Mr Leonard-Petru Turica

Background

Originally from Romania, I completed my undergraduate studies in Physics and my Master’s in Mathematical and Theoretical Physics at Magdalen College in 2022. Since then, I have been working on my DPhil in Theoretical Physics at the Rudolf Peierls Centre for Theoretical Physics, in association with Culham Centre for Fusion Energy. I am currently a student at University College Oxford.

Teaching

I have held a Lectureship at Magdalen College since 2022. My contribution to college teaching previously included Classical Mechanics and Mathematical Methods (1st year), Quantum Mechanics (2nd year), Special Relativity and Symmetry (3rd year), and Complex Variables. I currently teach Special Relativity (1st year), Mathematical Methods (2nd year), and General Relativity (3rd year).

Part of my teaching activity also included Collisional Plasma Physics, Advanced Fluid Dynamics and Magnetohydrodynamics in the Master of Mathematical and Theoretical Physics at Oxford.

Research

My work concerns the turbulent transport of heat in tokamak-edge plasmas. This transport is a fundamental issue that limits the confinement of energy in the planned operating mode of future tokamak fusion devices, and, therefore, this must be understood and overcome to ensure that the production of energy through fusion at a large scale is, indeed, part of humanity’s future. In my work, I investigate the main causes for turbulence in the edge region of the plasma, the structural and statistical characteristics of such turbulent behaviour, and their effect on the plasma profiles in the late JET-ILW tokamak. You can find my departmental webpage here.