Experimental Plasma Physicist with over a decade of expertise in advanced diagnostic development and complex plasma modeling. Proven ability to lead and contribute to cutting-edge research in tokamak physics, specializing in tokamak startup simulations, and the design, commissioning, and exploitation of state-of-the-art microwave diagnostics. Adept at leveraging deep knowledge of plasma core turbulent transport and synthetic diagnostics to drive quantitative experimental comparisons and achieve solid rigurous advancements in fusion energy research.
Work
Swiss Plasma Center
|
Postdoctoral research associate
Lausanne, Vaud, Switzerland
→
Summary
Led the development and experimental validation of electromagnetic reconstruction codes and burn-through simulation tools for TCV tokamak plasmas, actively contributing to doublet plasma advancements.
Highlights
Developed and experimentally validated electromagnetic reconstruction codes, enhancing the analysis of the breakdown phase in TCV tokamak plasmas.
Commissioned and experimentally validated the STREAM burn-through simulation code, accurately modeling TCV startup scenarios with significant fast electron ramp-up.
Actively participated in the development and exploitation of doublet plasmas, contributing to advanced plasma configuration research.
Max Planck-Institute for Plasma Physics
|
Postdoctoral research associate
Garching, Bavaria, Germany
→
Summary
Integrated, tested, and installed a multi-frequency Doppler backscattering diagnostic and developed analysis routines for plasma rotation and density fluctuation properties.
Highlights
Integrated, tested, and installed a state-of-the-art multi-frequency Doppler backscattering diagnostic in the ASDEX-Upgrade tokamak.
Developed advanced analysis routines to extract critical plasma rotation, radial correlation lengths, eddy tilt-angles, and density fluctuation levels.
Plasma Science and Fusion Center - Massachussetts Institute of Technology
|
Postdoctoral research associate
Garching, Bavaria, Germany
→
Summary
Conducted rigorous comparisons between experimental turbulence measurements and gyrokinetic simulations, while calibrating and operating a correlation ECE radiometer diagnostic.
Highlights
Explored rigorous comparisons between experimental measurements of turbulence quantities and gyrokinetic (GENE) as well as gyrofluid (TGLF) simulations.
Calibrated, installed, and operated a correlation ECE radiometer diagnostic in the ASDEX-Upgrade tokamak to measure temperature fluctuation properties.
Swiss Plasma Centre - TCV tokamak unit
|
Doctoral assistant
Lausanne, Vaud, Switzerland
→
Summary
Designed, developed, tested, and exploited advanced V-band Doppler backscattering and short pulse reflectometer diagnostics for measuring density fluctuations and equilibrium profiles in tokamak experiments.
Highlights
Designed, developed, tested, and initially exploited a sweepable V-band Doppler backscattering (DBS) diagnostic, measuring density fluctuations' rotation velocities and energy spectra.
Achieved the first demonstration of multi-frequency and polarization rotation with DBS in a tokamak experiment.
Designed, developed, tested, and initially exploited an innovative V-band fast AWG-driven short pulse reflectometer to access equilibrium density profiles and fluctuations.
Bionik Laboratories Inc.
|
Junior Software and Controls Engineer
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
→
Summary
Developed and implemented control algorithms to mimic human walking patterns and designed GUI control panels for exoskeleton legs.
Highlights
Designed and implemented control algorithms to mimic human walking patterns using 4-BLDC motors, Atmega-2560 MCU, and external motor-driver chips.
Developed and implemented a GUI control panel for exoskeleton legs utilizing C# and OpenGL.
Institute of Space Systems, University of Stuttgart
|
Graduate Research Assistant
Stuttgart, Baden-Württemberg, Germany
→
Summary
Assimilated hundreds of PPT publications to uncover performance characteristics and gained familiarity with high-voltage circuits for Pulsed Plasma Thrusters (PPT).
Highlights
Assimilated hundreds of PPT publications, unveiling important performance characteristics published in international conferences.
Gained familiarity with the characterization and utilization of high-voltage circuits for ceramic spark-plug ignition of Pulsed Plasma Thrusters (PPT).
Royal Military College
|
Undergraduate Summer Research Assistant
Kingston, Ontario, Canada
→
Summary
Designed and constructed a highly-sensitive 3-axial search-coil spacemagnetometer prototype and configured its pre-amp and flight-processor.
