With DYNAFLUC, Laure Vermare leads a new Franco-German collaboration on fusion research

02 Jul. 2026

The DYNAFLUC (Dynamics of Turbulence Fluctuations) project, funded through the French-German International Collaborative Research Programme (PRCI), officially started in April 2026 and will run for three years. On the French side, the project is led by Laure Vermare, a CNRS researcher in the Magnetic Fusion Plasmas team at the Laboratoire de Physique des Plasmas (LPP).
The aim of DYNAFLUC is to improve our understanding of turbulence in magnetically confined fusion plasmas and of the mechanisms by which plasma flows regulate this turbulence. This is a key scientific challenge for enhancing plasma confinement and improving the performance of future fusion reactors.
To achieve this goal, the researchers will investigate the dynamics of density fluctuations using two state-of-the-art diagnostics: Doppler Backscattering (DBS) and Poloidal Correlation Reflectometry (PCR). These diagnostics will measure the velocity of turbulent structures in the plasma reference frame as a function of their size, making it possible to establish a dispersion relation and to better characterize the physical mechanisms governing plasma turbulence and its saturation.
A distinctive feature of the project is its comparative approach, combining experiments on two magnetic confinement devices based on different concepts: the Wendelstein 7-X (W7-X) stellarator in Greifswald, Germany, and the WEST tokamak at the CEA Cadarache research center in France. By combining experimental measurements from both machines with complementary diagnostics, theoretical modelling, and numerical simulations, the consortium aims to provide new insights into the mechanisms responsible for turbulence regulation in fusion plasmas.
DYNAFLUC brings together six partners:
- Four German institutions
  - The University of Greifswald,
  - The Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics (Greifswald),
  - Forschungszentrum Jülich,
  - The University of Stuttgart
- Two French laboratories:
  - The Laboratoire de Physique des Plasmas (LPP)
  - The Institute for Magnetic Fusion Research (IRFM) at CEA.
The project kick-off meeting took place on May 19-20 at the Cordeliers Campus in Paris, bringing together all project partners to define the first steps of this new Franco-German scientific collaboration.

Kick off de mai 2026