Who Am I? Thomas M. Antonsen Jr. Professor of Physics and Electrical and Computer Engineering...
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Transcript of Who Am I? Thomas M. Antonsen Jr. Professor of Physics and Electrical and Computer Engineering...
Who Am I?
Thomas M. Antonsen Jr.
Professor of Physics and Electrical and Computer Engineering
University of Maryland College Park
But more importantly father of two Poolesville Students: Tom-07, Christine-11
How Did I Get Here?Middle School -Played with chemistry set - only one “successful” explosion-Amazed by a computer that played tic-tac-toe
High School - Blossomed into full nerdiness-Math club-Chemsitry club - favorite teacher Mrs Corrizzi-Electronics (had my own oscilliscope) - second favorite teacher “Rocky” Calvano
CollegeBS (Electrical Engineering) 4 yrs Ravi SudanMS/PhD (Plasma Physics) 3 yearsEd OttCareerPost Doc Naval Research Lab 1 yearResearch Scientist (MIT 3 years)Joined University of Maryland in 1980
1969-2010 40/41 years at a University
I still look the same as in college but with shorter hair
Q. What do Scientists and Engineers do? A. Everything from basic Research to Business
(All these thing involve math)
The American Physical Societywww.aps.org
The Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineerswww.ieee.org
Physics Careers: basic to applied problem solving
IndustryShort term projects (engineering)Long term (applied) research projects
Research at National Laboratories (NIST, NIH, NASA, DoE, DoD etc. (basic- Applied)
Research at universities
Teaching
Professors do all the above
What is it like to be a Physicist?
johnstodderinexile.wordpress.com/ 2006/04/ www.sacbee.com/.../ stuart-leavenworth/2009/10/
Lone visionary Team memberor
Big Science: Large Hadron Collider (LHC)
LHC-CERNwww.ifj.edu.pl/ edukacja/cern.html
theobservereffect.files.wordpress.com/ 2009/03..
physicsweb.phy.uic.edu/.../ cms_hcal_insert.jpg
www.nd.edu/~druccio/ images/frankenstein_lab.jpg
Dingy Lab Cheerful Office
What are the working conditions like?
Scientists Attend Conferences
Scientists have to communicate their findings to other scientists, funding agents, and the public.
Must write clearly
Must speak clearly
But you don’t have to dress nice
Bonus: travel to exotic places
Math for Physicists and Engineers
• Calculus - single and multi-variable• Differential Equations - ordinary and partial• Linear Algebra: matrices, eigenvectors, eigenvalues• Probablilty• Fourier Analysis • Numerical Methods - how to solve a problem on a computer
computer programming, architecture• Complex variables• Aymptotic Analysis -how to find approximate solutions
Plasma Physics
http://FusEdWeb.pppl.gov/
Plasma is the fourth state of matter (solid, liquid, gas, plasma)
Most of the visibleuniverse is plasma
Small nuclei stick together to make a bigger one and releases energy
Fission Fusion
Fusion powers all the stars, including the Sun.
The fuel is hydrogen, but it has to be heated to millions of degrees to ignite the burn
Power plants based on fusion could supply all our electrical needs. They could also be used to generate hydrogen for fuel cell cars, thus reducing consumption of oil.
Why Fusion?
• Fuel is inexhaustible and available to all (from water)
• There is no CO2 emission
• There is no danger of a runaway or a meltdown – turn it off like a gas burner
• Waste is low level and has to be monitored only for 50-100 years (Yucca Mountain is for ~10,000 years)
• Low risk of nuclear materials proliferation - No uranium or plutonium
State of the ArtMagnetic Confinement: ITER
US-EU-Russia-Japan-India Collaboration
Will be built in Cardarache France
Completion 2016??
http://www.iter.org/
Inertial Confinement: NIF
Lawrence Livermore Lab
Under construction
Completion expected in 2008
http://www.llnl.gov/nif/Similar program in France
Particle Acceleration Using Plasmas
Intense laser pulse
plasma:
E
B
k
Direct acceleration limited to laser period
Laser PulsePlasma Wave
€
c /ω p
Plasma wave driven by force of laser pulse
Speed of wave = group velocity of laser pulse
Duration of pulse matched to plasma period
I=1018 W/cm2, L= 10cm E ~ 1 GeV
How Does it Really Work?
Analogy:
Laser Pulse Boat
Plasma Lake
Plasma Wave Surface Wave
Electrons Surfer
QuickTime™ and aH.263 decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
Relativity: Small change in velocity Large change in energyInjection Tow rope
• Cellular clocks in the brain.• Pacemaker cells in the heart.• Pedestrians on a bridge.• Josephson junction circuits.• Laser arrays.• Oscillating chemical reactions.• Bubbly fluids.
Examples of synchronized oscillators
Cellular clocks in the brain (day-night cycle).
Yamaguchi et al., Science 302, 1408 (‘03).
Incoherent
Coherent
Fusion Energy Research
T. M. Antonsen: [email protected], (301) 405-1635
University of Maryland
March 11, 2008
Can we do fusion?
• This is a Grand Challenge problem
• All scientists agree that power generation by fusion can be achieved; the only question is will it be cost-competitive
• Enormous progress has been made in the last 50 years
• As we get closer to the goal, each experiment takes longer to plan and construct (takes years) and is expensive