Muon Tomographic Reconstruction of Intense Magnetic Fields

About the Project

Fusion energy, a promising clean energy source, faces significant challenges, one of which is the containment of extremely high-temperature plasma. Magnetic fields are employed to confine this plasma, but precise measurements of these fields are crucial for understanding and optimising fusion reactor performance. Muon tomography, a technique that utilises muons from cosmic rays to probe dense materials, offers a unique approach to non-destructively measure magnetic fields within fusion reactors.

This project will investigate and optimise the use muon tomography techniques for application to fusion reactors, considering factors such as muon flux, detector sensitivity, and data analysis algorithms. PhD candidates will be tasked with developing simulations of complete detectors and data acquisition systems capable of handling the high radiation environment and intense magnetic fields around fusion reactors to understand how muons propagate through large reactors and interact with the magnetic fields inside before developing algorithms to accurately reconstruct the field behaviour using long exposures of cosmic rays.

Candidates who are interested in multiple projects within our group need only register their interest once and will be considered for all projects in which they have an interest. You will need to put down a named supervisor, please use Kristin Lohwasser and Trevor Vickey as contact persons.

For further Information, please email k.lohwasser@sheffield.ac.uk and T.Vickey@sheffield.ac.uk or look at the University’s website: https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/postgraduate/phd.

Further Information on the Particle Physics group in Sheffield and our projects can be found here: https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/mps/research/physics/particle