Teaching
Lecture courses and labs I teach at the University of York, or have recorded online. Some are to undergraduates, and some to Masters students on the MSc in Fusion Energy programme, and PhD students in the Fusion Doctoral Training Network.
Plasma fluid theory
This is a series of short lectures on plasma physics, and particularly plasma fluid theory. These were produced with the support of the National Research Foundation of Korea and the Ministry of Science and ICT, who kindly made them available as a YouTube playlist.
Advanced Theoretical Techniques
3rd year undergraduate course, introducing analytic methods used in theoretical physics. The part of the course which I teach includes Fourier and Laplace transforms, functionals and variational methods.
Continuum Physics
This is a 2nd year undergraduate course, part of the module "Computational and Mathematical Techniques for Theoretical Physics". This part of the course introduces solving partial differential equations using the finite difference method.
Magnetic Confinement Fusion
MSc second term, with a total of 18 lectures. Covers a wide range of phenomena in magnetic confinement devices, including linear machines, tokamaks, and stellarators.
Programming with Python
Introductory course to first year undergraduate students. Introduces problem solving and programming concepts using Python.
Environmental Physics
A second year undergraduate course, introducing atmospheric and oceanic physics. Covers things like the vertical structure of the Atmosphere (troposphere, stratosphere, mesosphere etc.), lapse rates and cloud formation, atmospheric and oceanic circulation, geostrophic and gradient winds, and formation of cyclones and weather systems.
Introduction to Linux and programming
This course introduces programming as part of the MSc in Fusion at the University of York during the first term. No previous experience in programming is assumed. The Interactive Data Language (IDL) is taught for data analysis and visualisation, and Fortran and C++ are taught for number crunching (the student can choose to learn either).
Computational Laboratory
MSc second term during weeks 3-7 inclusive. Two 6-hour sessions per week. Students write a 1D electrostatic Particle In Cell (PIC) code, and then use this to study phenomena such as 2-stream instability and Landau damping.
Fluid dynamics
This was a 4th year undergraduate course taught in 2016. It covers the analytic theory of fluids, including ideal flows around cylinders and wings, boundary layers, the basics of rocket engines, explosions and shocks, and supersonic flight.
PhD students
Students I currently supervise
Omkar Myatra
Studying tokamak edge and divertor transport using BOUT++ and SOLPS.
Thomas Nicholas
Studying tokamak edge turbulence
David Ryan
Physics of Resonant Magnetic Perturbations (RMPs) and application to ELM control
Xinliang Xu
Former PhD students
Luke Easy
Developed models to describe edge turbulence and plasma blobs.
Brendan Shanahan
Graduated November 2016. Thesis title Modelling of magnetic null points using BOUT++.
Jarrod Leddy
Studied turbulence using BOUT++ and CENTORI codes, working on improving the coordinate system used in tokamak edge simulations, and on coupling of core and edge simulations. Jointly supervised with Dr Michele Romanelli, CCFE.
Nick Walkden
Edge turbulence in the Mega-Amp Spherical Tokamak (MAST), and simulations of the Super-X divertor upgrade. Co-supervised by Dr Geoff Fishpool at CCFE.
Andrew Allen
Studied magnetic reconnection and Resonant Magnetic Perturbations in tokamaks.
Graduated January 2015