High temperature plasma research is crucial to the development of a controlled thermonuclear fusion energy source. Rensselaer's Plasma Dynamics Laboratory has a very active research program on development of sophisticated particle beam diagnostic systems for making space and time resolved measurements on magnetically confined plasma. Specific diagnostic techniques are developed and tested on relatively small scale experiments in our on-campus laboratory (located in the JEC highbay), and then the techniques are scaled up for installation on major confinement experiments located off-campus. We are currently operating a Heavy Ion Beam Probe on the Madison Symmetric Torus.
Ken Connor (connor@rpi.edu)