Monday 28 January 2019

Introducing... The Undercover Physicist!


This is on a strictly need to know basis but… I studied Physics at university. A BSc at that. It is with great fondness therefore that I recall walking into the interview room and being asked:
“So you’ve applied to be a mechanical engineer?”
“Yes” I say with confidence. Pondering in those brief moments what had possessed me to apply for something I was not at all technically qualified for. Reflecting on it now I applied for that position because I knew I wanted to do something practical, I wanted to do something science-y and I believe in fusion.
The interview was suitably tough but at the end of the day what they’re looking for is problem solving and being able to talk through a logical process of how you might get to an answer. Look at any university website that has a course on physics though and, like a universal constant, they will undoubtedly promise physics, if good for anything, is good for problem solving. Nevertheless, it was a surprise when a clandestine hand tapped me on the shoulder and I was invited to talk to the head of the diagnostic group of MAST-U – the UK’s spherical tokamak experiment due to begin experiments in 2019.
After going through my presentation again at double pace and discussing my background working as a technician after university and some of the summer lab work I had done I left to complete the rest of the assessment centre. Not a week later and my email flashed OFFICIAL – SENSITIVE. I was in.
Having been here for a little while now I feel I am at liberty to disclose some of the ways studying physics has prepared me for (technically) being a mechanical engineer plus the very particular set of skills I’ve picked up on the way. Being involved in diagnostics means I have some flexibility as to how much of any end I get involved in whether that’s the physics being studied, the engineering of supporting frames, vacuum systems and high voltage supplies or indeed control systems and data acquisition.
Being part of a research organization studying and experimenting on plasma physics and nuclear fusion I’m familiar with the concepts thanks to my degree. The details need to be filled in without a doubt though! edge localised modes, safety factor and a whole host of other parameters/concepts are alien to me. The basics however, are covered. This applies equally well to diagnostic concepts. For example, one of my current projects is working on the interferometer that measures electron temperature and density from the refractive index of the plasma. This is an apparatus familiar from my own time at university, as well as the many hours spent as a laboratory technician trying to align them.
Having a clue on the underlying physics is one thing but applying them is a subject in itself. Working with a spectrometer operating in the vacuum ultraviolet range requires (unsurprisingly) an air tight vacuum so that the light isn’t absorbed. This has required me to learn all about how ultra-high vacuums are achieved at 3 x 10-6 Pa (in our case) using turbomolecular and roughing pumps. All to fit snuggly in a height adjustable frame that’s wide enough to not overload the floor but still conform with space restrictions on nearby diagnostics.
Luckily for me the department is happy to help and teach me what I don’t know from the drawing office putting together the CAD models that check everything fits to power supplies checking I can get mains and high voltage in. That’s not to say I can rely on them forever though! An advantage of the graduate scheme is that I can allocate time to learning these skills through job shadowing and online or practical courses. Something I look forward to over the next two years.
For any would be physicists out there interested in getting into the nitty gritty of engineering I’d suggest dropping in on your local engineering society and seeing if they run courses outside of lectures. Look up if there’s any ‘hack’ societies in the area. The challenges tend to vary from computational to creating a robot that can complete a course. Perhaps consider taking a module within the engineering department if none of the physics ones take your fancy! There’s all kinds you can do to boost the skills that would be considered valuable as an engineer and the best way to do that is to look it up and ask around.
Then again there’s plenty of roles physicists have managed to infiltrate. Software engineering, chemical/processing engineering, scientist (okay that one is not so surprising). Perhaps you’ll hear more from them in another debrief… For now though that’s all I’ve got time for.
Over and out.
Agent M