http://phys.org/physics-news/plasma/ en-us PhysOrg Team Phys.Org provides the latest news on physics of plasma A group of Chinese and Australian scientists, including CSIRO, have developed a handheld, battery-powered plasma-producing device that can rid skin of bacteria in an instant. The handheld plasma flashlight could be used in ambulance emergency calls, natural disaster sites, military combat operations and many other instances where treatment is required in remote locations. http://phys.org/news254652423.html Physics - Plasma Physics 2012-04-26T09:47:48-07:00 (Phys.org) -- Physicists have discovered a possible solution to a mystery that has long baffled researchers working to harness fusion. If confirmed by experiment, the finding could help scientists eliminate a major impediment to the development of fusion as a clean and abundant source of energy for producing electric power. http://phys.org/news254420504.html Physics - Plasma Physics 2012-04-23T17:22:11-07:00 To observe ultrarapid phenomena such as the motion of electrons within matter, researchers need sources capable of producing extremely fast and energetic light radiation. Although devices capable of emitting pulses with attosecond (10-18 seconds) precision already exist, many research teams are striving to stretch the boundaries of these pulses' duration and intensity. http://phys.org/news252833486.html Physics - Plasma Physics 2012-04-05T08:32:27-07:00 (PhysOrg.com) -- A group of Chinese and Australian scientists have developed a handheld, battery-powered plasma-producing device that can rid skin of bacteria in an instant. http://phys.org/news252768702.html Physics - Plasma Physics 2012-04-04T19:00:10-07:00 Nowadays, ever smaller and more powerful computer chips are in demand. German physicists have discovered a new physical attraction that accelerates this progress. http://phys.org/news251981099.html Physics - Plasma Physics 2012-03-26T12:00:02-07:00 January saw the biggest solar storm since 2005, generating some of the most dazzling northern lights in recent memory. http://phys.org/news248527061.html Physics - Plasma Physics 2012-02-15T13:00:04-07:00 (PhysOrg.com) -- Collective, or coordinated behavior is routine in liquids, where waves can occur as atoms act together. In a milliliter (mL) of liquid water, 1022 molecules bob around, colliding. When a breeze passes by, waves can form across the surface. These waves are not present in the same volume of air, where only 1019 gas molecules randomly move about. http://phys.org/news247733019.html Physics - Plasma Physics 2012-02-06T06:44:14-07:00 DOE's Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) is getting an earlier-than-expected start on a $94 million, nearly three-year project as the next stage of its mission to chart an attractive course for the development of nuclear fusion as a clean, safe and abundant fuel for generating electricity. http://phys.org/news246091300.html Physics - Plasma Physics 2012-01-18T07:00:02-07:00 Ultra hot quark-gluon-plasma, generated by heavy-ion collisions in particle accelerators, is supposed to be the "most perfect fluid" in the world. Previous theories imposed a limit on how "liquid" fluids can be. Recent results at the Vienna University of Technology suggest that this limit can be broken -- making the world's "most perfect fluid" even more perfect. http://phys.org/news246021098.html Physics - Plasma Physics 2012-01-17T11:11:51-07:00 University of Missouri engineers and their research collaborators at Nanova, Inc. are one step closer to a painless way to replace fillings. After favorable results in the lab, human clinical trials are underway on the "plasma brush." http://phys.org/news243608760.html Physics - Plasma Physics 2011-12-20T13:06:10-07:00 Researchers test a pre-emptive anti-viral treatment on a common virus known to cause respiratory infections. http://phys.org/news243253639.html Physics - Plasma Physics 2011-12-16T10:27:26-07:00 Life-threatening viruses such as HIV, SARS, hepatitis and influenza, could soon be combatted in an unusual manner as researchers have demonstrated the effectiveness of plasma for inactivating and preventing the replication of adenoviruses. http://phys.org/news242305570.html Physics - Plasma Physics 2011-12-05T12:00:01-07:00 a leading design concept for producing nuclear fusion energy—can, under certain rare fault conditions, produce beams of very energetic "runaway" electrons that have the potential to damage interior surfaces of the device. In the event of such a fault, a