Highlights
Designed and constructed a prototype of a highly-sensitive 3-axial search-coil spacemagnetometer for CIMON Cubesat mission within a 4-month internship.
Configured pre-amp stage and flight-processor (in C and Assembly language) to measure magnetic field values from the prototype magnetometer for calibration.
University of Toronto
|
Undergraduate Summer Research Assistant
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
→
Summary
Developed software routines in C for azimuth tracking and manufactured electrical connectors for attitude-control systems of a stratospheric balloon-borne IR telescope.
Highlights
Wrote software routines in C within a Linux environment to track azimuth with on-board magnetometers.
Manufactured electrical connectors and mechanical mounts for the attitude-control system of a stratospheric balloon-borne IR telescope.
Queen's University
|
Research Assistant
Kingston, Ontario, Canada
→
Summary
Programmed LabView VIs for data acquisition and motion control of nuclear materials experiments and translated experiment code from Visual Basic to LabView.
Highlights
Programmed LabView VIs for data-acquisition and motion-control of four nuclear-materials experiments involving laser dilatometer, servo and steppermotors, and large hydraulic rigs.
Translated a large experiment code from object-oriented Visual Basic to LabView, significantly improving controllability and performance.
Education
Swiss Plasma Centre - EPFL
Lausanne, Vaud, Switzerland
→
PhDTokamak Physics
Courses
Thesis: Tokamak plasma edge studies by microwave short-pulse reflectometry and backscattering
Ghent, Complutense, Carlos III, Nancy, and Stuttgart universities (Joint Degree)
Ghent, East Flanders, Belgium
→
MSc (Cum Laude)Nuclear Fusion Science and Engineering Physics
Courses
Thesis: Modeling capacitively coupled plasmas for impedance matching studies in the ALINE device.
International Space University
Strasbourg, Grand Est, France
→
MSc (Cum Laude)Space Studies
Courses
Thesis: Pulsed Plasma Thrusters, a global review and experiments.
Queen's University
Kingston, Ontario, Canada
→
BSc. Eng. (First Class Honours)Engineering Physics
Courses
Final year project: Design of a constellation of nanosatellites to monitor magnetic environment at the second Lagrangian point.
Awards
Early Career Collection Award
Physics of Plasmas Journal Editorial Board
Awarded to 30 authors out of 146 with first author papers published within 5 years of receiving their Ph.D.
Editor's Pick Award
Physics of Plasmas Journal Editorial Board
Awarded to one of the top ten papers published in August 2023 in the Physics of Plasma Journal.
Best Film Award - Exposure Science Film Hackaton
Jury of Exposure Science Film Hackaton (UNIL/EPFL)
Awarded for 'Sun in a Box' film, created by a team of four, winning best film by jury and second best film by audience vote.
Prime Speciale Award
Dean of the Faculty of Physics, EPFL
Awarded for exceptional service as a teacher assistant for the 3rd year bachelors laboratory course.
EM Fusion Cat.A Scholarship
European Commission EACEA
Awarded based on academic performance and potential to succeed in the EM Fusion master program.
CANSAT Competition 2nd Place Ranking
Engineering Society, Queen's University (AAS/AIAA 6th CanSat Competition)
Awarded to Queen's Space Engineering Team for performance at the AAS/AIAA 6th CanSat Competition in Amarillo, Texas.
CFISU Masters Scholarship
Canadian Foundation for the International Space University
Awarded based on academic performance and potential to succeed in the master program.
Millenium Scholarship
Canada Millenium Scholarship Foundation
Awarded based on academic performance, service to the community, leadership, and interest in innovation.
Cameron Applied Science Award
Applied Science, Queen's University
Awarded to engineering students involved in non-traditional fields such as Engineering-Art through the Robiotics project.
Dean's Scholar Award
Applied Science, Queen's University
Awarded based on academic performance.
Publications
Improvements to standard diagnostic preparation and data-quality monitoring in the TCV tokamak.
Fusion Engineering and Design
Molina Cabrera P. A., Pastore, F., Frank, A., Simons, L., Ambroise, T., Yildiz, C., Vincent, B., Verhaegh, K., Marini, C., Wensing, M., Ianchenko, A., Balestri, A., Ernst, S., Coda, S., Sheikh, U., and the TCV team., Fusion Engineering and Design. 223, 115578, February 2026. Available online.
Fast electron generation during tokamak startup: experiments and simulations in the TCV tokamak.
