Chapter 493: Interested In Joining?

There was a round of applause in the lecture hall.

Lu Zhou walked down the lecture hall platform in the midst of the applause.

Principal Wu Zhuohua, the school leadership team, and some of the professors were waiting at the lecture hall entrance. Once Lu Zhou was done with the media interviews, they walked over to him.

Principal Wu had a warm smile on his face as he greeted him. “Thank you, Professor Lu, for bringing such a vivid presentation to our Yuhua University students!”

The few students that were standing near them cringed.

Other than the beginning and the end, they didn’t think it was vivid at all.

Lu Zhou smiled and humbly said, “This doesn’t count as vivid. It’s just my personal explanation on some of my controllable nuclear fusion research and some high-density plasma research. It might be a bit boring.”

A professor was standing next to them, and he didn’t look too old. He smiled and said, “How is it boring? I benefited a lot from your lecture.”

Lu Zhou: “You’re too kind, but may I ask who you are?”

Principal Wu said, “This is Professor Li Changxia from our Yuhua University Institute of Nuclear Physics.”

Lu Zhou reached out his hand and said, “Nice to meet you, Professor Li.”

“Nice to meet you.” Professor Li Changxia shook Lu Zhou’s hand with a beaming smile as he said, “I’ve heard about your success, but I didn’t expect you to be this young.”

Lu Zhou smiled and said, “Professor Li, aren’t you the same?”

“Don’t be fooled by my black hair, I’m actually thirty-five years old,” Professor Li joked.

“Thirty-five is very young.” Lu Zhou paused for a second before he said, “What about Professor Gong? I heard he is the head of the Institute of Nuclear Physics.”

Professor Li gently coughed and said, “Professor Gong, he… isn’t at the research institute anymore.”

Lu Zhou: “Did he retire?”

Professor Li gave him an awkward smile as he said, “Not exactly. He’s now the deputy mayor of Hengyang’s city council and the chairman of the Municipal Committee of the Jiusan Society. He’s not participating in the school’s affairs anymore.”

I guess he went into politics.

Lu Zhou nodded and continued to ask, “Then who is responsible for the Institute of Nuclear Physics?”

Professor Li nodded and said, “Right now, I am.”

Lu Zhou looked at him, slightly surprised.

It wasn’t because he didn’t trust in Professor Li’s abilities. It was because university research teams led by middle-aged professors often didn’t have access to good resources.

Because the number of resources a research team had was often determined by the academic qualifications of the team leader.

Principal Wu could tell Lu Zhou was surprised, so he quickly said with a smile, “Professor Li is quite young, but he is very reliable. The stellarator is the main research project of our school. Due to Professor Li and his team’s efforts, we are able to cooperate with The Australian National University and successfully collaborate on the H1 Stellarator project.”

Professor Li was a little embarrassed by the compliments. He then said humbly, “It’s mainly thanks to Professor Gong.”

“Don’t get me wrong. I’m not doubting Professor Li’s abilities; I’m just a bit surprised,” Lu Zhou said. He looked at Professor Li Changxia and smiled as he asked, “Is it okay for you to give me a tour of the Institute of Nuclear Physics?”

Professor Li immediately nodded and said, “Of course it’s fine! I’ll take you there right now.”

The Institute of Nuclear Physics was located at a quiet corner on the Yuhua University campus.

It was worth mentioning that nuclear physics and nuclear engineering were two very different fields. Yuhua University was quite strong at the latter, while they were weaker at the former.

Therefore, the research institute hadn’t been established for long, and the scale wasn’t particularly large. It was mainly formed by the school’s nuclear physics department, the nuclear fusion and plasma physics research team, and the particle physics and nuclear physics research team.

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Principal Wu originally planned on inviting the leadership team to come with them. However, Lu Zhou didn’t want to disturb their daily routine, so he euphemistically refused the suggestion.

Besides, having too many outsiders following him made it difficult to discuss things.

Lu Zhou then followed Professor Li Changxia to the Institute of Nuclear Physics. Professor Li gave Lu Zhou a simple tour around the place while talking about the latest international research on controllable nuclear fusion.

They began to talk about the ITER project’s development, and Professor Li Changxia started to get carried away.

“Right now, international research on controllable nuclear fusion is progressing on the highway. According to ITER’s project schedule, they plan on building a commercial demonstration reactor in Paris by 2025. Our country is also planning on building one, also by around 2025. If everything goes well, controllable nuclear fusion might become this century’s greatest technological breakthrough.”

Lu Zhou: “But it seems like you guys aren’t being valued?”

Li Changxia smiled awkwardly as he said, “It’s because there’s still a long way until 2025.”

After walking around the research institute, the pair then arrived at Professor Li’s office.

Lu Zhou was a bit tired from all the walking, so he sat down on the office sofa.

Li Changxia sat across from him. He then ordered his PhD student to pour two cups of tea.

“Speaking of which, I haven’t had the chance to visit you. I have some questions regarding plasma physics, and I don’t know if you mind answering them?”

Lu Zhou sipped some tea and smiled. “There’s no need to be polite, ask away.”

Professor Li nodded. “While conducting research on the ion cyclotron wave and plasma coupling process, we discovered that the ion cyclotron wave and plasma coupling process is difficult to carry out. Do you have a good solution for this?”

Lu Zhou thought for a moment before he said, “I’ve encountered a similar research problem when I was at the PPPL. The thesis should be on the Physical Review Letters. I don’t remember the exact issue, but you should be able to find it.

“If I recall correctly, according to the thesis, by increasing the central plasma density or the scraping layer density and reducing the density gradient of the parabolic or exponential decay region, you should be able to make the ion cyclotron wave better at plasma coupling. If you are unsure, you can try to use a plasma model to numerically simulate the coupling process of ion cyclotron waves and plasma.”

Professor Li nodded as he wrote down Lu Zhou’s words in a notebook.

Lu Zhou then asked in a relaxed tone, “Is there any other question?”

“Yes, actually a bit more.”

Professor Li Changxia used this opportunity to consult Lu Zhou on some of the theoretical problems he encountered in research.

Lu Zhou answered all of the questions to the best of his ability.

Time quickly passed by; they had already spent an hour sitting in this office.

Professor Li closed his notebook and smiled as he said apologetically, “Sorry for wasting so much time.”

Lu Zhou smiled as he replied, “It’s fine. These discussions give me inspiration as well.”

He paused for a second and said, “Speaking of which, how is the H1-Heliac doing? I didn’t see it when I was walking around the research institute.”

When Professor Li heard Lu Zhou mentioned the H1 Stellarator, he couldn’t help but reveal his difficulties. “It might be difficult if you want to see it. The supporting facilities only completed the construction bidding last year in October, and it might only be completed this year.”

“That’s so slow.” Lu Zhou shook his head and said, “I remember this project began in 2017, right?”

“Yeah,” Professor Li said. He suddenly looked somewhat helpless. “But there’s no other way. Professor Gong suddenly withdrew from the project, plus our school ran into some problems. Actually, we didn’t want to delay it for so long.”

As Lu Zhou looked around the office, he nodded thoughtfully.

After a moment of silence, he finally began to talk about why he came here today.

“Speaking of which, the STAR Stellarator Research Institute in Jinling is about to finish constructing.”

Professor Li was full of envy. Lu Zhou paused for a second before he threw out an offer.

“Are you interested in joining us?”