László Bardóczi

Assistant Professor, University of California, Irvine, CA

Biography

László Bardóczi is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of California, Irvine. He assumed this role in January 2023 after serving as a scientist at General Atomics in San Diego, California, from 2018 to 2023. Bardóczi earned his Ph.D. in Physics from the University of California, Los Angeles, in 2017, where he researched neoclassical tearing modes and plasma turbulence under the supervision of Troy A. Carter. He also holds both a Master of Science and a Bachelor of Science in Physics from Budapest University of Technology and Economics, completed in 2012 and 2010, respectively.

Bardóczi’s research focuses on plasma physics, particularly on neoclassical tearing modes and their interaction with plasma turbulence and magnetic islands. He has authored numerous peer-reviewed publications in journals such as Nuclear Fusion, Physics of Plasmas, and Physical Review Letters. His work has been recognized with several awards, including the Simonyi Károly Award for fusion energy research in 2018 and the Torkil Jensen Award for an innovative experimental science proposal in 2017. Bardóczi has also delivered invited talks at prominent conferences, such as the American Physical Society Division of Plasma Physics meetings.

At the University of California, Irvine, Bardóczi teaches both undergraduate and graduate courses, including "Plasma Instabilities" and "Physics for the Life Sciences." He has been involved in mentoring students and has served in various leadership roles, such as leading the Neoclassical Tearing Mode research group and acting as the lead magnetic diagnostician at General Atomics. Bardóczi also contributes to the scientific community by serving as a referee for several journals and participating in international collaborations focused on plasma stability and fusion energy research.

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Degrees

Ph.D. in Physics, University of California Los Angeles, 2017
M.S. in Physics, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Hungary, 2012
B.S. in Physics, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Hungary, 2010

Distinctions

Simonyi Károly Award as recognition for activities in fusion energy research, Budapest, 2018
Torkil Jensen Award for Innovative Experimental Science Proposal for DIII-D, General Atomics, 2017
Snyder Award of the Best Theory-Experiment Comparison, General Atomics, 2016
Best Student Presentation Prize, Transport Task Force Workshop, Denver, 2016
Graduate Student Research Fellowship, UCLA, Department of Physics and Astronomy, 2012
Best Student of the Faculty of Natural Sciences, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Faculty of Natural Sciences, 2010
The Most Successful Student Researcher, Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Faculty of Natural Sciences, 2009

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Areas of Expertise

Plasma Physics
Neoclassical Tearing Modes
Magnetic Island Dynamics
Fusion Energy Research
Tokamak Plasma Experiments
Plasma Confinement
Turbulence in Fusion Plasmas
Fast Ion Transport
Magnetic Diagnostics
Electron Cyclotron Current Drive

