Swiss Plasma Center at EPFL

Understanding fusion in a single infographic! The talented graphic designers at Emphase Graphic Design have collaborated with Ecole polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne to bring you a visually stunning infographic on the inner workings of a tokamak, explaining the principles of fusion. #fusion #tokamak #swissplasmacenter #fusionenergy

In an interview with La Repubblica, Ambrogio Fasoli highlights not only the scientific goal of fusion, but also its political significance: "The idea for ITER was born during the disarmament talks between Reagan and Gorbachev. Thirty countries, including China and Russia, are collaborating on ITER. Moscow, excluded from every international forum, is still reliably providing its components for Cadarache. Having 30 countries work together isn’t the most efficient way to execute such a difficult project, but it allows everyone to develop their production capacities and, when the time comes, build a reactor. If it means delaying the goal a bit, so be it. It's all in the name of international collaboration." The CEO of EUROfusion reminds us that beyond addressing climate challenges, Fusion also promotes a vision of global peace. #fusion #fusionenergy #iter #peace #internationalcollaboration

Our first article on the characterization of the Helicon Plasma Source (HPS) for the potential future accelerator concept, AWAKE, by Thomson scattering has been published! https://lnkd.in/enHUWvDx Thanks to my co-authors from the Swiss Plasma Center at EPFL, as well as Alban Sublet, Birger Buttenschön, and the AWAKE team! Proud to be part of shaping the future of CERN 😊 Picture credit: Alban Sublet

Congratulations to Demis Hassabis, CEO of Google DeepMind, and John Jumper, Director at Google DeepMind who have jointly been awarded this year's Nobel Prize in Chemistry. They were recognized for their pioneering work on AlphaFold, an innovative AI system that predicts the 3D structure of proteins based on their amino acid sequences. The Swiss Plasma Center is proud to have collaborated with Demis Hassabis and Google DeepMind for several years. Together, we are developing the first deep reinforcement learning system capable of autonomously discovering how to control a tokamak's magnetic coils and successfully contain plasma within the device. This exciting work is ongoing! 👉 For more information, take a look at the article published in Nature: https://lnkd.in/d3FzQWWe 📸 Demis Hassabis at a conference on the theme of "Using AI to accelerate scientific discovery" at EPFL in 2023, © Alain Herzog #epfl #swissplasmacenter #nobelprize #deepmind #fusion #fusionenergy #tokamak #ai

🚀 Don’t miss out on our upcoming 𝐭𝐰𝐨-𝐰𝐞𝐞𝐤 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐫𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐧 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐥 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐎𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐓𝐨𝐤𝐚𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐬 at the Swiss Plasma Center! 🗓️ Starting this February, this is a fantastic opportunity for students and researchers in fusion, plasma physics, and control engineering. 👉 Check out our course page for more details: https://lnkd.in/eiSpDAqd #swissplasmacenter #tokamak #fusion #fusionenergy #plasmaphysics

At the Swiss Plasma Center, a fascinating experiment is in progress that could change the future of fusion energy. It's called the TRapped Electrons eXperiment, or T-REX. Recognized as an indispensable facility by EUROfusion, this experiment aims to make fusion energy more reliable and efficient. Its day-to-day operations and research are driven by a passionate and multi-talented scientist, Francesco Romano. 👉Read the full article here: https://lnkd.in/dWDDFKiD #epfl #swissplasmacenter #fusion #fusionenergy #gyrotron #plasmaphysics #innovation #sustainability

📣 Register now and join us for a two-day workshop on Challenges and perspective in computational modelling for fusion reactors.   🗓 Date: October 28-29, 2024 📍 Location: CECAM-HQ-EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland 📝 Registration deadline: September 20, 2024 Organised by: Andrea Fedrigucci (EPFL), Nicola Marzari (EPFL) and Paolo Ricci (EPFL)   More details & agenda: https://lnkd.in/etu5ZHGF   📸 Swiss National Supercomputing Centre   #epfl #swissplasmacenter #fusion #fusionenergy #Computationalmodelling #Sustainableenergy

We are proud to announce that Ralf Mackenbach, postdoctoral researcher at the Swiss Plasma Center (SPC), has been awarded the prestigious Rubicon Grant by the Dutch Research Council for his research at SPC. This two-year grant, beginning in September 2024, will enable him to test new plasma configurations using the Tokamak à Configuration Variable (TCV) fusion device at EPFL, and apply an interesting model developed during his Ph.D. 👉 Check out our short interview with him, where he shares an overview of his research and the dynamic environment of the Swiss Plasma Center: https://lnkd.in/eR-Jg73f #swissplasmacenter #tokamak #fusion #fusionenergy #epfl #plasmaphysics

🚨 New paper 🚨 Checkout this new paper recently published in our group : https://lnkd.in/eiDtNVGj If you are interested in low temperature plasmas, helicon waves, resonant antennas or if you just like nice physics experiments, don't miss our recent development: a birdcage resonant antenna mounted on TORPEX, a basic plasma experiment located at the Swiss Plasma Center at EPFL. Congratulations to all the authors, especially S.P.H. Vincent, and looking forward to studying #helicon #plasmas on TORPEX !

☀ Record attendance and good spirits at the Swiss Plasma Center's traditional pétanque tournament   On August 22, under the radiant EPFL sun, the Swiss Plasma Center (SPC) gathered in large numbers for the 13th Pétanque Tournament in its history. A total of 56 people, divided into 28 teams, competed in a warm and festive atmosphere, marking a record number of participants this year!   The games kicked off at 4pm, to the sound of clashing boules. Pétanque enthusiasts and newcomers played on the paths around the SPC buildings. The tournament concluded around 9pm with a brilliant victory by Jérémie Dubray and Ugo Siravo (second picture), who faced Pierre Lavanchy and Benoît Labit in the final. Ugo joins Damien Fasel and Benoît Labit in the club of three tournament victories!   The event ended with a meal in the gardens of the SPC, which took on a charming "guinguette" atmosphere for the occasion.   👏 Congratulations to the whole team and a special thanks to the organizers, Benoît Labit, Luc Morier-Genoud and Maxime Erpen, for making the event such a success! 📸 Vincent Masson #pétanque #swissplasmacenter #teamspirit #epfl