http://www.electricalfun.com/ElectronCa ... fusion.htm
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Noah: My work is focused on the use of electric probes to study conditions in the cool edge of the plasma. This area is important because the edge plasma provides the boundary conditions for the core and affects the transfer of particles, energy and momentum in and out of the confined plasma. Probes provide a simple way of sampling the plasma but are only useful in the unconfined edge region where the temperature and density of the plasma are sufficiently low to allow the probe to survive. Even so, these probes must be rapidly inserted and retracted, remaining in the plasma only for a few hundredths of a second.
Q. Of what you've learned so far, what was expected and what took you be surprise?
Noah: I expected fusion to be a really interesting physics problem. What took me by surprise was the scope and variety of cutting edge technologies required to operate a tokamak. I've gained exposure not just to the sciences of nuclear and plasma physics, but a lot of engineering disciplines with wide application. Among them are magnets, cryogenics, vacuum, laser, accelerator, radio frequency and microwave technologies. It's a great field to be in.