Plasma Physics
	Prof. Christoph Niemann Large Plasma Device Experiments
	We will perform experiments with a large laser system at the Large Plasma Device to launch and study collisionless shock waves. The laser produces an exploding plasma that expands at high speed into a magnetized ambient plasma, creating conditions that mimic astrophysical phenomena such as supernova explosions or coronal mass ejections. These experiments can help to shed some light on the origin of cosmic rays and the evolution of the particle distribution throughout the cosmos. The student will help develop and field electrical plasma probes and optical laser diagnostics to measure the magnetohydrodynamic response of the shock and its effect on the particle distribution.
	Prof. Troy Carter Studies of Instabilities, Turbulence and Transport in Magnetized Plasmas
	Transport of particles, heat, and momentum across a confining magnetic field is a problem of central importance to magnetic confinement fusion energy research. The source of this transport is typically turbulence, associated with instabilities driven by pressure and flow gradients. My group is focused on using experiments and simulation to understand and control these instabilities and the transport they cause. Our recent focus has been on the interaction between flow shear and turbulence and on externally-launched waves (Alfven waves) to nonlinearly control drift-wave and Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities. Possible summer projects for REU students include: (1) Direct excitation and control of drift-waves using electrodes, (2) Transient transport experiments (propagation of heat pulses across the magnetic field), (3) Studies of ion heating by large amplitude Alfven waves, and (4) feedback control and stabilization of unstable Alfven waves. Work will be done using the Basic Plasma Science Facility at UCLA.