Department of Physics

Faculty Description


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Research Statement
  • I maintain an active interest in many theoretical problems pertaining to turbulence, transport and self-organization in plasmas fluids and non-equilibrium systems, in general. These include bifurcated mean flow states in turbulent shear flows, magnetic dynamos, confinement and turbulence in magnetized plasmas, flows in granular media, anomalous viscosity mechanisms in accretion disks and MHD turbulence. I am also actively involved with several aspects of the Magnetic Fusion Energy Program. Non-equilibrium statistical dynamics is a rich subject, so I am always alert for interesting new problems.
Awards & News
  • Physics and MAE Faculty Win DOE Plasma Science Center
  • Pat Diamond and George Tynan (MAE) were awarded a Department of Energy Plasma Science Center in a recent competition held by the Office of Fusion Energy Sciences, Dept of Energy. Tynan (PI) and Diamond (lead Co-PI) will lead the new Center for Momentum Transport and Flow Organization, which will study momentum transport, flows, rotation and turbulence in tokamaks, basic laboratory experiments, and astrophysical objects such as the solar tachocline and accretion disks.
    The interdisciplinary Center will involve researchers at UCSD, UCI, UCSC, Univ Wisconsin, Courant Institute (NYU), and the Princeton Plasma Physics Lab. The new center will work synergistically with Diamond's existing SciDAC Center for Turbulent Transport in Burning Plasmas. The total funding of the new CMTFO will be approximately $6.7 million over 5 years.
  • Professor Patrick Diamond named Director of New Fusion Theory Institute - Daejeon, Korea
  • A group lead by Prof Patrick Diamond was recently awarded a 5 year, $2million per year grant to establish a Fusion Theory Institute at the National Fusion Research Institute (NFRI) in Daejeon, Korea. Diamond will become Director of the new Institute,which is located nearby the new, superconducting KSTAR tokamak, one of the two most advanced magnetic confinement experimental facilities in the world.

    The new institute will focus on problems in plasma turbulence,transport and confinement optimization. While close collaboration with the KSTAR program is anticipated,the institute will be interdisciplinary and will also address problems in nonlinear dynamics and plasma astrophysics. Diamond will spend a significant amount of time in Daejeon,and plans to build strong collaborations between NFRI and UCSD, especially with the new DOE Center for Momentum Transport and Flow Organization (CMTFO) that Prof George Tynan (MAE) and he lead.

    The new institute was awarded as an outcome of a competition involving all areas of science and technology under the auspices of Korea's WCI Program.
  • Patrick Diamond shares Hannes Alfvén Prize
  • December 14, 2010–Patrick Diamond, professor of physics, will share the European Physical Society's 2011 Hannes Alfvén Prize for outstanding contributions to plasma physics with Akira Hasegawa and Kunioki Mima, both of Osaka University in Japan. The three will be recognized "for laying the foundations of modern numerical transport simulations and key contributions on self-generated zonal flows and flow shear decorrelation mechanisms which form the basis of modern turbulence in plasmas." Diamond leads the plasma fusion group at UCSD. He founded and co-led the group with Marshall Rosenbluth, who was the 2002 recipient of this prize.
  • Professor Patrick Diamond has been awarded the 2012 Nuclear Fusion Award from the International Atomic Energy Agency
  • Professor Patrick Diamond has been awarded the 2012 Nuclear Fusion Award from the International Atomic Energy Agency. The Board of Editors voted his paper, Physics of Non-diffusive Turbulent Transport of Momentum and the Origins of Spontaneous Rotation in Tokamaks, as the most outstanding paper from the 2009 volume. The Nuclear Fusion prize is awarded annually to recognize outstanding work published in the journal.

    Each year, a shortlist of ten papers is nominated for the Nuclear Fusion prize. These are papers of the highest scientific standard, published in the journal volume from two years previous to the award year. Nominations are based on citation record and recommendation by the Board of Editors. The Board then votes by secret ballot to determine which of these papers has made the largest scientific impact.

    The award was presented at the 2012 Fusion Energy Conference in San Diego.

    On behalf of the Department of Physics, I congratulate Pat for this prominent and well deserved honor.

    Dimitri Basov - Chair

Selected Publications
  • - Self-Regulating Shear Flow Turbulence: A Paradigm for the L to H Transition. With L.M. Liang, et al. Phys. Rev. Lett. 72, 2656 (1994).

  • - Self-Consistent Theory of Mean-Field Electrodynamics. With A.V. Gruzinov. Phys. Rev. Lett. 72, 1651 (1994).

  • - Theory of Shear Flow Effects on Long Wavelength Drift Wave Turbulence. With B.A. Carreras, et al. Phys. Fluids B4, 3115 (1992).

  • - Dynamos and Angular Momentum Transport in Accretion Disks. With E.T. Vishniac, et al. Phys. Fluids B3, 2374 (1991).

  • - Statistical Dynamics of Dissipative Drift Wave Turbulence. With F.Y. Gang, et al. Phys. Fluids B3, 955 (1991).

  • - Influence of Sheared Poloidal Rotation on Edge Turbulence. With H. Biglari, et al. Phys. Fluids B2, 1 (1990).