Nuclear Fusion (planned submission)
Molina Cabrera P. A., Gache F., Hoppe, M., Decker J., Coda S., Ekmark, I., L. Simons, Choukroun M., Y. Andrebe, E. Devlaminck, F. Felici, A. Merle, L. Porte, U. Sheikh, B. Vincent, and the TCV team., In preparation; to be submitted to Nuclear Fusion in early 2026.
Fast electron generation during tokamak startup: experiments and simulations in TCV (Invited Oral Presentation)
9th Asia-Pacific conference on Plasma Physics (AAPPS)
Invited oral presentation on fast electron generation during tokamak startup, including experiments and simulations in TCV, presented in Fukuoka, Japan.
Electromagnetic analysis of breakdown conditions and experimental validation of OD Townsend breakdown theory on the TCV tokamak.
Nuclear Fusion
Molina Cabrera P. A., Felici F., Coda S., Merle A., Simons L., Heiss C., Galperti C., Perek A., Wüthirich, and the TCV team., Nuclear Fusion. 65, 106005, September 2025 Available online.
Startup fast electrons: experiments and simulations in TCV (Oral Presentation)
Joint Runaway Electron Modelling (REM) and JET SPI analysis meeting
Oral presentation on startup fast electrons, experiments, and simulations in TCV, presented in Lausanne, Switzerland.
Design of a correlation refletometer radiometer and measurements of the electron density-temperature cross-phase angle in the H-mode pedestal with small edge localized modes at ASDEX Upgrade.
Review of Scientific Instruments
Yoo C., Conway G. D., Burke W., Molina-Cabrera P., Vanovac B., Cruz-Zabala D. J., Silva A., White A. E., Review of Scientific Instruments. vol 96, 033504, 2025 Available online.
Milestone in predicting core plasma turbulence: successful multi-channel validation of the gyrokinetic code GENE.
Nature Communications
Höfler K., Görler T., Happel T., Carsten L., Molina Cabrera P., et al., Nature Communications. vol. 161, 2558, 2025 Available online.
Improvements to standard diagnostic preparation and data-quality monitoring in the TCV tokamak (Poster Presentation)
33rd Symposium of Fusions Technologies (SOFT 2024)
Poster presentation on improvements to standard diagnostic preparation and data-quality monitoring in the TCV tokamak, presented in Dublin, Ireland.
Experimental validation of OD Townsend breakdown theory in the TCV tokamak (Oral Presentation)
50th European Physical Society (EPS) meeting
Oral presentation on experimental validation of OD Townsend breakdown theory in the TCV tokamak, presented in Salamanca, Spain.
Isotope effects on energy transport in the core of ASDEX-Upgrade tokamak plasmas: Turbulence measurements and model validation.
Physics of Plasmas
Molina Cabrera P. A., Rodriguez-Fernandez P., Görler, Bergmann M., Höfler K., Denk S. S., Bielajew R., Conway G. D., Yoo C., White A. E., and the ASDEX Upgrade Team., Physics of Plasmas. 30, 082304, August 2023. Awarded Editor's Pick and included in Early Career Collection.
W-band tunable, multi-channel, frequency comb Doppler backscattering diagnostic in the ASDEX-Upgrade tokamak.
Review of Scientific Instruments
Molina Cabrera P. A., Kasparek W., Happel T., Kammerloher L., Hoefler K., Hennequin P., Honoré C., and the ASDEX Upgrade team., Review of Scientific Instruments. 94, 083504, August 2023. Available online.
Changes in electron temperature fluctuations and transport with isotopic mass in L-mode plasmas at ASDEX-Upgrade (Oral Presentation)
Joint EU-US Transport Task Force (TTF) meeting
Oral presentation on changes in electron temperature fluctuations and transport with isotopic mass in L-mode plasmas at ASDEX-Upgrade, presented virtually from York University, UK.
High resolution density pedestal measurements during edge localized modes by short-pulse reflectometry in the TCV tokamak.
Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion journal
Molina Cabrera P. A., Labit B., Coda S., Porte L., and the TCV team., Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion journal. 63, 085019, July 2021. Available online.
Changes in electron temperature fluctuations and transport with isotopic mass in L-mode plasmas at ASDEX-Upgrade (Poster Presentation)
62nd Annual Meeting of the APS Division of Plasma Physics
Poster presentation on changes in electron temperature fluctuations and transport with isotopic mass in L-mode plasmas at ASDEX-Upgrade, presented virtually.
