All is well in Greifswald! From September through December of 2017, the machine at which I am working, the Wendelstein 7-X, was in operational phase 1.2a, during which I was working in the control room to help operate and collect data with specially filtered cameras. At the end of November, we ran the experiment that I am working on, in which we tested specifically designed new magnetic field configurations to mimic situations we might reach in later phases.
OP1.2b should begin in late summer, and then the hardware I am preparing for, the scraper elements, will be installed in the machine and we will repeat the same experiments to see how the scrapers affect the plasma. In the meantime, I am analyzing data from the previous phase, preparing multiple presentations on my work, and learning to operate probes which can be used to measure the temperature and density of the plasma near one of the installed scraper elements.
From this Saturday to next Wednesday, I am attending the Fulbright mid-year seminar in Berlin, and I will be giving a five minute “Ted Talk style” presentation on my research there. In mid-April, I will be flying back to the United States for a “working group meeting” at Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, where I will give a 20-30 minute presentation on the scraper element project. Then in the beginning of July, I hope to attend the European Physical Society’s 45th Conference on Plasma Physics in Prague to present a poster on my work and to learn more about recent advances in my field.
When my Fulbright scholarship ends in mid-July, Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory will be taking over my support and employing me as a summer student so that I can stay in Germany and continue working on my project until the beginning of September. At that time, I will be moving to New Jersey to begin a PhD program in plasma physics at Princeton University.
Here are two photos of me here, one of me working in the control room with a few colleagues and a recent one taken of me in my supervisor’s laboratory.
Post by Alex L.