Postdoctoral Position: Modelling of Liquid-Metal Plasma Interactions 893 views

DIFFER (Dutch Institute for Fundamental Energy Research), one of the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) institutes is inviting applications for a Postdoctoral position in Modelling of Liquid-Metal Plasma Interactions in Linear Plasma Devices and Validation with Tokamak Divertors. This position is part of the strategic programme “Taming the Flame”, which aims to enhance our understanding of the physics of power exhaust of tokamak fusion reactors, and to develop advanced control strategies for high-performance, low wall load operation.

About the project:

• Recent developments have opened a new path to power exhaust: to use a liquid metal (lithium) based wall which strongly evaporates, forming a vapour cloud in front of the wall which cools and redirects the heat, ultimately preventing any damage.
• This project aims, in particular, to update and extend the code suite with models allowing the simulation of plasma in contact with liquid metal targets, particularly during vapour-shielding conditions, and to benchmark these against experiments which will investigate this in Magnum-PSI.
• Responsibilities includes: To implement the necessary adaptations in the EIRENE code to allow the modelling of liquid metal targets; to benchmark SOLPS-ITER modelling with liquid metal targets against Magnum-PSI experiments; to use the code-suite to make predictions of liquid-metal target behaviour under divertor plasma conditions; to collaborate with the international EIRENE development team on the refactoring of the code.

Qualifications:

• Applicant must be enthusiastic and highly talented candidates who are willing to work in an international and interdisciplinary team of theoretical and experimental physicists.
• Applicant must have (or very soon will have) a PhD in Plasma Physics or Computational Sciences.
• Applicant must have good programming skills and experience in development of plasma edge modelling code, in particular, with the Monte Carlo modelling of neutral particles in a plasma environment.
• Good verbal and written communication skills (in English) are mandatory.

Duration: temporary employment contract for the duration of 3 years

Application:

Submit application electronically to  vacancies@differ.nl including application letter, a full resume (including grade list). Refer to vacancy 19.012