LaPlas Institute held International IV Summer School on the Physics of Plasma-Surface Interactions
24.07.2020

The LaPlas Institute of MEPhI (Department of Plasma Physics) has organized the IV International Summer School on the Physics of Plasma-Surface Interactions. The school has been held from 13 to 16 July.

The first three schools in 2014, 2016 and 2018 were held face-to-face. But this year, due to the coronavirus pandemic and related restrictions, the school was held online. It should be noted that the online mode has significantly (approximately three times) increased the number of listeners both from foreign countries and from Russia. In total, the school gathered about 200 participants.

Twelve leading experts from the USA, Japan, Germany, France, Belgium, Serbia, and Russia delivered lectures on one of the most relevant topics in research on controlled thermonuclear fusion, especially the problem of plasma-facing materials of thermonuclear reactors and their reaction to plasma exposure. The solution to this problem depends on the creation of an effective thermonuclear reactor with magnetic plasma confinement.

The lectures have covered a wide range of issues: from structural materials for fusion reactors (Prof. Guido Van Oost, Belgium) and plasma materials interactions in a fusion reactor (Prof.Tetsuo Tanabe, Japan) to synergistic effects of plasma-material interactions in magnetic fusion devices (Prof. .Sergey Krasheninnikov, USA). Obtained at the largest European tokamak JET results were analyzed in detail by Dr. Sebastijan Brezinsek, EUROfusion. Problems and solutions of the diagnostic mirrors for ITER were reviewed by Prof. Andrey Litnovsky, Julich, Germany. Temperature measurement and heart load estimation in fusion experiments were addressed by Prof. Albrecht Herrmann, Garching, Germany.

Prof. Jean-Marc Layet (Aix-Marseille University, France) spoke about researches on the formation of negative ions productions at surfaces, which are required to create powerful neutral injectors for heating plasma in reactors. Prof. Srdjan Petrovich (Serbia) explained the features of the analysis of materials by beams of MeV energies.

Scientists and teachers of the Plasma Physics Department of the MEPhI LaPlaz Institute spoke about the great opportunities of MEPhI in research on this topic (Prof. Valery Kurnaev, Russia). Prof. Alexander Pisarev, Russia, devoted his lecture to hydrogen in thin films. Prof. Leon Begrambekov, Russia, spoke about the complex physical and chemical phenomena at the plasma-wall interface.

The representative of the academic community A. Arakcheev (Budker INP RAS, Novosibirsk) spoke about the mechanisms of materials destruction under the large thermal loads' influence.

Brief annotations of lectures are available here: http://plasma.mephi.ru/ru/SS2020.html