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George Morales

Professor
Theoretical Plasma
Office: PAB
Phone: 310-825-4318
Email:

Website


Educational Background

  • B.S. Physics (Magna Cum Laude) Fairleigh Dickinson University, 1967
  • M.S. Physics, University of California, San Diego, 1971
  • Ph.D. Physics, University of California, San Diego, 1973

Areas of Specialization

Plasma physics, nonlinear waves, heating of thermonuclear fusion plasmas, ionosphere modification, laboratory simulation of space phenomena, non-diffusive transport.

Positions Held

  • Plasma Science and Technology Institute
  • Assistant Research Physicist/Adjunct Assistant Professor, Physics Department, University of California, Los Angeles, 1973-July 1978.
  • Associate Research Physicist/Adjunct Associate Professor, Physics Department, University of California, Los Angeles, July 1978-June 1982.
  • Associate Professor of Physics, Physics Department, University of California, Los Angeles, July 1982-June l983.
  • Professor of Physics, Physics Department, University of California, Los Angeles, July l983-June 2004.
  • Director, Institute for Plasma and Fusion Research (July 1998-June 2001).
  • Director, Plasma Science and Technology Institute (July 2001-July 2015).
  • Distinguished Professor; Physics Department, University of California, Los Angeles (July 2004-Present).

Research Interest

Nonlinear wave processes in plasmas with particular emphasis on the prediction and explanation, via analytical calculations and computer simulations, of phenomena observable in the laboratory. The connection between deterministic chaos and anomalous transport in magnetically confined plasmas. The basic properties of non-diffusive transport and experimental consequences. The formation and evolution of filamentary structures in magnetized plasmas. The transformation of energy in large-scales into microscopic plasma phenomena. The effect of spontaneous fluctuations on electron heat transport. The role of Alfvén waves in auroral beam acceleration and generation of fast ions. The basic physics of radio frequency heating of fusion plasmas. The existence of ion-ion hybrid Alfvén resonators in space and fusion plasmas.

Honors
  • Four-year Scholarship at Fairleigh Dickinson University, 1963-1967
  • Charles M. Zucker Memorial Award in Physics, 1966
  • Phi Zeta Kappa Honor Society, 1964
  • Phi Epsilon Omega Honor Society, 1966
  • Fellow, American Physical Society, 1981
  • UCLA Physics Department Outstanding Teaching Award, 1984, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2002, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018
  • Order of the Golden Bruin, 1990
  • Outstanding Referee Award of the Physical Review and Physical Review Letters Journals, 2008

Professional Societies

  • American Physical Society
  • Plasma Physics Division of the American Physical Society
  • American Geophysical Union
  • University Fusion Association

Recent Professional Services

  • Member of International Committee for the Latin American Workshop on Plasma Physics (1995-present)
  • Member of the Advisory Committee for the International Conference on Plasma Physics (ICPP) (1997-present)
  • Member of Fusion Energy Sciences Advisory Committee (FESAC) of the Department of Energy (August 2000-2005)
  • Member of FESAC Panel on “Work Force Development” (August 2003)
  • Member of Panel Review of Fusion Simulation Prototype Centers (April 2005)
  • Expert Evaluator for INTAS (2005-2008)
  • Evaluator for STAR awards in Austria (2008)
  • Member of NRC Committee to Review U.S. ITER Science Participation Planning Process (CRISPPP) (2007-08)
  • Member of NRC Plasma Science Committee (2008- Sept 2011)
  • Member of International Program Committee for 19th Toki Conference, Japan (2009)
  • Member of Review Panel for the Austrian Science Fund, Vienna (2009, 2014)
  • External Examiner of Doctoral Dissertation for the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras India (2009)
  • Co-organizer of Nonlinear Wave Workshop, La Jolla, CA (2009-present)
  • Co-chair of joint EPS-ICPP 2012 meeting in Stockholm, Sweden
  • Divisional Associate Editor for Physical Review Letters Journal (Jan 2013-present)
  • Member of DOE panel for Presidential Early Career Award (PECASE) (2013)
  • Guest Editor for Journal of Nonlinear Processes in Geophysics (2010, 2014)
  • Member Scientific Board of Erasmus Mundus Fusion-DC Program (2013-present)
  • Member DOE review panel for SciDAC-4 (April 2017)
  • Member International Program Committee for 13th International School and Symposium in Space Simulations (2018)

