HPCwire: Supercomputing Keys Fusion Research

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February 16, 2007

Supercomputing Keys Fusion Research

--A Conversation with Zhihong Lin

by Leo Williams, ORNL, for HPCwire

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University of California, Irvine, physicist Zhihong Lin is at the forefront of fusion simulation, using Oak Ridge National Laboratory's (ORNL's) "Jaguar" Cray XT3 system to simulate microturbulence in magnetically confined thermonuclear plasmas.

Lin is a member of the "Center for Gyrokinetic Particle Simulation of Turbulent Transport in Burning Plasmas" (GPSC), a fusion energy SciDAC (Scientific Discovery through Advanced Computing) project led by W. W. Lee of the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL). Lin is the original developer of the Gyrokinetic Toroidal Code (GTC) [See "ORNL's Jaguar Fastest for Fusion Turbulence Simulations," http://www.hpcwire.com/hpc/943289.html], which is the flagship code at UC–Irvine and PPPL for studying plasma microturbulence in advanced fusion systems.

He was recently named a fellow of the American Physical Society (APS), which recognized him "for fundamental contributions to the understanding of zonal flows and turbulence spreading and to the pioneering development of massively parallel gyrokinetic particle simulations on modern leadership class supercomputers."

In this interview, Lin talks about his work, the importance of simulation to fusion research, and the people who influenced his career.

HPCwire: Congratulations on being named an APS fellow. Please describe briefly the work that led to this honor.

Lin: Thank you. My primary area of research interest is studying plasma turbulence and transport via large-scale particle simulations using massively parallel supercomputers. Turbulent transport is one of the most important scientific challenges in burning plasma experiments such as the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), which is the crucial next step in the quest for fusion energy. Research advances in this application area can also be expected to help accelerate progress in understanding fundamental problems in space and astrophysical plasmas.

HPCwire: What is your relationship with other members of the ORNL and PPPL team?

Lin: The success of the GTC project is a result of the productive collaborations between many talented SciDAC GPSC researchers. I have close collaborations with GPS team members such as Dr. Scott Klasky at ORNL and Dr. Stephane Ethier at PPPL. I am currently the GTC team leader for the SciDAC GPSC project.

HPCwire: How did you get started using supercomputers in your research?

Lin: My interest in parallel computing started in graduate school and was inspired by the vision of my mentor at Princeton University, Prof. Bill Tang. Near the end of my PhD thesis project, I spent 2 months during the summer of 1994 at the Advanced Computing Laboratory at LANL [Los Alamos National Laboratory] to learn how to use a parallel computer -- CM-5, made by Thinking Machines Corporation -- with a language called CMFortran. During the last week of my stay at LANL, Thinking Machines Corporation went bankrupt. Nonetheless, I did learn the basics of parallel programming.

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