Authors: Andreas Dinklage (AP), Hana Barankova (IP), Eva Kovacevic (IP), Mervi Mantsinen (EC) and Monica Spolaore (PP) (Prize coordinators respectively for the Alfvén-Prize (AP), Innovation Prize (IP), Early Career Prize (EP) and PhD Prize (PP))

The EPS Plasma Physics Division asks you to consider nominating a suitable person or persons for the:

• 2025 Alfvén Prize
• 2025 Innovation Prize
• 2025 PhD Research Award
  
• 2025 EPS-PPCF Sylvie-Jaquemot Early Career Prize

which will be presented at our next annual conference, to be held in Vilnius, Lithuania in 2025, (July 7th -11th).

The deadlines for nominations are:

• Alfvén Prize: Monday, November 11th 2024 (23:59 central European time).
• Innovation Prize: Friday, February 14th 2025 (23:59 central European time).
• 2025 PhD Research Award : call open from October 1st to November 22nd 2024
• 2025 EPS-PPCF Sylvie-Jaquemot Early Career Prize: Friday, February 28th 2025 (23:59 central European time).

The descriptions of the prizes and the relevant nomination forms can be found at http://plasma.ciemat.es/eps/awards
Please note that nominations from previous years will not automatically be considered for this year's prizes, but we encourage you to re-submit any still suitable and promising nomination that has so far been unsuccessful.

The international physics community has a diverse and global membership, and both nominees and recipients of EPS awards need to reflect that diversity to ensure that all physicists have an opportunity to be recognized for their impact in the field. Nominations of individuals from groups that are historically underrepresented in physics, such as women, LGBT+ scientists, scientists from a Black or other minority ethnic background, scientists who are refugees or have been displaced from their country of birth, disabled scientists, and scientists from institutions with limited resources, are especially encouraged.
Nominees for and holders of EPS awards are expected to meet certain standards of professional conduct and integrity. In particular they have an obligation to avoid fabrication, falsification and plagiarism, and they have an obligation to treat people well, which prohibits abuse of power, requires fair and respectful relationships with colleagues, subordinates and students, and eschews bias, whether implicit or explicit. Violations of these standards may disqualify people from consideration or lead to revocation of awards.

Author: Kristel Crombé

The Plasma Physics Division of the European Physical Society is happy to announce its 2024 prizes.

2024 EPS - PPCF Sylvie Jacquemot Early Career Prize

We are pleased to announce that we have received an outstanding array of nominations for the 2024 EPS - PPCF Sylvie Jacquemot Early Career Prize. The quality of submissions reflects the remarkable talent, the strength and vitality of our community. We would also like to express our sincere gratitude to all those who took the time to submit nominations.

After careful consideration and evaluation of numerous outstanding nominations, we are delighted to reveal that the winner of the first EPS - PPCF Sylvie Jacquemot Early Career Prize is:

Dr. Varchas Gopalaswamy from the University of Rochester, USA, for "the development of statistical modelling to achieve accurate predictions of laser fusion experiments thereby improving implosions and achieving record Lawson products for direct-drive on OMEGA".

His dedication, innovation, and commitment to advancing the field of plasma physics has truly distinguished him as a rising star in our community.

We extend our heartfelt congratulations to Dr. Varchas Gopalaswamy for this well-deserved honour. His exemplary work serves as an inspiration to us all, demonstrating the profound impact that early-career researchers can have on the field.

In addition to the prize of 1,500 EUR and a certificate, Dr. Varchas Gopalaswamy has accepted our invitation to give a talk on his work at the 50th EPS Conference on Plasma Physics, which will take place in Salamanca, Spain, from July 8th to 12th, 2024.

2024 EPS Plasma Physics Division Innovation Award

With great honour and admiration, we announce that Dr. Anthony B. Murphy from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) in Australia is the recipient of the 2024 EPS Innovation Prize. This honour reflects his significant role in the advancement of thermal plasma processes, showcasing his reputation as the leading expert in the field.

Dr. Murphy’s extensive research over more than three decades has led to groundbreaking developments, especially in predictive modeling for arc welding. His innovations have improved the precision and efficiency of metal fabrication processes, marking a significant step forward in the application of thermal plasmas. His current work in expanding these models for use in wire-arc additive manufacturing represents a promising frontier in manufacturing technologies.

His venture into green plasma technology, particularly his research on the plasma-catalytic production of ammonia, underscores his commitment to pioneering sustainable industrial processes. These efforts highlight Dr. Murphy’s ability to blend scientific inquiry with practical solutions for environmental sustainability.

Dr. Murphy’s collaborative endeavors and dedication to the field have not only contributed to the scientific community but have also spurred innovation across industry. His work embodies the spirit of the EPS Innovation Prize, celebrating not just scientific achievement but the practical application and societal impact of these innovations.

By awarding Dr. Murphy the EPS Innovation Prize, we not only honour his past contributions but also recognize his ongoing commitment to innovation. His work serves as an inspiration for future advancements, embodying the innovative spirit and pursuit of excellence that the prize aims to celebrate.

2024 EPS PPD PhD Prize

The 2024 EPS PPD PhD Prize has been awarded as follows:

• Dr Lucas Rovige (Institut Polytechnique de Paris, France) for his thesis “Optimization, stabilization and optical phase control of a high-repetition rate laser-wakefield accelerator“
• Dr Baptiste Frei (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland) for his thesis “A Gyrokinetic Moment Model of the Plasma Boundary in Fusion Devices“
• Dr Toby Adkins (University of Oxford, UK) for his thesis “Electromagnetic instabilities and plasma turbulence driven by the electron-temperature gradient“
• Dr Mathias Hoppe (Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden) for his thesis “Runaway-electron model development and validation in tokamaks”

The Plasma Physics Division of the European Physical Society is happy to announce that the 2022 EPS Plasma Physics Innovation Prize is awarded to:

• Dr Ane Aanesland

• Dr Dmytro Rafalskyi and

• Javier Martínez Martínez
  

  (ThrustMe, France)
  

"for technological, industrial or societal applications of research in plasma physics. They successfully pioneered the use of iodine-fuelled plasma-based electric propulsion systems for satellites. Iodine is a transformative alternative propellant to xenon, has been recently demonstrated in orbit, and has the potential to ensure the economic and environmental sustainability of the space industry."