Selected Publications

  • Maggs, J.E. and Morales, G.J., “Laboratory Realization of an Alfvén Wave Maser,” Phys. Review Lett., 91, 035004 (2003).
  • Tsung, F.S., Morales, G.J., and Tonge, J., “Alfvénic Phenomena Triggered by Resonant Absorption of an O-mode Pulse,” Phys. Plasmas 14, 042101 (2007).
  • LaFonteese, D.J., Morales, G.J., and Taylor, R.J., “Fast-wave Multifrequency Diagnostic of Tokamak Plasmas,” Phys. Plasmas 14, 052510 (2007).
  • Van Compernolle, B., Morales, G.J., and Gekelman, W., “Cherenkov Radiation of Shear Alfvén Waves,” Phys. Plasmas 15, 082101 (2008).
  • Pace, D.C., Shi, M., Maggs, J.E., Morales, G.J., and Carter, T.A., “Spontaneous Thermal Waves in a Magnetized Plasma,” Phys. Rev. Lett. 101, 035003 (2008).
  • Pace, D.C., Shi, M., Maggs, J.E., Morales, G.J., and Carter, T.A., “Exponential Frequency Spectrum in Magnetized Plasmas,” Phys. Rev. Lett. 101, 085001 (2008).
  • Shi, M., Pace, D.C., Morales, G.J., Maggs J.E., and Carter, T.A., “Structures Generated in a Temperature Filament due to Drift-Wave Convection,” Phys. Plasmas 16, 062306 (2009).
  • Vincena, S.T., Morales, G.J., and Maggs, J.E., "Effect of Two Ion Species on the Propagation of Shear Alfvén Waves of Small Transverse Scale," Phys. Plasmas 17, 052106 (2010).
  • Vincena, S.T., Farmer, W. A., Maggs, J.E and Morales, G. J., "Laboratory realization of an ion-ion hybrid Alfvén wave resonator," Geophys. Res. Lett., 38, L11101 (2011), doi:10.1029/2011GL0473.
  • Maggs, J. E., and Morales, G. J., "The Generality of Deterministic Chaos, Exponential Spectra and Lorentzian Pulses in Magnetically Confined Plasmas," Phys. Rev. Lett. 107, 185003 (2011).
  • Maggs, J. E., and Morales, G. J., "Origin of Lorentzian Pulses in Deterministic Chaos," Phys. Rev. E 86, 015401 (R) (2012).
  • Farmer, W. A., and Morales, G. J., "Cherenkov radiation of shear Alfvén waves in plasmas with two ion species,” Phys. Plasmas 19, 092101 (2012).
  • Maggs, J. E., and Morales, G. J., "Exponential power spectra, deterministic chaos and Lorentzian pulses in plasma edge dynamics," Plasma Phys. Control Fusion 54, 124041 (2012)
  • Kullberg, A., del Castillo Negrete, D., Morales, G.J., and Maggs, J.E., “Isotropic model of fractional transport in two-dimensional bounded domains,” Phys. Rev. E 87, 052115 (2013).
  • Maggs, J. E., and Morales G.J., “Permutation entropy analysis of temperature fluctuations from a basic electron heat transport experiment,” Plasma Phys. Control Fusion 55, 085015 (2013).
  • Farmer, W. A., and Morales, G. J., “Propagation of shear Alfvén waves in two ion species plasmas confined by a nonuniform magnetic field”, Phys. Plasmas 20, 082132 (2013).
  • Kullberg, A., Morales, G.J., and Maggs, J.E., “Comparison of a radial fractional transport model with tokamak experiments”, Phys. Plasmas 21, 032310 (2014).
  • Farmer, W. A., and Morales, G. J., “ The ion-ion hybrid resonator in a fusion environment”, Phys. Plasmas 21, 062507 (2014).
  • Maggs, J.E., Rhodes, T.L., and Morales, G.J., “Chaotic density fluctuations in L-mode plasmas of the DIII-D tokamak”, Plasma Phys. Control Fusion 57, 045004 (2015).
  • Van Compernolle, B., Morales, G.J., Maggs, J.E., and Sydora, R.D., “Laboratory study of avalanches in magnetized plasmas”, Phys. Rev. E 91, 031102 (R) (2015).
  • Farmer, W. A., and Morales, G. J., “Stability of drift-cyclotron loss-cone waves in H-mode plasmas”, Nucl. Fusion 56, 064003 (2016).
  • Poulos, M. J., and Morales, G. J., “Transport properties of a hollow pressure filament in a magnetized plasma”, Phys. Plasmas 23, 092302 (2016).
  • Maggs, J. E. and Morales, G. J., “Self-adjoint integral operator for bounded nonlocal transport”, Phys. Rev E 94, 053302 (2016).
  • Van Compernolle, B. and Morales, G. J., “Avalanches driven by pressure gradients in a magnetized plasma”, Phys. Plasmas 24, 112302 (2017).
  • Morales, G. J., "Investigation of a chaotic thermostat", Phys. Rev. E 97, 032203 (2018).
  • Zhao, Y., and Morales, G. J., “Properties of a sinusoidally driven thermostat”, Phys. Rev. E 98, 0222213 (2018).
  • Jin, S., Poulos, M. J., Van Compernolle, B., and Morales, G. J., “Plasma flows generated by an annular thermionic cathode in a large magnetized plasma”, Phys. Plasmas 26, 022105 (2019).
  • Maggs, J. E. and Morales, G. J., “Nonlocal transport in bounded two-dimensional systems: An iterative method", Phys. Rev E 99, 013307 (2019).
  • Van Compernolle, B., Poulos, M. J., and Morales, G. J., “Modifications produced on a large magnetized plasma column by a floating end-plate that is partially emissive: Experiment and theory”, Phys. Plasmas 26, 122102 (2019).
  • Morales, G. J., “Response of a charged particle in contact with a chaotic thermostat to an oscillating electric field”, Phys. Plasmas 27, 052105 (2020).
  • Van Compernolle, B., Poulos, M. J., and Morales, G. J., “Sudden collapse of a pressure profile generated by off-axis heating in a linear magnetized plasma”, Phys. Plasmas 29, 042104 (2022).

