Dust in magnetized plasmas

Dusty plasmas are ubiquitous: they occur naturally, in fusion, in industry, and as the subject of special laboratory experiments. Magnetic fields can be present in all these areas, but in spite of this, our understanding of the basic dust-plasma physics in the presence of a magnetic field is far from complete.
An improved understanding of magnetized dusty plasmas is particularly important for fusion. In the last few years dust has been recognised as a critical issue for ITER. Solid particles can enter the plasma from the walls or divertor. It is vital to be able to predict the fate of such particles. If they enter the core plasma they rapidly evaporate, thus depositing impurities which can compromise the fusion performance. On the other hand, those which leave the plasma can give rise to serious operational and health and safety problems.
We propose a collaborative and unified programme of theoretical, computational and experimental work on dust in magnetized plasmas, involving Imperial College and the Universities of Liverpool, York. Although the main emphasis is on fusion applications, the work would benefit other areas, for instance the industrial plasma community.
The proposed research covers three overlapping areas: (1) the effect of magnetic fields on the basic dust-plasma interaction, (2) the interaction of dust with magnetically driven filaments, particularly in the tokamak edge, and, (3) improved tokamak dust transport simulations. As part of the project a new high magnetic field dusty plasma experimental facility will be set up at Liverpool.