Andreas Holm - Fusion energy researcher
Scrape-off layer physics and divertor modeling
I am a postdoctoral researcher at the Fusion Energy Sciences group of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), CA, USA, focusing on scrape-off layer physics and divertor modeling.
Providing commercial fusion energy to the grid at an industrial scale poses numerous scientific and technical challenges for the international fusion community. Despite the recent breakthrough of fusion ignition - producing net energy by the means of fusion reactions - achieved at the National Ignition Facility at LLNL by means of inertial confinement fusion, magnetic confinement fusion remains the front-runner for a fusion power plant design. In magnetic confinement fusion, the topic of my own research, the burning plasma core is confined in a toroidally symmetric vessel by strong magnetic fields. A topic of special interest for such fusion devices is the region of plasma connecting burning plasma core, which is 100's of millions of degrees, to the ambient vessel walls. This region of fusion plasmas, the scrape-off layer, spans a wide range of temperatures and, thus, a multitude of molecular, atomic, and transport processes of vital importance for preserving the integrity of the fusion reactors.
In addition to providing my up-to-date academic resume and information about personal/professional projects I have been/am working on, this homepage also contains a brief overview of fusion energy technology and developments. Welcome!