From September until November 2022, I worked on my master thesis at the Culham Centre for Fusion Energy (CCFE).

CCFE is one of the biggest science institutes for fusion energy research, taking care of two tokamaks at Culham: JET and MAST-U. My thesis concerns the latter one, of which I try to get a 2D electron density and temperature profile at the divertor region by means of a helium line ratio analysis implemented in a Bayesian model. The helium lines are measured by a multi-wavelength camera system, where the images are inverted to a 2D plane for the analysis. The model is tested with SOPLS-ITER simulation outcomes and proves that the chosen emission lines in this work could be very useful and that the influence of metastable helium transport could influence these results. Knowing the 2D profiles allows a better understanding of exhaust physics, which is one of the main topics my supervisor, Kevin Verhaegh, and his team is working on.

For a big part of my project, I worked in Eindhoven and had my meetings online with the people residing in the UK. It was therefore very great that I could go to the UK and meet these persons in real life. I had some nice scientific discussions in the office, which was not only about my work. Also, people showed me the MAST-U tokamak and the JET control room. At the last part of my stay, when the reactor was ready for operation, it was time to search for helium lines and to experience the atmosphere at the control room.

During my stay in the UK, I met some new friends, especially at the PhD office, with whom I spent a very good time mainly in and around Oxford. Oxford has a bunch of cozy pubs to hang out, some colleges worth to visit, big book stores where you can wander for hours and nice parks to walk around. Cycling or walking along the Thames river is recommended, where you can also spot a lot of rowers. I also walked in the Cotswold area, exploring the cliché British landscapes and its surrounding towns. London is a 1 hour ride by train or 1.5 hour ride by bus, which is worth a visit too.

All in all, it was a very great experience. I definitely recommend to do some experience abroad and learn more about how big fusion institutes operate.