One of 5 key issues of future thermonuclear fusion power plants is survival of the plasma in-vessel heat shield. The expected plasma power density in ITER divertor is predicted 10 (strongly detached) up to 150 (attached) MW/m2. However, the best water cooling currently used for ITER withstands max. 15 MW/m2. The PhD student would take part in my technology project on advancing an innovative heat shield (STEAM) based on intensive nucleate flowing water boiling in a fine copper structure, having yet experimentally performed better than the ITER design:  exposed to air plasmatron in Prague we already sustained 33 MW/m2 for nearly a minute (which might be a world record).
The PhD student would be asked many experimentally-motivated topics, expecting own inventions and desire to learn new physics required for this fast evolving project: both high and low temperature plasma physics including plasma chemistry, detailed tungsten and copper material properties, optical diagnostics (microscopy, fast imaging, lasers, lenses), data analysis via programming, etc. In 2026-2028, the STEAM surface will be covered with tungsten and liquid metals to sustain heat shocks. Whilst the actual air plasmatron has easy access, more challenging will be more fusion-relevant experiments in vacuum (e.g. Brno UoT electron beam) and magnetic field (e.g. MAGNUM-PSI, Alimat-F) and finally tokamak divertor (COMPASS Upgrade).