Recent Invited Talks

  • “Nonlinear Evolution of a Hot-Electron Filament in a magnetized Plasma,” 7th International Workshop on Nonlinear Waves and Turbulence in Space Plasmas, Beaulieu, France, April 21-25, 2008.
  • “Transport and Turbulence Associated with a Hot Electron Filament,” Erasmus Mundus Summer Event 2008, Madrid, Spain, July 21-24, 2008.
  • “Exponential Frequency Spectra, Lorentzian Pulses, and Intermittent Transport in Pressure Gradients”, 19th International Toki Conference, Toki, Japan, December 8-11, 2009.
  • “Evidence for a Universal Fluctuation Spectrum in Pressure Gradients”, 8th Nonlinear Wave Workshop, La Jolla, CA., March 1-5, 2010.
  • “Conference Summary and Future Perspectives”, joint International Congress on Plasma Physics (ICPP) and Latin American Workshop on Plasma Physics (LAWPP), Santiago, Chile, August 8-13, 2010.
  • “Properties of Wave-Particle Interactions Worth Knowing”, 11th International Workshop on the Interrelationship between Plasma Experiments in the Laboratory and in Space (IPELS), Whistler, Canada, July 10-15, 2011.
  • “New Perspective on Plasma Transport Driven by Pressure Gradients”, Latin American Workshop on Plasma Physics (LAWPP), Mar del Plata, Argentina, November 21-25, 2011.
  • “Plasma and Fusion Research at UCLA”, Erasmus Mundus Fusion Summer Event, El Escorial, Spain, July 22-26, 2013.
  • "Origin of Broadband Spectra of Deterministic Chaos" Annual Meeting of the Mexican Physical Society, San Luis Potosi, Mexico, October 28-November 1, 2013.
  • “A chaos journey, from basic laboratory experiments to fusion devices”, 50th Anniversary of the Brazilian Physical Society, Natal, Brazil, Sept. 3-7, 2016.
  • “Intrinsic features of deterministic chaos learned from basic plasma experiments”, Nonlinear Waves and Chaos Workshop 2017, La Jolla, CA, March 20-24, 2017.
  • "Avalanches in magnetized plasmas", 16th Latin American Workshop on Plasma Physics (LAWPP), Mexico City, Mexico, September 4-8, 2017.

