Dr Simon Bott-Suzuki
P Group Principal Investigator
Associate Research Scientist, Center for Energy Research
Educator, MAE Department
Visiting Professor, Cornell University
Visiting Scientist, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory
Email : sbottsuzuki@ucsd.edu
Office: SERF 235
Lab: SERF 153
Phone: (858) 822-3828
Fax: (858) 534 7716
My publication list can be found here.
Background
Simon Bott-Suzuki (previously Bott) received the MPhys(ChemPhys) and Ph.D. degrees from Sheffield University, UK in 1999 and 2003 respectively. His Ph.D. thesis work investigated low density deuterium discharges for UV lighting applications. In 2003, he moved to the Plasma Physics Group at Imperial College London to research pulsed-power driven exploding wire plasmas for Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF). He joined the Center for Energy Research at UCSD in December 2006, where he is presently an Assistant Research Scientist. Dr Bott-Suzuki is also a Visiting Assistant Professor in the Applied & Engineering Physics Department at Cornell University
Current Research interests
My research interests centre around the investigation of plasmas generated using high currents (many kilo-amperes) and accelerated by self-generated magnetic fields. One commonly used geometry is the z-pinch, and much of my previous work has involved wire arrays and liners, where the cylindrical geoemetry causes plasmas to be accelerated to the central axis. Here, flows may interact with each other or a central target, or the whole system can implode creating copious amounts of x-rays. Such systems are interesting for a wide range of basic plasma physics and High Energy Density (HED) physics topics, including the development of Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF) and Inertial Fusion Energy (IFE), and experimentally simulating astrophysical phenomena in the laboratory. Plasma acceleration via the global Lorentz force generates super-sonic, super-Alfvenic flows in which radiation loss is important. Such flows can be used to study, for example, bow shock formation in which the plasma beta at the shock can be varied (see Shocks project on Projects page), and the propagation of high Mach number radiatively cooled plasma jets (see JetPAC project on Projects page).
Teaching
I currently teach Physics 1B (Electricity and Magnetism) for the Physics Department, and previously taught ECE65 (Components and Circuits Laboratory) and ECE 163 (Electronic Circuits and Systems) for the Electrical and Computer Engineering Department at UC San Diego.
Professional Service
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Co-Chair, 9th International Conference on Dense Z-Pinches (DZP 2014), Napa, CA
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Program Committee, 7th & 8th International Conference on Dense Z-Pinches (2008 & 2011)
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Chair of the 8th International Workshop on the Physics of Wire Array Z-pinches 2009
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Served in various capacities for the International Conference on Plasma Science (ICOPS) series, including Scientific Secretary (2009) and Session Organizer (2011, 2014)
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Guest Editor of IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science 4th & 5th Special Issue on Z-Pinch Plasmas,
(April 2010 & October 2012) -
Editorial Board member for Journal of Modern Physics (2012)
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Member of the American Physical Society (APS)
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Member of Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE)
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