off layer. This phenomenon was first observed in the ASDEX tokamak in 1981. Diamagnetic effects in the model equations expand the size of the parameter space in which solutions of repeated sawteeth can be recovered compared to a resistive MHD model. An ELM can expel up to 20 percent of the reactor's energy.
Resonant magnetic perturbations (RMPs) are a special type of magnetic field perturbations used to control burning plasma instabilities called edge-localized modes (ELMs) in magnetic fusion devices such as tokamaks. The efficiency of RMPs for controlling ELMs was first demonstrated on the tokamak DIII-D in 2003.
SST-1 is a plasma confinement experimental device in the Institute for Plasma Research (IPR), an autonomous research institute under Department of Atomic Energy, India. It belongs to a new generation of tokamaks with the major objective being steady state operation of an advanced configuration plasma. It has been designed as a medium-sized tokamak with superconducting magnets.
In nuclear fusion power research, the plasma-facing material (PFM) is any material used to construct the plasma-facing components (PFC), those components exposed to the plasma within which nuclear fusion occurs, and particularly the material used for the lining the first wall or divertor region of the reactor vessel.
Sir Steven Charles Cowley is a British theoretical physicist and international authority on nuclear fusion and astrophysical plasmas. He has served as director of the United States Department of Energy (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) since 1 July 2018. Previously he served as president of Corpus Christi College, Oxford, since October 2016. and head of the EURATOM / CCFE Fusion Association and chief executive officer of the United Kingdom Atomic Energy Authority (UKAEA).
Robert James Goldston is a professor of astrophysics at Princeton University and a former director of the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory.
Miklos Porkolab (born March 24, 1939) is a Hungarian-American physicist specializing in plasma physics.
Jose A. Boedo is a Spanish plasma physicist and a researcher at University of California, San Diego. He is an Elected Fellow of the American Physical Society, which was awarded in 2016 for "his ground-breaking contributions to the studies of plasma drifts and intermittent plasma transport in the peripheral region of tokamaks".
Hartmut Zohm is a German plasma physicist who is known for his work on the ASDEX Upgrade machine. He received the 2014 John Dawson Award and the 2016 Hannes Alfvén Prize for successfully demonstrating that neoclassical tearing modes in tokamaks can be stabilized by electron cyclotron resonance heating, which is an important design consideration for pushing the performance limit of the ITER.
Harold Porter Eubank was an American physicist, specializing in magnetic fusion energy research.
Tihiro Ohkawa was a Japanese physicist whose field of work was in plasma physics and fusion power. He was a pioneer in developing ways to generate electricity by nuclear fusion when he worked at General Atomics. Ohkawa died September 27, 2014, in La Jolla, California, at the age of 86.
Masaaki Yamada is a Japanese plasma physicist known for his studies on magnetic reconnection.
Keith Howard Burrell is an American plasma physicist.
Elena V. Belova is a former Soviet and American physicist whose research involves the computer simulation of plasma, with applications ranging from the control of heat in tokamak-based fusion power to improved understanding of jets and spheromaks in the solar corona. She works for the United States Department of Energy as a principal research physicist at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory in New Jersey.
Rajesh Maingi is a physicist known for his expertise in the physics of plasma edges and program leadership in the field of fusion energy. He is currently the head of Tokamak Experimental Sciences at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL). He is a Fellow of both the American Physical Society and the American Nuclear Society and has chaired or co-chaired numerous national and international conferences.