Recent Conference Prsentations
  • Farmer, W.A., Morales, G.J., “The ion-ion hybrid resonator in ITER”, 55th Meeting of the Division of Plasma Physics of the American Physical Society, Denver, Co., Nov. 11-15, 2013.
  • Kullberg, A., Morales, G. J., Maggs, J. E., and del-Castillo Negrete, D., “Comparison of a 2D fractional transport model with tokamak experiments”, 55th Meeting of the Division of Plasma Physics of the American Physical Society, Denver, Co., Nov. 11-15, 2013.
  • Maggs, J. E., and Morales, G. J., “Identification of chaotic and stochastic processes by permutation entropy analysis”, 55th Meeting of the Division of Plasma Physics of the American Physical Society, Denver, Co., Nov. 11-15, 2013.
  • Sydora, R., Maggs, J. E., and Morales, J. E., “Gyrokinetic simulation of Lorentzian pulse generation and anomalous transport in a magnetized temperature filament”, 55th Meeting of the Division of Plasma Physics of the American Physical Society, Denver, Co., Nov. 11-15, 2013.
  • Van Compernolle, B., Maggs, J. E., and Morales, G. J., “Permutation entropy analysis of electron temperature fluctuations in a laboratory magnetoplasma”, 7th Chaos International Conference, June 7-10, 214, Lisbon, Portugal.
  • Morales, G.J. and Farmer, W.A., “Shear Alfvén waves in ITER plasmas and the ion-ion hybrid resonator”, 17th International Congress on Plasma Physics (ICPP), Lisbon, Portugal, Sept. 15-19, 2014.
  • Van Compernolle, B., Morales, G.J., Maggs, J.E. and Sydora, R., “Intermittent profile collapse in a basic heat transport experiment”, 17th International Congress on Plasma Physics (ICPP), Lisbon, Portugal, Sept. 15-19, 2014.
  • Sydora, R., Van Compernolle, B., Maggs, J.E., and Morales, G.J.,“Gyrokinetic simulation of heat transport in a magnetized temperature ring”, 17th International Congress on Plasma Physics (ICPP), Lisbon, Portugal, Sept. 15-19, 2014.
  • Van Compernolle, B., Morales, G.J., Maggs, J.E. and Sydora, R., “Intermittent profile collapse in a basic heat transport experiment”, 56th Meeting of the Division of Plasma Physics of the American Physical Society, New Orleans, Oct. 27-31, 2014.
  • Sydora, R., Van Compernolle, B, Morales, G.J., and Maggs, J.E., “3D Gyrokinetic simulation of heat transport in a magnetized ring-shaped temperature filament”, 56th Meeting of the Division of Plasma Physics of the American Physical Society, New Orleans, Oct. 27-31, 2014.
  • Farmer, W. A. and Morales, G.J., “Instability of the ion-ion hybrid Alfvén resonator in the presence of superthermal alpha-particles”, 56th Meeting of the Division of Plasma Physics of the American Physical Society, New Orleans, Oct. 27-31, 2014.
  • Poulos, M. J., Jin, S., Van Compernolle, and Morales, G. J., “Tornado-like structure in a heated magnetized plasma”, 19th International Congress on Plasma Physics, Vancouver, CA, June 4-8, 2018.
  • Van Compernolle, B.,, Poulos, M. J. , Jin, S, and Morales, G. J., “Different transport regimes by flow control in a magnetized off-axis heated plasma”, 60th Meeting of the Division of Plasma Physics of the American Physical Society, Portland, Or. Nov. 5-9, 2018.
  • Jin, S., Van Compernolle, B., Poulos, M. J., and Morales, G. J., “Plasma flows generated by an annular thermionic cathode in a magnetized plasma”, 60th Meeting of the Division of Plasma Physics of the American Physical Society, Portland, Or. Nov. 5-9, 2018.