ECOLE POLYTECHNIQUE
http://www.polytechnique.edu/
DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS
MASTER’S PROGRAM
PHY604 Master of Physics – Specialty: Fusion Science – Year M2 in partnership with
Université de Provence Aix-Marseille I Université de la Méditerranée Aix-Marseille II
Université Paul Cézanne Aix-Marseille III Université Bordeaux I
Université Henri Poincaré Nancy I Université Paris VI
Université Paris-Sud XI
Institut National Polytechnique de Lorraine (INPL) Institut National des Sciences et Techniques Nucléaires (INSTN)
Program director at the École Polytechnique:
Jean-Marcel Rax, École Polytechnique, Université Paris-Sud XI E-mail: [email protected] Tel : +33 (0)1 69 33 41 43
Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF) track director at the École Polytechnique:
Patrick Mora, École Polytechnique
E-mail: [email protected] Tel : +33 (0)1 69 33 37 99
Magnetic Confinement Fusion (MCF) track director at the École Polytechnique:
Pascale Hennequin, École Polytechnique
E-mail: [email protected] Tel : +33 (0)1 69 33 41 43
Fusion Science today and tomorrow
France is host to two major research facilities on thermonuclear fusion
• Laser MégaJoule (LMJ) for inertial confinement fusion (ICF), currently under construction near Bordeaux,
• the ITER Tokamak for magnetic confinement fusion (MCF) – the international partnership involving the European Union, Japan, China, South Korea, India, Russia and the USA has decided to build it in Cadarache, in the south-east of France.
The two devices are planned to start respectively in 2010 and in 2015. Their exploitation should span at least two decades. It will require a significant, highly-qualified scientific
community to face huge research challenges. New educational programs at the Master and Doctoral levels must therefore be launched so as to address their new needs.
Until each of the two world level devices is inaugurated, these educational programs shall rely on two large, currently active scientific facilities: the Ligne d’Intégration Laser (LIL) located at the CEA/CESTA centre near Bordeaux and the Tore Supra Tokamak in Cadarache.
Organisation
The program was designed by a federation of the ten major French institutions in higher education and research actively involved in plasma physics. It includes two tracks: Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF) and Magnetic Confinement Fusion (MCF). A third track, Physics and Technology for Fusion (PTF), is more industry-oriented and does not directly involve the École Polytechnique.
The same curricula are offered in parallel in four French cities: Paris and its area (ICF, MCF), Bordeaux (ICF), Marseille (MCF) and Nancy (ICF, MCF). The Paris site, under the responsibility of the École Polytechnique, involves four institutions: the École Polytechnique, the National Institute for Nuclear Science and Technology (INSTN) and the Universities Paris VI and Paris-Sud XI.
Substantial support is provided by more than 50 laboratories, of which four are located at the École Polytechnique: Laboratoire de Physique et Technologie Des Plasmas (LPTP), Centre de PHysique Théorique (CPHT), Laboratoire d'Utilisation des Lasers Intenses (LULI), Laboratoire d'optique appliquée (LOA).
Courses are taught in French and English by prominent scholars who are internationally recognised in their field. Eligible students should have successfully completed an undergraduate degree in science or engineering. They may apply directly to the program from another academic institution or they may enroll after having completed year M1 at École Polytechnique. A strong background in Physics and Mathematics is required from the prospective student.
An academic advisor is assigned to each student, who opts for either of the two tracks. Courses take place during semester S3 (September - February). They start with a week in Bordeaux and Cadarache, where students visit the facilities and attend Master’s thesis defenses by students from the previous class, and one month of common core courses in plasma physics (8 ECTS). This is followed by three months specific to each of the two tracks, ICF and MCF (19 ECTS) and one month in Bordeaux for ICF students or in Cadarache for MCF students (9 ECTS). During the last semester S4 (March – August), students have to complete a five-month internship in France or abroad, which concludes with the defense of a Master’s thesis (24 ECTS).
Expected benefits to the students
It is expected that graduates of the program will have acquired competencies in the following fields: kinetic theory for charged particle populations, magnetohydrodynamics, wave-plasma coupling, high power lasers, confinement, hot dense plasmas, nuclear fusion, astrophysics… Building, maintaining and exploiting fusion facilities requires mastery of many technologies. Physicists graduating from the Master’s program will be able to apprehend and design those technologies which are relevant to fusion: plasma heating, inertial and magnetic ‘immaterial’
confinement, material confinement, experimental Diagnostic (involving either radiation emitted by plasma or particles reaching the walls), facility management in a hostile environment (involving robotics), numerical simulation and modelling.
