The Laboratory of “Plasma Surface Interactions andPlasma Technologies” was established recently at MEPhI in framework of 3+2 year project financed by Russian goverment. The main research topics of the laboratory are: PMI in fusion devices, including: trapping and transport of hydrogenic and He species in material; surface morphology and material properties modifications; development of new armor materials for the first wall. Technological part includes research of material hardening and fatigue modification, improvements of electric properties of materials used in capacitors. The Lab will have both experimental and theoretical parts which suppose to work in a close collaboration providing cross-fertilization and unified effort in research . Collaborations with other research institutions both domestic and international are also envisioned.
The main principles of work in the laboratory are: 1) Establishing the team(-s) of co-workers who can freely exchange ideas, discuss progress and problems, have can advise from the colleagues, share both experimental and computational tools, participate in joint/complimentary experiments, writing common proposals; 2) Keeping in mind technological applications, pursue in depth physics of plasma-material interactions and material physics as much as possible; 3) Finding and attracting new talented young researches.
To have the outside opinion on the directions and quality of our work and to promote our future achievements, the Lab’s Scientific Advisory Board was formed. The board consists of several world-known experienced scientists, having leading positions in the field of research: Dr. Richard Pitts, IO (Leader of Divertor and Plasma-Wall Interactions Section); Dr. Russ Doerner, UCSD (Head of the PISCES Lab); Prof. Dave Ruzic, UIUC (Director of Center for Plasma-Material Interactions); Prof. Sungho Jin, UCSD (Director of Materials Science and Engineering Program); Prof. Nariyasu Ohno, Nagoya U. (Head of the NAGDISS Lab).
To facilitate the research activity the Lab will acquire within next months the following hardware: 1) Computer cluster for computationally demanding simulations (including DFT, MD, PIC, MC, BOUT++, UEDGE ); 2) Tools for cross section of samples for SEM observations; 3) Optical microscope for metallography 4) Optical pyrometer (2000°C, 0.2 mm spatial resolution) for registration of the temperature maps of samples exposed in plasma 4) Quadroupole mass spectrometer with He – D2 resolution.