Changes in electron temperature fluctuations and transport with isotopic mass in L-mode plasmas at ASDEX-Upgrade (Poster Presentation)
47th European Physical Society conference on plasma physics
Poster presentation on changes in electron temperature fluctuations and transport with isotopic mass in L-mode plasmas at ASDEX-Upgrade, presented virtually.
Changes in core electron temperature fluctuations and transport with isotopic mass in L-mode plasmas at ASDEX-Upgrade.
47th EPS conference on Plasma Physics
Molina Cabrera P., P. Rodriguez-Fernandez, T. Goerler, M. Bergmann, R. Bielajew, G. D. Conway, K. Hoefler, C. Yoo, A. E. White, 47th EPS conference on Plasma Physics. P5.1075. Available online.
V-band nanosecond-scale pulse reflectometer diagnostic in the TCV tokamak.
Review of Scientific Instruments
Molina Cabrera P. A., Coda S., Porte L., Offedu N., Lavanchy P., Silva M., Toussaint M., and the TCV team., Review of Scientific Instruments, 90(12), 123501, 2019. Available online.
Doppler Backscattering diagnostic in the TCV tokamak (Oral Presentation)
14th International Reflectometry Workshop
Oral presentation on Doppler Backscattering diagnostic in the TCV tokamak, presented at Swiss Plasma Center, EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland.
Doppler Backscattering diagnostic in the TCV tokamak.
14th International Reflectometry Workshop
Molina Cabrera P., Coda S., Porte L., N. Offeddu, Swiss Plasma Centre. EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland. 22-24 May 2019. Available online.
AWG-driven Short Pulse Reflectometer diagnostic in the TCV tokamak.
14th International Reflectometry Workshop
Molina Cabrera P., Coda S., Porte L., Smolders A., Swiss Plasma Centre. EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland. 22-24 May 2019. O.101. Available online.
AWG-driven Short Pulse Reflectometer diagnostic in the TCV tokamak (Oral Presentation)
14th International Reflectometry Workshop
Oral presentation on AWG-driven Short Pulse Reflectometer diagnostic in the TCV tokamak, presented at Swiss Plasma Center, EPFL, Lausanne, Switzerland.
V-band Doppler backscattering diagnostic in the TCV tokamak.
Review of Scientific Instruments
Molina Cabrera P. A., Coda S., Porte L., Offedu N., Lavanchy P., Silva M., Toussaint M., and the TCV team., Review of Scientific Instruments, 89(8), 2018 Available online.
Reflectometry diagnostics in TCV (Poster Presentation)
45th Conference on Plasma Physics, European Physical Society
Poster presentation on reflectometry diagnostics in TCV, presented in Prague, Czech Republic.
Pulse Reflectometer and Doppler backscattering diagnostics in the TCV Tokamak.
45th Conference on Plasma Physics, European Physical Society
Molina Cabrera P., Coda S., Porte L., Smolders A., et al., Prague, Czech Republic, July 2-6, 2018. P1.1015. Available online.
Reflectometry diagnostics in TCV (Poster Presentation)
59th Annual Meeting of the APS Division of Plasma Physics
Poster presentation on reflectometry diagnostics in TCV, presented in Milwaukee, WI, US.
Measuring electron density profiles and fluctuations in the pedestal of the TCV tokamak with innovative U-band arbitrary short pulse reflectometer (Poster Presentation)
21st Topical Conference on High-temperature Plasma Diagnostics
Poster presentation on measuring electron density profiles and fluctuations in the TCV tokamak pedestal using a U-band arbitrary short pulse reflectometer, presented in Madison, WI, US.
Microwave reflectometery in TCV (Oral Presentation)
Joint Annual Meeting of the Swiss and Austrian societies
Oral presentation on microwave reflectometry in TCV, presented in Vienna, Austria.
Benefits, Drawbacks, and Main Challenges of the VASIMR engine.
32nd International Electric Propulsion Conference
Molina Cabrera P., Tolyarenko N., Wiesbaden, Germany, 11-15 September 2011. Available online.
Pulsed Plasma Thrusters: A global review and long awaited classification.
32nd International Electric Propulsion Conference
Molina Cabrera P., Herdrich G., Lau M., Schoenher T., Wiesbaden, Germany, 11-15 September 2011. Available online.