tokamak-based nuclear fusion power plant will have to employ protection systems to prevent any damage. Now, scientists at the DIII-D National Fusion Facility have demonstrated a new method for controlling these high-energy electrons. http://phys.org/news240167470.html Physics - Plasma Physics 2011-11-11T11:50:02-07:00 Research on the Alcator C-Mod experiment at MIT has made an unexpected connection between two seemingly unrelated but important phenomena observed in tokamak plasmas: spontaneous plasma rotation and the global energy confinement of the plasma. http://phys.org/news240167492.html Physics - Plasma Physics 2011-11-11T11:50:01-07:00 Recent experiments carried out at the DIII-D tokamak in San Diego have allowed scientists to observe how fusion plasmas spontaneously turn off the plasma turbulence responsible for most of the heat loss in plasmas confined by toroidal magnetic fields. Using a new microwave instrument based on the same principles as police radar guns, researchers from UCLA observed the complex interplay between plasma turbulence and plasma flows occurring on the surface of tokamak plasmas. http://phys.org/news240167395.html Physics - Plasma Physics 2011-11-10T19:20:01-07:00 Samuel Lazerson, an associate research physicist in advanced projects at the U.S. Department of Energy's Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL), has created a video simulation showing the intricate nature of a plasma pulse within an experimental fusion machine known as a heliotron. The simulation shows the superconducting field coils, saddle loops, and plasma of the Large Helical Device (LHD) at the National Institute for Fusion Science in Japan. http://phys.org/news240167548.html Physics - Plasma Physics 2011-11-10T18:50:01-07:00 A team of scientists working at the U.S. Department of Energy's Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) has found that increasing the amount of lithium coating in the wall of an experimental fusion reactor greatly improves the ability of experimentalists to contain the hot, ionized gas known as plasma. Adding more lithium also enhances certain plasma properties aiding the reaction, the researchers found. http://phys.org/news240167592.html Physics - Plasma Physics 2011-11-10T17:50:01-07:00 A key challenge in producing fusion energy is confining the plasma long enough for the ionized hydrogen to fuse and produce net power. Suppressing plasma turbulence is one approach to this, but the resulting increase in energy confinement is usually accompanied by undesirable increases in particle and impurity confinement, which can lead to plasma contamination and ash accumulation—and reduced power. At MIT's Alcator C-Mod tokamak reactor, scientists are investigating I-mode, an improved confinement regime, which may solve this problem. http://phys.org/news240167351.html Physics - Plasma Physics 2011-11-10T17:09:18-07:00 A major upgrade to the DIII-D tokamak fusion reactor operated by General Atomics in San Diego will enable it to develop fusion plasmas that can burn indefinitely. Researchers installed a movable, 30-ton particle-beam heating system that drives electric current over a broad cross section of the magnetically confined plasma inside the reactor's vacuum vessel. Precise aiming of this beamline allows scientists to vary the spatial distribution of the plasma current to maintain optimal conditions for sustaining the high temperature plasmas needed for fusion energy production. http://phys.org/news240166977.html Physics - Plasma Physics 2011-11-10T17:03:04-07:00 A fusion reactor operates best when the hot plasma inside it consists only of fusion fuel (hydrogen's heavy isotopes, deuterium and tritium), much as a car runs best with a clean engine. But fusion fuel reactions at the heart of magnetic fusion reactors also create leftovers—helium "ash." The buildup of this helium ash and other impurities can cool the hot plasma and reduce fusion power. Research at the MIT Plasma Science and Fusion Center is providing new insight into the transport of these impurities in fusion plasmas in an effort to improve on the natural impurity exhaust process, producing cleaner plasmas and higher fusion power. http://phys.org/news240166952.html Physics - Plasma Physics 2011-11-10T17:02:38-07:00 To achieve nuclear fusion for practical energy production, scientists often use magnetic fields to confine plasma. This creates a magnetic (or more precisely "magneto-hydrodynamic") fluid in which plasma is tied to magnetic field lines, and where regions