Author: I. P. Shkarofsky
Fuller name: Issie Peter Shkarofsky
Title: Dr.
Bio: ISSIE  P. SHKAROFSKY, M.Sc., Ph.D. (McGill) 
  
Issie P. Shkarofsky graduated  in  1952  from  McGill  University,   
Montreal with a B.Sc. degree and first class  honours  in  physics   
and mathematics. In the following  year,  1953,  he  obtained  his   
M.Sc. degree, conducting his research  at  the  Eaton  Electronics   
Research Laboratory, McGill University, in the fields of microwave   
optics and antennas.  He then joined the microwave tube and  noise   
group at the same laboratory and received his Ph.D. degree in 1957   
with a thesis on modulated  electron  beams  in  space-charge-wave   
tubes and klystrons.  After graduation,  he  joined  the  Research   
Laboratories of RCA Limited, Montreal, where  he  participated  in   
research on  microwave  diffraction,  millimeter  waves,  obstacle   
gain, laser applications, electromagnetic  wave  interaction  with   
plasmas, plasma kinetics and theory, plasmas in space  and  fusion   
studies. From 1973 until 1977, his position was R&D Fellow at  the   
RCA Research and Development Laboratories. At the start  of  1977,   
he joined  MPB  Technologies Inc. as a R&D Fellow. In 1988, he was   
appointed  Director of  the  Fusion  Technology  Division  at  MPB   
Technologies Inc. At MPB Technologies, he  conducted  research  in   
the fields of plasmas, tokamak and laser  fusion,  electromagnetic   
theory and propagation, electron devices, radar and  WISP  shuttle   
experiments. He directed the MPBT fusion group working at the 
Tokamak de Varennes during its existence. Thereafter, he worked on 
laser fiber amplifiers. He is presently a research fellow emeritus 
at MPBT, after retirement in 2002.

  
In the field of plasma and space studies, his particular  interest           
has been in the following topics: plasma  transport  coefficients,   
collisional effects in plasmas (slightly, partially  and  strongly   
ionized),  Boltzmann  and  Fokker-Planck  theory  and  appropriate   
expansions, bremsstrahlung, magneto-hydrodynamics, re-entry plasma   
physics, generalized Appleton-Hartree equation for the ionosphere,   
laboratory simulation of geophysical phenomena such as  the  solar   
wind  interaction  with  the  magnetosphere  and  sheaths   around   
satellites, strong em  waves  near  plasma  resonances,  cyclotron   
harmonic resonances and dispersion including  weakly  relativistic   
effects, dielectric tensor elements for relativistic and  slightly   
relativistic plasmas, diagnostics of plasmas by laser  scattering,   
nonlinear mixing of plasma modes, Langmuir probes  on  satellites,   
VLF sheath admittance of antennas in the  ionosphere,   spacecraft   
charging/arcing/radiation,  kinetics  of  beams  in  crossed-field   
microwave tubes, injection mode locking of a TEA laser, high power   
laser interaction with matter including laser gas breakdown, probe   
diagnostics of anisotropic laser plasmas, laser energy  absorption   
and transport, such as the relation of hot electrons to  the  heat   
flux limit and ponderomotive corrections  to  transport  in  laser   
fusion,  and  a  review  of  laser  fusion  projects  for  Canada. 
In the area of turbulence, he investigated radar  scattering  from   
turbulent  plasmas,  laser   propagation   through   a   turbulent   
atmosphere, microwave  propagation  through  a  turbulent  plasma,   
hydrodynamic flow turbulence, arc turbulence, and radar scattering   
from chaff.
  
In the field of em  propagation,  attention  was  focused  on  the   
relationship in satellite communications between rain  attenuation   
and depolarization, site diversity studies for  rain  attenuation,   
the problems of depolarization due to imperfect  antenna  effects,   
due to rain and  due to atmospheric multipath refraction in  radio   
links, polarization tracking to  compensate  rain  depolarization,   
multipath  ray  tracing,  the  functional  objectives  for  plasma   
experiments using a WISP system on a  shuttle,  and  a  survey  of   
radar clutter for a space based radar system.
  
In 1973, he became a co-leader  of  the  Task  Force  on  Toroidal   
Machines for Fusion Canada, which ultimately led to the Tokamak de   
Varennes project.  His most recent efforts in  tokamak fusion were   
directed towards transport in toroidal geometry,  magnetic  probes   
to diagnose the current density  moments,  computer  programs  for   
current rampdown giving 2-dimensional contours of current  density   
and poloidal flux, codes with transport covering the neo-classical   
to banana regime to simulate the  current  plateau  and  rampdown,   
codes for electron cyclotron and  for  lower  hybrid  heating  and   
associated ray tracing in toroidal geometry, the Fokker-Planck and   
quasi-linear operators and various codes for lower-hybrid  current   
drive, and the TSC equilibrium  simulation  code  applied  to  the   
Tokamak de Varennes. Early, well-known contributions 
were a book on plasma kinetics and the invention of a new 
mathematical function, known as the Shkarofsky function, which is 
used in the heating of plasmas close to cyclotron resonances. He 
has published as a principal or co-author about 134 papers in  
various journals and written 172 reports on the above research areas.
  
Dr.Shkarofsky  is  a  member  of   the  American   
Geophysical Union and a fellow of the  American  Physical  Society   
and its Plasma Physics Division. He has  served  on  the  National   
Research Council Advisory Committee on Physics, and as  professeur   
invite du Centre de Recherche INRS-Energie, Universite de Quebec.