Read the long citation.

image: ThrustMe

Details about the EPS Plasma Physics Innovation Prize 2022 can be found at: http://plasma.ciemat.es/eps/awards/innovation-award/

Deadline for nominations: 1st February 2022.

The EPS Plasma Physics Division is happy to announce the winners of the EPS PPD PhD Research Award. The Selection Committee had following members : Fabien Dorchies, Francois Ryter and Jack Connor.

The Selection Committee proposed 4 candidates for the award:

• Archie Bott
• Bart Ripperda
• Kevin Verhaegh
• Rogério Jorge

Candidates and citations

Candidate: Archie Bott

Nominator: Alex Schekochihin

Title of PhD thesis: Magnetic-field amplification in turbulent laser-plasmas

Univ./Inst: University of Oxford 

Citation: This work combines theoretical simulations and experimental contributions in laser-generated-jet collision, in order to simulate in a laboratory what happens in various astrophysical contexts. In only the first year of his PhD, Archie Bott produced and published a complete theory of magnetic-field reconstruction from protons radiographic images and a full set of numerical codes needed to apply it. This “preparatory” work was used to significantly enrich this diagnostic tool that provided new information from experiments that he led on the most high-energy lasers in the word.

These original studies and impressive work focused on time-resolved turbulent dynamo process. At the end of his PhD, Archie Bott returned to more theoretical and fundamental work, giving rise to another innovative publication of great depth in physics, which is essentially a comprehensive treatise on plasma instabilities at high beta.

Candidate: Bart Ripperda

Nominator: Rony Keppens

Title of PhD thesis: On magnetic reconnection and particle acceleration in relativistic plasmas

Univ./Inst: KU Leuven University

Citation: This is a theoretical and simulation work that concerns the astrophysics, and more precisely the environment of black holes and neutron stars. In his PhD work, Bart Ripperta combines very strong knowledge and understanding of plasma physics and general gravity, which allows him to tackle problems that are well beyond the scope of traditional plasma physics and astrophysics. He built a variety of word-class numerical tools for plasma physics in strong gravitational fields, including general relativistic & resistive magneto-hydrodynamic, and a set of algorithms for pushing charged particles in electromagnetic fields around black holes.

This remarkable work on photon and particle paths in full general relativity is of highest quality, and has already received broad recognition in the international plasma astrophysics community. It directly benefits the Event Horizon Telescope collaboration for which he has been actively working for a year.

Candidate: Kevin Verhaegh

Nominator: Bruce Lipschultz

Title of PhD thesis: Spectroscopic investigations of detachment on TCV: Investigating the role of atomic physics on the ion current rollover and the dynamics of detachment in TCV

Univ./Inst: University of York

Citation: This thesis presents new results on the physics of detachment in a tokamak divertor, a complex topic because it involves not only plasma physics but also atomic phenomena. This is extensively discussed in Kevin Verhaegh's thesis, showing clearly that he understands very well this physics.

Kevin Verhaegh developed excellent divertor measurements and a novel method to analyse the data taking into account both the recombination and excitation contributions to the Balmer lines. He shows convincingly that the ion flux is not only due to recombination, as assumed during the last two decades, but that, in addition, the ionisation of the neutrals is an important contribution. Furthermore, he demonstrates that the latter is limited by a loss of power into the divertor recycling region when density increases, contributing significantly to the saturation. He validated these important results with modelling using the edge and divertor code SOLPS-ITER, showing that the modelling results match the experimental observations much better than in the past.

This new view contributes significantly to fusion research as divertor detachment will be required in future devices to reduce the power load. With this new knowledge modelling and extrapolation of divertor detachment are more reliable.

Candidate: Rogério Jorge

Nominator: Paolo Ricci

Title of PhD thesis: A moment-based model for plasma dynamics of arbitrary collisionality

Univ./Inst: EPFL, University of Lisbon

Citation: This thesis tackles a long-standing problem, namely, how to develop a set of equations that can uniformly describe plasma behaviour in situations where the collisionality ranges from essentially collision-less to highly collisional, a situation that pertains in the edge region of a tokamak in particular. This region is crucial to a tokamak’s performance and the viability of fusion as an energy source, controlling overall confinement and exhaust; an ability to model the region is essential for the development of fusion power. This thesis develops a set of fluid-like moment equations suitable for this purpose. The derivation is based on a Sonine-Laguerre expansion of the drift-kinetic plasma equations and treats the full non-linear Coulomb collision operator, an analytic tour-de- force. The model is appropriate for describing the scrape-off-region, which contains open magnetic field lines and lies between the confined plasma region and the containment vessel; furthermore, it can describe the large fluctuations that are present there.  A similar procedure is also applied in the thesis to the full-F gyro-kinetic model, which is suitable for modelling the adjacent confinement region of a tokamak. In addition, efficient numerical algorithms for computing solutions to these equations are formulated. Finally, the methodology is applied in practice to study the impact of collisions on plasma oscillations and drift waves, using different common simplified collision models; the results show surprising sensitivities.  The model is now ready for application to the tokamak edge problem. This work, performed independently and with considerable initiative, constitutes a seminal contribution to magnetic confinement fusion, and plasma theory in general, demonstrating novelty and originality and exhibits both analytic and numerical skills.