NPRE Undergraduate Seminar Series - Spring 2023
Mike Brookman | RF Physics Lead, Tokamak Operations | Commonwealth Fusion Systems
Tuesday, April 18 | 12:00 - 12:50 pm | 100 Materials Science and Engineering Building
Igniting a Burning Plasma: SPARC ICRF
Abstract: Fusion power plants must reach temperatures of >200,000,000 K to produce energy by combining deuterium and tritium into helium. Radiofrequency waves offer a method to couple power from an antenna, through a hot, dense plasma to deposit at the ion cyclotron resonance frequency (ICRF) in the reactor core. Up to 20 Megawatts of 120MHz ICRF power will be the sole auxiliary heating source driving net fusion energy in the 12.2T magnetic field and 8.7MA plasma current of the SPARC tokamak, currently in construction in Devens, MA. After introducing the SPARC concept, Mike will introduce the science behind the design of the ICRF system that is one step on our path to limitless clean fusion energy.
Speaker Bio: Mike Brookman is Radiofrequency Physics Lead for Commonwealth Fusion Systems, a private company that has raised over $2 billion to develop the tokamak as the surest path to fusion. He has been working on fusion radiofrequency systems since a University of Wisconsin experiment as an undergrad at 800 MHz, a 2017 PhD at 110 GHz from UT Austin, and as operations lead installing a 476MHz antenna on DIII-D in San Diego. He has been at Commonwealth Fusion Systems since 2022, helping build the best RF system yet.
NPRE 199 Undergraduate Seminar is a series of lectures and discussions on current research and developments in the NPRE discipline areas. Presentations are led by visiting scientists and engineers from industry and research facilities as well as faculty and advanced students. Seminars are open to the Illinois community, space allowing. Undergraduate students wishing course credit for attending should register in NPRE 199.