Recent Publications

Bardóczi L., Dudkovskaia A., Logan N.C., Richner N.J., Brown A.C., Callen J.D., La Haye R.J., Strait E.J., “Tearing stable stationary ITER baseline operation in DIII-D”, Nuclear Fusion, vol. 65, 2025.
Ida K., Yoshinuma M., Kobayashi M., Kobayashi T., Kenmochi N., Nespoli F., Magee R.M., Warmer F., Dinklage A., Matsuyama A., Sakamoto R., Nasu T., Tokuzawa T., Kinoshita T., Tanaka K., Tamura N., Nagaoka K., Nishiura M., Takemura Y., Ogawa K., Motojima G., Oishi T., Morishita Y., Varela J., Hayashi W.H.J., Markl M., Bouvain H., Liang Y., Leconte M., Moseev D., Moiseenko V.E., Albert C.G., Allfrey I., Alonso A., Arellano F.J., Ashikawa N., Azegami A., Bardoczi L., van Berkel M., Beurskens M., Binderbaue M.W., Bortolon A., Brezinsek S., Bussiahn R., Cappa A., Carralero D., Chan I.C., Cheng J., Dai X., Den Hartog D.J., Dhard C.P., Ding F., Ejiri A., Ertmer S., Fornal T., Fujita K., Fujiwara Y., Funaba H., Garcia L., Garcia-Regana J.M., Garcia-Cortés I., Garkusha I.E., Gates D.A., Ghai Y., Gilson E.P., Gota H., Goto M., Green E.M., Haak V., Hamaguchi S., Hanada K., Hara H., Hartmann D., Hayashi Y., Henning T., Hidalgo C., Hillairet J., Hutton R., Ido T., Igami H., Ikeda K., Inagaki S., Ishizawa A., Ito S., Isobe M., Isobe Y., Ivkovic M., Jiang Z., Jo J., Kamio S., Kasahara H., Kato D., Katoh Y., Kawachi Y., Kawamoto Y., Kawamura G., Kawate T., Kazakov Y.O., Klumper V., Knieps A., Ko W.H., Kobayashi S., Koike F., Kovtun Y.V., Kubkowska M., Kubo S., Lam S.S.H., Langenberg A., Laqua H., Lazerson S., Lestz J., Li B., Liao L., Lin Z., Lunsford R., Masuzaki S., Matsuura H., McCarthy K.J., Medina-Roque D., Mitarai O., Mollen A., Moon C., Mori Y., Morisaki T., Morita S., Mukai K., Murakami I., Murakami S., Murase T., Muscatello C.M., Nagasaki K., Naujoks D., Nakano H., Nakata M., Narushima Y., Nagy A., Nicolau J.H., Nishizawa T., Nishimoto S., Nuga H., Nunami M., Ochoukov R., Ohdachi S., Ongena J., Osakabe M., Pablant N.A., Panadero N., Peterson B., de la Riva Villén J., Romazanov J., Rosato J., Rud M., Sakakibara S., Sakaue H.A., Sakai H., Sakon I., Salewski M., Sangaroon S., Sereda S., Stange T., Saito K., Satake S., Seki R., Seki T., Sharapov S., Shimizu A., Shimozuma T., Shivam G., Shoji M., Spong D.A., Sugama H., Sun Z., Suzuki C., Suzuki Y., Tajima T., Takada E., Takahashi H., Toi K., Tsuchibushi Y., Tsujii N., Tsumori K., Tsujimurai T.I., Ueno G., Uehara H., Velasco J.L., Wang E., Watanabe K.Y., Wauter T., Wenzel U., Yajima M., Yamada H., Yamada I., Yanagihara K., Yamaguchi H., Yanai R., Yasuhara R., Yokoyama M., Yoshimura Y., Zarnstorff M., Zhao M., Zhong G.Q., Zhou Q., Ziaei S., “Overview of Large Helical Device experiments of basic plasma physics for solving crucial issues in reaching burning plasma conditions”, Nuclear Fusion, vol. 64, 2024.
L. Bardóczi, A. Dudkovskaia, R.J. La Haye, J.D. Callen, C. Chrystal, “Perturbed Ion Temperature and Toroidal Flow Profile Measurements in Rotating Neoclassical Tearing Mode Magnetic Islands”, Physical Review Letters, vol. 132, no. 6, pp. 065107, 2024.
C.T. Holc omb, J. Abbate, A. Abe, A. Abrams, P. Adebayo-Ige, S. Agabian, L. Bardoczi, “DIII-D research to provide solutions for ITER and fusion energy”, Nuclear Fusion, vol. 64, no. 11, pp. 112003, 2024.
L. Bardoczi, N.J. Richner, N.C. Logan, E.J. Strait, C.T. Holcomb, J. Zhu, C. Rea, “The root cause of disruptive NTMs and paths to stable operation in DIII-D ITER baseline scenario plasmas”, Nuclear Fusion, vol. 64, no. 12, pp. 126005, 2024.
N.J. Richner, L. Bardóczi, J.D. Callen, R.J. La Haye, N.C. Logan, E.J. Strait, “Use of differential plasma rotation to prevent disruptive tearing mode onset from 3-wave coupling”, Nuclear Fusion, vol. 64, no. 10, pp. 106036, 2024.
E. Jung, L. Bardóczi, M.E. Austin, S.H. Son, A.H. Reiman, “Reconstruction of magnetic island electron temperature in mixed second and third harmonic electron cyclotron emission conditions”, Review of Scientific Instruments, vol. 95, no. 6, 2024.
Yang, E.D. Fredrickson, Q. Hu, M. Podestà, J.W. Berkery, L. Bardóczi, “Measurement of small island characteristics using high resolution ECE and CER at DIII-D”, Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion, vol. 66, no. 10, pp. 105017, 2024.
