John Goree, Experimental plasma physics

• Dusty plasma, strongly-coupled plasma, optical diagnostics of plasmas, waves, biomedical applications of plasma
• Physics problems are interdisciplinary: condensed matter and plasma physics; experiments involve direct comparisons to theory
• Experiments are performed in our labs. Data from experiments on the International Space Station (ISS) are also analyzed.
• Two labs with plasma chambers and optical diagnostics
• Students also interact with group members including a research scientist and postdoc; other faculty and research scientists; collaborators in other countries
• Students develop skills including design, construction, and operation of: vacuum, electronic, optical, and laser systems; programming in various languages; image analysis

  Donald Gurnett, Experimental space plasma physics

• Experimental studies of planetary radio emissions and plasma waves
• Analysis of plasma data from Voyagers 1 and 2 now approaching interstellar space; Cassini in orbit around Saturn; Cluster, which consists of four spacecraft in Earth orbit; and Mars Express in orbit around Mars
• Students analyze data from spacecraft
• Students also interact with other group members, including research scientists, engineers, and programmers
• Supervised over 50 space physics thesis projects; former students now at NASA centers, industry, other universities

  Gregory Howes, Theoretical plasma physics

• Turbulence in the magnetized plasmas found in laboratories, space and astrophysics
• Analysis of spacecraft data from the turbulent solar wind
• Students develop skills including high-performance computing on the nation's fastest supercomputers, analysis of simulation and observational data, and development of simple analytical models to interpret results
• Students also interact with group members including a postdoc and collaborators around the world

  Craig Kletzing, Experimental plasma physics

• Plasma processes that occur in the aurora
• Laboratory experiments to test theory for Alfvén waves and collision operators
• Experiments are prepared at Iowa and then performed at UCLA's Large Plasma Device (LAPD) user's facility
• On-campus facilities include: two vacuum chambers and an electronics lab
• Students perform both laboratory and rocket experiments
• Students also interact with other group members including two postdocs, a research scientist, as well as scientists at UCLA

  Robert Merlino, Experimental plasma physics

• Basic plasma physics problems, including laboratory simulations of space plasma phenomena, dusty plasmas
• Facilities include two lab rooms with three plasma chambers
• Major equipment includes two Q-machines with magnetic field up to 0.5 T; each machine is dedicated to a single graduate student
• Students develop skills including: vacuum, electronics, data acquisition, image analysis, instrument fabrication
• Employment opportunities include industry, government labs and universities

  Jack Scudder, Experimental and theoretical plasma physics

• Experimental search for collisionless magnetic reconnection mechanisms
• Theoretical study of the role of suprathermal tails in heat transport
• Students develop skills in: writing codes in C, Fortran and IDL, and numerical methods; research is computer-intensive
• Employment opportunities are postdoc positions at universities and national labs
• Students also interact with group members including software engineers as well as other faculty

  Frederick Skiff, Experimental and theoretical plasma physics

• Experimental topics include experiments for plasma waves and instabilities, laser-induced fluorescence diagnostics of plasmas; student projects are usually mostly experimental and some theory
• Theoretical topics include plasma kinetic theory including waves and nonlinear fluctuations
• Two labs, including: a 3-meter linear magnetized-plasma device for waves and spectroscopy, single-frequency scanning lasers for high-resolution laser spectroscopy
• Students also interact with group members, and they participate in the plasma seminar and interact with other theoretical and experimental plasma faculty
• Students develop skills including designing and building apparatus, electronics, computation
• Previous assistants found employment in academia as postdocs, and a professor, and the semiconductor and optics industries

  Steven Spangler, Theoretical plasma physics

• Plasma diagnostics from radio astronomy
• Theory and data analysis, with applications to astrophysical plasmas
• Turbulence in plasmas, nonlinear plasma waves, and interaction of charged particles with waves and turbulence
• Student projects involve tests of theories with radioastronomical data
• Students develop skills in numerical methods, writing code in C and other languages