Hungarian-American plasma physicist and MIT professor who pioneered radio-frequency plasma heating methods — developing the lower hybrid current drive and ICRF heating techniques used in tokamaks worldwide.
Miklós Porkolab is a professor of physics at MIT and former director of the Plasma Science and Fusion Center (PSFC). His career spans over five decades of contributions to plasma wave physics and radio-frequency heating of fusion plasmas, making him one of the foremost experts on wave-plasma interactions.[1]
Key contributions include: first observation of parametric instabilities in tokamak plasmas; development of LHCD theory and experiments; measurement of mode-converted ion Bernstein waves; and leadership of the ICRF program on Alcator C-Mod, which achieved world-record plasma pressures using ICRF heating. He also served on the ITER Council and numerous DOE advisory committees.[2]
Porkolab is a Fellow of the APS and a member of the National Academy of Engineering. He received the APS Dawson Award for Excellence in Plasma Physics Research and the Fusion Power Associates Distinguished Career Award.[3]