Herbert L. Berk
Professor, The Institute for Fusion Studies
University of Texas at Austin :: Institute for Fusion Studies :: 1 University Station - C1500 :: Austin, Texas 78712
- Office: RLM 11.326
- Voice: (512) 471-1364 :: Fax: (512) 471-6715
- Email: hberk@mail.utexas.edu
- Office hours: Tuesday and Thursday 1:30 - 2:30
Teaching (Fall 2003)
Physics 303K, Engineering Physics I
Painter 2.48, 11 - 12 am, M,W, F
Research
The research specialty of Professor Herbert L. Berk is in the discipline of
plasma physics, with particular application to developing an energy source from
nuclear fusion.
He was the editor of the pamphlet the "Pervasive Plasma State" , that describes
the scope of research areas and technology in plasma research. Please press
the following link, immediately below, if you wish to examine this pamphlet
.
Pervasive
Plasma State
His current topic of research, is motivated by the need to understand the
dynamics of alpha particle containment in fusion producing
experiments. These particles can spontaneously excite plasma waves,
such as Alfven waves, that may cause alpha particles to be lost prematurely
from a fusion machine. To study this problem there was a need to expand
the basic understanding of the resonant wave-particle interaction.
The generality of this topic leads to new fundamental descriptions of nonlinear
phenomena associated with the wave-particle interaction. If you wish
to obtain a flavor of this work, please click the following link
for an overview discussion and a selection of figures of the
advances made by Professor Berk and his collaborators in the last few years.