National information website on the Fusion Science master’s program Sciences de la Fusion - www.sciences-fusion.fr
Program of courses (36 ECTS)
ECTS Title Lecturer(s) Affiliation
4
PHYxxx (TC-1) Physics and Technology of fusion plasmas by magnetic confinement
Physique et technologie des plasmas de fusion par confinement magnétique
Jean-Marcel Rax École Polytechnique / Paris-Sud XI
4
PHYxxx (TC-2) Physics and Technology of inertial confinement fusion plasmas
Physique et technologie des plasmas de fusion par confinement inertiel Guy Bonnaud Philippe Zeitoun INSTN ENSTA / Paris VI 5
PHYxxx (FCI-3) Atomic Physics and the Equations of State of Dense Matter
Physique atomique et équations d’Etat de la matière dense
Paulo Angelo Paris VI
5 PHYxxx (FCI-4) High intensity laser-plasma interaction
Interaction laser-plasma à haut flux
Patrick Mora François Amiranoff
École Polytechnique École Polytechnique
3 PHYxxx (FCI-5) Diagnostic of Hot Dense Plasmas
Diagnostics des plasmas denses et chauds Philippe Zeitoun ENSTA / Paris VI
3
PHYxxx (FCI-6) Modelling and Numerical Methods for Fusion
Modélisation et méthodes numériques pour la fusion
Guy Bonnaud INSTN
3
PHYxxx (FCI-7d) Laser-Plasma Interaction in the LMJ Context
Interaction laser-plasma dans le contexte du laser Mégajoule
Denis Pesme École Polytechnique
3 PHYxxx (FCI-7e) Ultra-Short Ultra-Intense lasers
Lasers ultra-intenses et ultra-brefs Frédéric Burgy ENSTA
3
PHYxxx (FCI-7f) Distributed Parallel Computing and High-Performance Computing
Calcul parallèle réparti et calcul haute performance
Fabrice Roy ENSTA
5
PHYxxx (FCM-3) Magnetohydrodynamic Equilibrium and Stability
Équilibre et stabilité magnétohydrodynamique
Catherine Krafft Paris-Sud XI
5 PHYxxx (FCM-4) Turbulence, Transport and Heating
Turbulence, transport et chauffage
Xavier Garbet Jean-Marcel Rax
CEA (Cadarache) École Polytechnique / Paris-Sud XI
5 PHYxxx (FCM-5) Particle Control and Power Deposit
Contrôle des particules et dépôt de puissance Jean-Marcel Rax
École Polytechnique / Paris-Sud XI
4
PHYxxx (FCM-6b) Modelling and Numerical Methods for Fusion
Modélisation et méthodes numériques pour la fusion
Guy Bonnaud INSTN
4
PHYxxx (FCM-6e) An Introduction to Advanced Tokamaks
Introduction aux tokamaks avancés
Jean-Marcel Rax École Polytechnique / Paris-Sud XI
3 PHYxxx (FCI-8) ICF Physics
Physique de la FCI Guy Schurtz Bordeaux I
3
PHYxxx (FCI-9) High-Energy and Power Lasers – Operation and Research
Lasers de haute énergie et de puissance : fonctionnement et recherches
Bruno Le Garrec INSTN
3
PHYxxx (FCI-10) Matter Physics at Extreme Conditions (HDE & UHI)
Physique de la matière en conditions extrêmes (HDE & UHI)
Jean-Pierre
Chièze Bordeaux I
3 PHYxxx (FCM-7) Advanced Physics
Physique avancée D. Escande INSTN
6 PHYxxx (FCM-8) Tokamaks – Operation and Research
Tokamaks : fonctionnement et recherches
Pascale
Monier-Garbet INSTN
3 LANxxx French as a foreign language or LANxxx Professional English
O. Bertrand D. McCavana
École Polytechnique École Polytechnique
Employment opportunities
The program trains highly-qualified, prospective Ph.D. students or research engineers. The working methods and the acquired knowledge will help their integration into national institutions as well as the international network of laboratories involved in Fusion science and connected fields.
