A laboratory plasma is an ionized gas produced and confined under controlled experimental conditions to study fundamental plasma behavior and simulate space, astrophysical, or fusion-relevant environments. It is generated by applying electric fields, electromagnetic waves, lasers, or discharge currents to a neutral gas, creating a quasi-neutral mixture of ions, electrons, and neutrals characterized by collective interactions and long-range Coulomb forces. Laboratory plasmas span regimes from low-temperature, weakly ionized discharges to high-temperature, magnetically confined fusion plasmas, enabling investigation of transport, turbulence, wave–particle interactions, reconnection, and plasma–surface or plasma–material interactions under reproducible, diagnosable conditions.
Harnessing energy from plasma requires a precise understanding of its behavior during fusion to keep it hot, dense and stable. A new theoretical model about a plasma's edge, which can become unstable and bulge, brings the ...
Plasma Physics
May 28, 2024
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Both literally and figuratively, light pervades the world. It banishes darkness, conveys telecommunications signals between continents and makes visible the invisible, from faraway galaxies to the smallest bacterium. Light ...
Optics & Photonics
May 23, 2024
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For the first time, scientists have built a fusion experiment using permanent magnets, a technique that could show a simple way to build future devices for less cost and allow researchers to test new concepts for future fusion ...
Plasma Physics
Apr 2, 2024
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An interdisciplinary team of researchers at the University of Antwerp (Belgium) successfully conducted in-situ studies with a plasma generated inside a scanning electron microscope (SEM). This marks the first time live SEM ...
Plasma Physics
Feb 28, 2024
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185
Five independent teams of researchers have reviewed the work and claims made by a group at the National Ignition Facility (NIF) who announced in December 2022 that they had achieved the first laser-powered fusion reaction ...
Artificially intelligent software has been developed to enhance medical treatments that use jets of electrified gas known as plasma. The computer code predicts the chemicals emitted by plasma devices, which can be used to ...
Plasma Physics
Feb 6, 2024
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Pulsed laser ablation in liquid (PLAL) is a reliable and versatile technique for producing metal nanoparticles (NPs) in solution. Its advantages, including the absence of reducing agents, operational simplicity, high purity ...
Nanophysics
Jan 29, 2024
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112
Fusion energy is being developed as a solution to global energy problems. In particular, the magnetic confinement method, in which ultra-high temperature plasma is confined by a magnetic field, is the most advanced and is ...
Plasma Physics
Jan 26, 2024
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300
Plasma is an ionized gas—that is, a gas containing electrons, ions, atoms, molecules, radicals, and photons. It is often called the fourth state of matter, and surprisingly, it permeates everything. Plasmas, which are artificially ...
Plasma Physics
Jan 24, 2024
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Emerging research suggests it may be easier to use fusion as a power source if liquid lithium is applied to the internal walls of the device housing the fusion plasma.
Plasma Physics
Jan 23, 2024
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