University College Dublin, Ireland Ph.D. Research Opportunity

Ph.D. Research Opportunity
Commencing September 2008
Investigation of radiative energy losses from tungsten plasmas.

The next generation fusion reactor ITER, being built at Cadarache will use tungsten as a wall material. Although a lot of data already exists, more work needs to be done to understand the behaviour of tungsten ions in hot plasma. The project first addresses the need for spectral line and unresolved line array identification in tungsten plasmas for use as a plasma diagnostic and also explores the radiation loss mechanisms from moderately ionised tungsten ions and the potential problems that may arise in attaining the temperatures required for fusion should the ion density become large enough.

The research will be carried out in the Atomic, Molecular and Plasma Physics Group at UCD ).

The candidate will have or expect to receive a 1st or upper 2nd class honours degree.

Interested candidates should forward their C.V. to:
Prof. Gerry O’Sullivan,
School of Physics,
University College Dublin,
Belfield, Dublin 4.
Email : gerry.osullivan@ucd.ie