Professor wins prize for plasma physics

Astrophysics professor Nathaniel Fisch received the 2005 James Clerk Maxwell Prize for Plasma Physics — awarded annually by the American Physical Society (APS) — last week for his research at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL).

"I hope the award will reflect well on all the work that goes on at the PPPL, and inspire people to further the field," said Fisch, who directs the Plasma Physics Program in the Department of Astrophysical Sciences. Fisch also leads the Thruster Laboratory Division at the PPPL, which studies the use of plasma to propel satellites and generate thrust.

According to the award selection committee, Fisch received the award for developing a theoretical method of generating electrical current in plasma — a chaotic assortment of electrons, ions and other subatomic particles — using electromagnetic waves.

"It's the highest honor in the Division of Plasma Physics at the APS," said Maxwell Award Committee Chair Barbara Lasinski.

"We consider the individual's entire career, or body of work in the subject," she said. "[Fisch] contributed in several important areas of plasma physics, with ideas that were central to the development of his field."

One of his primary contributions involved modeling a sustainable fusion reaction in which plasma would emit heated alpha particles to sustain the reaction energy. "For a fusion reaction, the center of the plasma must be millions of degrees," Fisch said.

"One can now contemplate a steady state fusion reaction," said Charles Karney, who collaborated with Fisch on the project. Without this knowledge, such a reactor would not be commercially attractive, he added.

Fisch attended MIT, where he earned his B.S. in 1972, M.S. in 1975 and Ph.D. in 1978. After accepting a position at the PPPL in 1978, Fisch began working with Karney on a one-dimensional model of current generation in plasma.

"Both of us work on the numerical work, but [Fisch] used it to construct a more accurate two-dimensional model," Karney said. Fisch and Karney published several joint papers on this line of research through 1986, shortly before Karney left the PPPL.

In 1992 Fisch began working closely with John Marcel Rax, a younger colleague at the PPPL who is now a professor at the University of Paris. Fisch and Rax developed a specific proof of which frequencies cause particles to leave the plasma hot.

"Scientists all over the world are using these wave-driven currents to run their experiments continually, or control unwanted instability," Fisch said.

The late Thomas Stix, former University professor and head of the PPPL's experimental division, organized the initial research on "how to heat plasma in the early 1960s," according to Fisch. Stix won the Maxwell Award in 1980 for his research in this field. "I really built a lot on Tom Stix's work," Fisch said.

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The late PPPL director Harold Furth influenced Fisch more directly throughout the 1980s. "He taught me to consider the idea that a portion of the plasma ions may be specifically hot, which influenced much of my later research," Fisch said.

Lasinski said that the award committee "also recognized [Fisch's] fostering of graduate student work." Fisch continues to teach several courses in the graduate program of plasma physics.

The award was presented at a banquet Wednesday evening during the APS's 47th Annual Meeting of the Division of Plasma Physics this week in Denver, Colo.