Plasma interactions as a research area investigates the fundamental processes governing how plasmas interact with fields, particles, and material boundaries in laboratory, space, and astrophysical environments. It encompasses collisional and collisionless regimes, wave–particle and wave–wave interactions, magnetic reconnection, sheath formation at surfaces, and energy and momentum transfer between charged and neutral species. This field integrates kinetic and fluid (MHD, two-fluid, gyrokinetic) descriptions, advanced diagnostics, and numerical simulations to study phenomena such as turbulence, transport, instabilities, and nonlinear structure formation, with implications for fusion devices, space weather, propulsion, and high-energy-density plasma systems.
Using a combination of laser cooling techniques and strong magnetic fields, researchers at Colorado State University have for the first time created an ultracold neutral plasma with electrons cooled to temperatures measured ...
General Physics
Aug 4, 2026
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Researchers at Skoltech, together with a colleague from the Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, working within the joint SIOM–Skoltech laboratory, have determined how to select ...
Optics & Photonics
Jul 22, 2026
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20
Many modern technologies, from optical communications and artificial intelligence (AI) hardware to advanced sensors and medical imaging, depend on photonic and semiconductor devices that precisely control the interaction ...
Quantum Physics
Jul 22, 2026
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21
When a high-intensity laser interacts with plasma, the charged particles typically oscillate back and forth like waves on the ocean. But what if the laser itself could twist like a whirlpool? Researchers have now demonstrated ...
Optics & Photonics
Jun 29, 2026
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157
Experiments at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's National Ignition Facility (NIF) require breathtaking precision. Each of the 192 lasers is focused to a width of a few millimeters to enter a 3-millimeter hole at the ...
Optics & Photonics
Jun 18, 2026
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41
High above our heads, a silent battle is unfolding within Earth's magnetic shield. For decades, scientists have tracked "killer electrons"—ultrafast particles capable of piercing satellite armor and endangering astronauts ...
The mechanism that can cause a rapidly expanding plasma—the superhot state of matter harnessed in fusion energy systems—to spontaneously generate its own magnetic fields was identified through a new set of simulations. This ...
General Physics
May 5, 2026
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58
Particle accelerators such as those at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Geneva are typically highly complex large-scale devices. In these ring-shaped facilities, which are often several kilometers ...
Plasma Physics
Apr 30, 2026
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For the first time, a research team has demonstrated, in a metal-wall environment, a plasma regime that simultaneously achieves partial divertor detachment, an edge-localized-mode (ELM)-free high-confinement mode (H-mode), ...
Plasma Physics
Apr 29, 2026
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Researchers from Skoltech and the Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics have developed an approach that helps optimize the parameters of a laser-plasma source of attosecond pulses—ultrashort flashes of light used ...
General Physics
Apr 27, 2026
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