L. Bardóczi, R.J. La Haye, E.J. Strait, N.C. Logan, S.P. Smith, N.J. Richner, “Direct preemptive stabilization of neoclassical tearing modes by electron cyclotron current drive in the DIII-D low-torque ITER baseline scenario”, Nuclear Fusion, vol. 63, no. 9, pp. 096021, 2023.
I. Char, J. Abbate, L. Bardóczi, M. Boyer, Y. Chung, R. Conlin, K. Erickson, “Offline Model-Based Reinforcement Learning for Tokamak Control”, pp. 1357-1372, 2023. Presented at Learning for Dynamics and Control Conference,
L. Bardóczi, N.J. Richner, N.C. Logan, “The onset distribution of rotating tearing modes and its consequences on the stability of high-confinement- mode plasmas in DIII-D”, Nuclear Fusion, vol. 63, no. 12, pp. 126052, 2023.
L. Bardóczi, N.J. Richner, J. Zhu, C. Rea, N.C. Logan, “Empirical probability and machine learning analysis of m, n= 2, 1 tearing mode onset parameter dependence in DIII-D H-mode scenarios”, Physics of Plasmas, vol. 30, no. 9, 2023.
M.E. Fenstermacher, J. Abbate, S. Abe, T. Abrams, M. Adams, B. Adamson, L. Bardóczi, “DIII-D research advancing the physics basis for optimizing the tokamak approach to fusion energy”, Nuclear Fusion, vol. 62, no. 4, pp. 042024, 2022.
A.V. Dudkovskaia, L. Bardoczi, J.W. Connor, D. Dickinson, P. Hill, K. Imada, “Drift kinetic theory of the NTM magnetic islands in a finite beta general geometry tokamak plasma”, Nuclear Fusion, vol. 63, no. 1, pp. 016020, 2022.
M.A. Van Zeeland, L. Bardoczi, J. Gonzalez-Martin, W.W. Heidbrink, “Beam modulation and bump-on-tail effects on Alfvén eigenmode stability in DIII-D”, Nuclear Fusion, vol. 61, no. 6, pp. 066028, 2021.
L. Bardóczi, T.E. Evans, “Experimental Observation of Magnetic Island Heteroclinic Bifurcation in Tokamaks”, Physical Review Letters, vol. 126, no. 8, pp. 085003, 2021.
Bardóczi L., Evans T.E., “Experimental inference of flux tunneling between magnetic island chains in tokamaks”, Nuclear Fusion, vol. 61, 2021.
L. Bardóczi, T.E. Evans, “Experimental signatures of electron cyclotron wave energy condensation in magnetic islands”, Nuclear Fusion, vol. 61, no. 7, pp. 074001, 2021.
D. Liu, W.W. Heidbrink, M. Podesta, Z.Z. Ren, L. Bardóczi, E.D. Fredrickson, “Cause and impact of low-frequency chirping modes in DIII-D hybrid discharges”, Nuclear Fusion, vol. 60, no. 11, pp. 112009, 2020.
J. Kang, T. Rhee, J. Kim, M. Podestà, L. Bardóczi, R. Nazikian, C.Z. Cheng, “Role of fast-ion transport manipulating safety factor profile in KSTAR early diverting discharges”, Nuclear Fusion, vol. 60, no. 12, pp. 126023, 2020.
X. Tang, Z. Lin, W.W. Heidbrink, J. Bao, C. Xiao, Z. Li, J. Li, L. Bardóczi, “Gyrokinetic particle simulations of interactions between energetic particles and magnetic islands induced by neoclassical tearing modes”, Physics of Plasmas, vol. 27, no. 3, 2020.
L. Bardóczi, M. Podestà, W.W. Heidbrink, M.A. Van Zeeland, “Quantitative modeling of neoclassical tearing mode driven fast ion transport in integrated TRANSP simulations”, Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion, vol. 61, no. 5, pp. 055012, 2019.
E.M. Hollmann, N.W. Eidietis, J.L. Herfindal, P.B. Parks, A.Y. Pigarov, D. Shiraki, L. Bardóczi, “Study of argon assimilation into the post-disruption runaway electron plateau in DIII-D and comparison with a 1D diffusion model”, Nuclear Fusion, vol. 59, no. 10, pp. 106014, 2019.
M. Podesta, L. Bardóczi, C.S. Collins, N.N. Gorelenkov, W.W. Heidbrink, “Reduced energetic particle transport models enable comprehensive time-dependent tokamak simulations”, Nuclear Fusion, vol. 59, no. 10, pp. 106013, 2019.
L. Bardoczi, M.J. Choi, A.B. Navarro, D. Shiraki, R.J. La Haye, S.H. Park, “Controlled neoclassical tearing mode (NTM) healing by fueling pellets and its impact on electron cyclotron current drive requirements for complete NTM stabilization”, Nuclear Fusion, vol. 59, no. 12, pp. 126047, 2019.
