Stefano Coda

Stefano Coda is a Maître d'enseignement et de recherche at the Swiss Plasma Center (SPC), within the School of Basic Sciences (SB) at École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL). He holds a dual affiliation with SPC-TCV (Physics of the TCV Tokamak) and SPH-ENS (Teaching), reflecting his combined role in research and education. He is based at the EPFL campus in Lausanne, Switzerland, and is actively involved in the TCV tokamak experimental program.

His research is centered on plasma physics and nuclear fusion, with a focus on magnetic confinement. His primary interests include turbulence and transport in plasmas, electron cyclotron heating and current drive (ECRH/ECCD), internal transport barriers, geodesic acoustic modes, and advanced tokamak configurations—particularly negative triangularity plasmas. He employs and develops sophisticated diagnostics, such as phase contrast imaging, to study plasma fluctuations and suprathermal electron dynamics. His work aims to improve confinement and develop viable scenarios for future fusion reactors, including high-beta and long-pulse operations.

His recent publications demonstrate a consistent trend toward exploring alternative tokamak configurations and optimizing plasma performance. Key themes include the physics of negative triangularity for enhanced confinement, the development of non-inductive, high-bootstrap scenarios, and the advancement of core fluctuation diagnostics for next-generation devices like JT-60SA. His work bridges experimental observations with first-principles modeling, contributing significantly to the international fusion research effort.

Stefano Coda is an active advisor and educator. He has supervised numerous PhD students at EPFL, including Anand Himank, Cazabonne Jean Arthur, and Marinoni Alessandro, among others. He is also involved in teaching physics at EPFL. There are no scientific awards mentioned in the provided text. He leads a research group within the TCV team and collaborates extensively with the EUROfusion MST1 team, contributing to large-scale international projects in fusion energy science.