Matt Kriete, PhD
Short Bio
Matt Kriete is an Assistant Research Professor in the Department of Physics at Auburn. He is an experimental scientist investigating the physics of plasma exhaust in stellarators, a type of magnetic fusion device. His research focuses on developing imaging spectroscopy diagnostics and applying them to understand heat and particle transport in the plasma boundary, facilitating the design of divertors for a fusion power plant. Matt works primarily at the Wendelstein 7-X stellarator in Greifswald, Germany and contributes to research at the Compact Toroidal Hybrid in Auburn. He obtained his PhD from the University of Wisconsin–Madison where he investigated edge turbulence in the Pegasus, NSTX-U and DIII-D tokamaks.Education
PhD University of Wisconsin–Madison 2020
BS Virginia Tech 2014
Professional Experience
Assistant Research Professor, Department of Physics, Auburn University
Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Physics, Auburn University
Research Assistant, Department of Engineering Physics, University of Wisconsin–Madison
Innovation
Heat and particle transport in the plasma boundary of stellarators
The successful operation of magnetic fusion power plants will require effective extraction of heat and ash by a component called the divertor. Divertor design requires experimentally validated physics models of heat and particle transport in the plasma boundary region that forms the interface between the hot plasma core and the divertor. In stellarators, cross-field particle drifts are an important, but poorly understood, transport mechanism that alters divertor heat and particle flux distributions. Experimentally investigating how drifts affect plasma exhaust and how their effects scale toward the high plasma density, heating power and magnetic field of a stellarator power plant are active research areas.
Diagnosing plasmas with coherence imaging spectroscopy
The boundary of a stellarator plasma has complex 3D geometry, but traditional diagnostic techniques provide only limited spatial information, making it challenging to fully characterize plasma parameter distributions. Coherence imaging spectroscopy is an imaging interferometry technique that provides high-resolution 2D maps of plasma parameters. Measurement of impurity emission, flow velocity and temperature is now routine; active research focuses on additionally measuring the location of impurity emission along lines of sight. The ability to simultaneously image multiple plasma parameters provides a wealth of information for investigating plasma transport and plasma-material interactions.