L. Bardóczi, C. Sung, A.B. Navarro, T.L. Rhodes, T.A. Carter, F. Jenko, “Interaction of magnetic islands with turbulent electron temperature fluctuations in DIII-D and in GENE nonlinear gyrokinetic simulations”, Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion, vol. 62, no. 2, pp. 025020, 2019.
K. Barada, T.L. Rhodes, K.H. Burrell, L. Zeng, X. Chen, M.E. Austin, L. Bardóczi, “Long-lived predator-prey dynamics in the pedestal of near-zero torque high performance DIII-D plasmas”, Physics of Plasmas, vol. 26, no. 9, 2019.
Walcz E., Poszovecz L., Biricz A., Bardóczi L., Bencze A., Berta M., “Technical upgrade and first tests of the experimental device for quasi-2D turbulent electrolyte flow experiment”, Fusion Engineering and Design, vol. 146, pp. 1899-1902, 2019.
D.C. Pace, M.E. Austin, L. Bardóczi, C.S. Collins, B. Crowley, E. Davis, X. Du, “Dynamic neutral beam current and voltage control to improve beam efficacy in tokamaks”, Physics of Plasmas, vol. 25, no. 5, 2018.
K. Barada, T.L. Rhodes, K.H. Burrell, L. Zeng, L. Bardoczi, X. Chen, “Quasistationary Plasma Predator-Prey System of Coupled Turbulence, Drive, and Sheared Flow During High Performance DIII-D Tokamak”, Physical Review Letters, vol. 120, no. 13, pp. 135002, 2018.
Bardóczi L., Podestá M., Heidbrink W., Van Zeeland M., “Test and validation of TRANSP "Kick"-model predictive capability of neoclassical tearing mode induced fast ion transport in ITER relevant DIII-D plasmas”, 45th EPS Conference on Plasma Physics, EPS 2018, vol. 2018-July, pp. 473-476, 2018.
L. Bardóczi, T.L. Rhodes, T.A. Carter, R.J. La Haye, A. Bañón Navarro, “Shrinking of core neoclassical tearing mode magnetic islands due to edge localized modes and the role of ion-scale turbulence in island recovery in DIII-D”, Physics of Plasmas, vol. 24, no. 6, 2017.
Schmitz L., Yan Z., Rhodes T.L., Gohil P., McKee G.R., Zeng L., Grierson B., Bardoczi L., Eldon D., Petty C.C., “Towards a physics-based understanding of the L-H transition power threshold”, 44th EPS Conference on Plasma Physics, EPS 2017, 2017.
L. Bardoczi, “Multi-field/-scale interaction of neoclassical tearing modes with turbulence and impact on plasma confinement”, 2017. Thesis submitted to University of California, Los Angeles,
C. Sung, W.A. Peebles, C. Wannberg, T.L. Rhodes, X. Nguyen, R. Lantsov, L. Bardoczi, “A frequency tunable, eight-channel correlation ECE system for electron temperature turbulence measurements on the DIII-D tokamak”, Review of Scientific Instruments, vol. 87, no. 11, pp. 11E123, 2016.
Schmitz L., Grierson B.A., Yan Z., Gohil P., McKee G.R., Zeng L., Rhodes T.L., Boedo J.A., Eldon D., Bardoczi L., Chrystal C., Groebner J.R., Burrell K.H., Doyle E.J., Wang G., “Connecting microscopic L-H transition physics to the power threshold”, 42nd European Physical Society Conference on Plasma Physics, EPS 2015, 2015.
L. Bardóczi, A. Bencze, M. Berta, L. Schmitz, “Experimental confirmation of self-regulating turbulence paradigm in two-dimensional spectral condensation”, Physical Review E, vol. 90, no. 6, pp. 063103, 2014.
S. Zoletnik, L. Bardóczi, A. Krämer-Flecken, Y. Xu, I. Shesterikov, S. Soldatov, “Methods for the detection of Zonal Flows using one-point and two-point turbulence measurements”, Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion, vol. 54, no. 6, pp. 065007, 2012.
L. Bardóczi, M. Berta, A. Bencze, “Inverse energy cascade and turbulent transport in a quasi-two-dimensional magnetized electrolyte system: An experimental study”, Physical Review E—Statistical, Nonlinear, and Soft Matter Physics, vol. 85, no. 5, 2012.
Bardoczi L., Zoletnik S., Xu Y., Shesterikov I., Kramer-Flecken A., Soldatov S., Refy D., “Spatiotemporal structure of geodesic acoustic modes in the edge plasma of TEXTOR”, 38th EPS Conference on Plasma Physics 2011, EPS 2011 - Europhysics Conference Abstracts, vol. 35 1, pp. 353-356, 2011.
Zoletnik S., Bardoczi L., Anda G., Dunai D., Petravich G., Krämer-Flecken A., Soldatov S., “Poloidal flow velocity measurement at the edge of the TEXTOR tokamak using quasi-twodimensional Lithium Beam Emission Spectroscopy”, 36th EPS Conference on Plasma Physics 2009, EPS 2009 - Europhysics Conference Abstracts, vol. 33 E1, pp. 542-545, 2009.

