2005 marked the change from the
Establishment Phase of the Facility to the Operational Phase, and a significant
restructure in the Toroidal plasma group, which operates the facility. The National Plasma Fusion Research Facility
was established by the
The Facility upgrade is mostly complete; the Facility has met the majority of its milestones, and exceeded expectations in the area of remote control and technology development. It provides an important resource to a broad range of researchers, national and international, world-class training to graduate students, and has generated a broad range of spin-offs for manufacturing, defence and communications industries. In recognition of this, and recent developments in international fusion research, an extension of the contract was negotiated, using remaining funds to cover the “Operational Phase” of the Facility, from 2005 to 2010.
It is now appropriate that the emphasis shifts from construction to operation, fundamental research and its technological spin-offs, education and training, the highlights of which are summarised here.
Supported by an Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery grant to commence in 2006, and in collaboration with researchers at Chalmers University in Sweden, the Advanced Imaging and Inverse Methods Group led by Dr John Howard has this year expanded its activities to commence research into the development of a radar backscatter system and associated inverse techniques for microwave imaging of human tissue. The Group maintains a strong interest in the physics and spectroscopy of high temperature plasma in the H-1 heliac with three postgraduate students and a number of honours scholars. A spinoff from this work, the advanced 4-quadrant coherence imaging spectrometer was supplied to the Korean Basic Science Institute this year for fast, high-spectral-resolution imaging on the KSTAR superconducting tokamak. With funding support from Bluescope Steel, our related, recently patented coherence-pyrometry systems are also scheduled for extensive field testing in early 2006.
The Turbulence and Transport Studies Group led by Dr Michael Shats has made remarkable progress in understanding the role of the turbulence generated flows in plasma confinement. Also a new research direction has emerged in 2005: interdisciplinary studies of quasi-two-dimensional turbulence in plasma and fluids. These studies have led to the discovery of the universality of self-organisation of turbulence in plasma and fluids. The results of this work have been published in 2005 and open new opportunities in this direction. Among other highlights of the Turbulence Group are studies of the spectral transfer in plasma turbulence (Dr. Hua Xia) and of the mechanisms of transport barrier formation (Dr. Horst Punzmann).
Through an ARC Linkage Project grant with Standard Communications of Sydney, the BushLAN team, led by Dr Gerard Borg, is developing a wireless broadband modem for use in the UHF TV bands in remote areas. Specifications are complete and we are currently developing the system for deployment on Optus' network. The project involves two PhD, one MPhil and two Honours students. Future directions for BushLAN involve the Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology where courses are being delivered in Telecommunication Systems and Radio Engineering.
The Plasma Configurations Group has
identified a range of Alfvén instabilities in the H-1 plasma, by use of an
innovative data mining technique. The
wide range of magnetic configurations and the precise computer control of H-1
make it uniquely suitable for fundamental studies of these instabilities, the
understanding of which is crucial to the success of future large experiments,
such as the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER). As part of a cross-campus
and international collaboration, application of this technique to related
phenomena in the Heliotron-J device at
The mission of the Facility is to:
(1) Perform research into the basic properties of
magnetically-confined, high-temperature plasma as part of an international
program, whose ultimate aim is ecologically sustainable power generation by the
controlled fusion of hydrogen isotopes.
(2) Ensure that
(3) Maintain
The research outcomes of the Facility include:
(i) A detailed understanding of the behaviour of hot plasma which
is magnetically confined in the helical axis stellarator configuration (this
forms part of an international program under the IEA Implementation Agreement
on Stellarators, to which
(ii) The development of advanced plasma measurement systems (“diagnostics”), integrating real-time processing and multi-dimensional visualisation of data.
(iii) Fundamental studies of turbulence and transport of particles and energy in confined plasmas.
(iv) Significant contributions to the global fusion research effort and an increased Australian presence in the field of plasma fusion power into the 21st century.
(v) Improvements in knowledge of basic plasma physics for applications such as plasma processing of semiconductors.
(vi) An important performance indicator was identified as “technological
spin-off
activities” in areas including
instrumentation and techniques.