The many laboratories associated with the "Formation aux sciences de la fusion" federation provide opportunities for internships and Ph.D. Centred either on physics or on fusion technology, they can offer positions for researchers and engineers within the major public organizations (National Scientific Research Agency – CNRS, French Atomic Energy Commission – CEA, National Aerospace Research Centre – ONERA…) or for professors & lecturers.
Graduates from the Master’s program should also be prime candidates for international research institutes in ICF or MCF, industrial companies in the fields of fusion (LMJ, Tore-Supra, JET, ITER), cryomagnetism, power electrotechnology, plasma Diagnostic, nuclear industry…
Time schedule
Semester S3 (September – February) is split into three parts:
(a) Common core (8 ECTS) – one week in Bordeaux and Cadarache followed by one month of courses (end of September – October):
Common core courses
PHYxxx (TC-1) Physics and Technology of fusion plasmas by magnetic confinement
PHYxxx (TC-2) Physics and Technology of inertial confinement fusion plasmas
(b) Track courses in the Paris area (19 ECTS)
Inertial Confinement Fusion Magnetic Confinement Fusion PHYxxx (FCI-3) Atomic Physics and the
Equations of State of Dense Matter
PHYxxx (FCM-3) Magnetohydrodynamic Equilibrium and Stability
PHYxxx (FCI-4) High intensity Laser-Plasma Interaction
PHYxxx (FCM-4) Turbulence, Transport and Heating
PHYxxx (FCI-5) Diagnostic of Hot Dense Plasmas
PHYxxx (FCM-5) Particle Control and Power Deposit
PHYxxx (FCI-6) Modelling and Numerical Methods for Fusion PHYxxx (FCI-7d) Laser-Plasma
Interaction in the LMJ Context
or
PHYxxx (FCI-7e) Short Ultra-Intense Lasers
or
PHYxxx (FCI-7f) Distributed Parallel Computing and High-Performance
Computing
PHYxxx (FCM-6b) Modelling and Numerical Methods for Fusion
or
PHYxxx (FCM-6e) An Introduction to Advanced Tokamaks
(c) Track courses next to the experimental/research facilities (9 ECTS)
Inertial Confinement Fusion Magnetic Confinement Fusion PHYxxx (FCI-8) ICF Physics PHYxxx (FCM-7) Advanced Physics PHYxxx (FCI-9) High-Energy and Power
Lasers – Operation and Research
PHYxxx (FCM-8) Tokamaks – Operation and Research
PHYxxx (FCI-10) Matter Physics at Extreme Conditions (HDE & UHI)
Semester S4 (March – July): five-month internship (24 ECTS) in a French or foreign
laboratory.
Location
Courses take place either on the Palaiseau Campus of the École Polytechnique in Palaiseau, at the Orsay Campus of Université Paris-Sud XI or in Paris, at the École Nationale Supérieure de Techniques Avancées and on the Jussieu Campus of Université Paris VI. Orsay and Palaiseau campuses are both located within half an hour from the center of Paris.
Class size
An enrollment of 10-15 students is expected in each track: Inertial Confinement Fusion and Magnetic Confinement Fusion.
Application procedure
Prospective candidates for the Master’s program of the École Polytechnique should submit their application online through the website:
http://de.polytechnique.fr/candidatures/Login.cfm?Type=Master&Language=EN
Admission of the students is based on the evaluation of academic transcripts, statement of purpose and letters of recommendation.
There are three admission sessions per year, for students entering the program in the Fall semester:
Spring (application deadline: March 15, 2007) Summer (application deadline: June 1, 2007) Fall (application deadline: August 15, 2007)
International students are strongly advised to apply at the latest before June 1, which maximizes their chances of being awarded a Fellowship.
Admission requirements
The program is open to highly qualified French and international students with a strong background in Mathematics or Physics, who hold a Bachelor’s degree or its equivalent. Direct admission into the second year M2 is only possible for students who already hold a minimum number of 60 additional ECTS in the field of interest (advanced Physics), at graduate or post-graduate level.
Tuition fees
Annual registration fee: € 211 Year M2 tuition fees: € 4,400
Tuition waivers are available under certain conditions. For details and for waiver application forms, please consult (in French):
http://www.polytechnique.fr/enseignement/master_exonerations.php
Fellowships are also awarded to a few highly qualified students to partially cover living expenses.For details regarding fellowship applications, please consult (in French):