of plasma can be isolated and heated to very high temperatures—typically 10 times hotter than the core of the sun! At these temperatures the plasma is nearly superconducting, and the magnetic field becomes tightly linked to the plasma, able to provide the strong force needed to hold in the hot fusion core. The overall plasma and magnetic field structure becomes akin to that of an onion, where magnetic field lines describe surfaces like the layers in the onion. While heat can be transported readily within the layers, conduction between layers is far more limited, making the core much hotter than the edge. http://phys.org/news240166907.html Physics - Plasma Physics 2011-11-10T17:01:56-07:00 Experiments discover a 3-D process by which magnetic reconnection can release energyfaster than expected by classical theories. http://phys.org/news240165754.html Physics - Plasma Physics 2011-11-10T16:46:19-07:00 Plasma etching (using an ionized gas to carve tiny components on silicon wafers) has long enabled the perpetuation of Moore's Law -- the observation that the number of transistors that can be squeezed into an integrated circuit doubles about every two years. Without the compensating capabilities of plasma etching, Moore's Law would have faltered around 1980 with transistor sizes at about 1 micron (the diameter of a human hair is approximately 40-50 microns wide). Today, etch compensation helps create devices that are smaller than 20 nanometers (1,000 times smaller than a micron). http://phys.org/news240151052.html Physics - Plasma Physics 2011-11-10T12:38:31-07:00 Photos taken by the researchers show plasma arcs up to 60 meters long casting an eerie blue glow over buildings and trees at the High Voltage Laboratory at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand. http://phys.org/news239997287.html Physics - Plasma Physics 2011-11-08T17:55:14-07:00 similar to the form created in neon signs, fluorescent tubes and TV displays – to create water that stays significantly antibacterial and can be used as a disinfectant for at least seven days after becoming plasma-active. http://phys.org/news239594086.html Physics - Plasma Physics 2011-11-04T02:55:05-07:00 Aiming to take "clean" to a whole new level, researchers at the University of California at Berkeley and the University of Maryland at College Park have teamed up to study how low-temperature plasmas can deactivate potentially dangerous biomolecules left behind by conventional sterilization methods. Using low-temperature plasmas is a promising technique for sterilization and deactivation of surgical instruments and medical devices, but the researchers say its effectiveness isn't fully understood yet. The researchers will present their findings at the AVS Symposium, held Oct. 30 – Nov. 4, in Nashville, Tenn. http://phys.org/news239275941.html Physics - Plasma Physics 2011-10-31T10:33:24-07:00 With the click of a computer mouse, a scientist at the U.S. Department of Energy's Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) sends 10,000 volts of electricity into a chamber filled with hydrogen gas. The charge heats the gas to 100,000 degrees Celsius. http://phys.org/news238752399.html Physics - Plasma Physics 2011-10-25T09:07:35-07:00 September is commonly the month where things begin to gather pace again, and in the world of fusion energy research, things are no different. European scientists working on the Joint European Torus (JET), the world's largest magnetic confinement fusion device, are about to embark on the first round of experiments following a 22-month period where the device was out of action whilst being upgraded and commissioned. http://phys.org/news234429311.html Physics - Plasma Physics 2011-09-05T08:15:29-07:00 (PhysOrg.com) -- A new tool developed by nuclear engineers at Purdue University will be hitched to an experimental fusion reactor at Princeton University to learn precisely what happens when extremely hot plasmas touch and interact with the inner surface of the reactor. http://phys.org/news233561318.html Physics - Plasma Physics 2011-08-26T07:09:06-07:00 An instrument developed by researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy's Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) has enabled a team at the EAST fusion experiment in China to observe--in startling detail--how a particular type of electromagnetic wave known as a radiofrequency (RF) wave affects the behavior of hot ionized gas. http://phys.org/news231754292.html Physics - Plasma Physics 2011-08-05T09:11:48-07:00