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Most Cited Publications

L. Bardóczi, T.L. Rhodes, T.A. Carter, A. Banon Navarro, W.A. Peebles, “Modulation of core turbulent density fluctuations by large-scale neoclassical tearing mode islands in the DIII-D tokamak”, Physical Review Letters, vol. 116, no. 21, pp. 215001, 2016.
L. Bardóczi, T.L. Rhodes, T.A. Carter, N.A. Crocker, W.A. Peebles, B.A. Grierson, “Non-perturbative measurement of cross-field thermal diffusivity reduction at the O-point of 2/1 neoclassical tearing mode islands in the DIII-D tokamak”, Physics of Plasmas, vol. 23, no. 5, 2016.
Navarro A., Bardóczi L., Carter T., Jenko F., Rhodes T., “Effect of magnetic islands on profiles, flows, turbulence and transport in nonlinear gyrokinetic simulations”, Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion, vol. 59, 2017.
L. Bardóczi, T.L. Rhodes, A. Bañón Navarro, C. Sung, T.A. Carter, R.J. La Haye, “Multi-field/-scale interactions of turbulence with neoclassical tearing mode magnetic islands in the DIII-D tokamak”, Physics of Plasmas, vol. 24, no. 5, pp. 056106, 2017.
M.J. Choi, L. Bardóczi, J.M. Kwon, T.S. Hahm, H.K. Park, J. Kim, M. Woo, “Effects of plasma turbulence on the nonlinear evolution of magnetic island in tokamak”, Nature Communications, vol. 12, no. 1, pp. 375, 2021.
C. Paz-Soldan, C. Reux, K. Aleynikova, P. Aleynikov, V. Bandaru, M. Beidler, L. Bardoczi, “A novel path to runaway electron mitigation via deuterium injection and current-driven MHD instability”, Nuclear Fusion, vol. 61, no. 11, pp. 116058, 2021.
L. Bardóczi, N.C. Logan, E.J. Strait, “Neoclassical Tearing Mode Seeding by Nonlinear Three-Wave Interactions in Tokamaks”, Physical Review Letters, vol. 127, no. 5, pp. 055002, 2021.
W.W. Heidbrink, L. Bardóczi, C.S. Collins, G.J. Kramer, R.J. La Haye, D.J. Lin, “The phase-space dependence of fast-ion interaction with tearing modes”, Nuclear Fusion, vol. 58, no. 8, pp. 082027, 2018.
Y.C. Ghim, A.R. Field, D. Dunai, S. Zoletnik, L. Bardóczi, A.A. Schekochihin, “Measurement and physical interpretation of the mean motion of turbulent density patterns detected by the beam emission spectroscopy system on the mega amp spherical tokamak”, Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion, vol. 54, no. 9, pp. 095012, 2012.
L. Bardóczi, T.A. Carter, R.J. La Haye, T.L. Rhodes, G.R. McKee, “Impact of neoclassical tearing mode–turbulence multi-scale interaction in global confinement degradation and magnetic island stability”, Physics of Plasmas, vol. 24, no. 12, 2017.

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Contact Information

Website: https://faculty.sites.uci.edu/lbardoczi/

Email: lbardocz@uci.edu

Address: Frederick Reines Hall – 4182 – Irvine, CA 92697

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This profile was last updated on 2/14/2025.

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