Plasma Physics

D'Angelo, Goree, Gurnett, Howes, Kletzing, Lonngren, Merlino, Scudder, Skiff, Spangler

Plasma Physics is the study of ionized gases. Plasma is the most common state of known matter in the universe. Our experimenters have seven labs on campus, and instruments on spacecraft, rockets, and the International Space Station. Our research includes experiment, theory, and simulation. Areas include basic science, astronomy, geophysics, and processing plasmas. Graduate students participate in a weekly plasma physics seminar.		Image gallery
We have the largest number of plasma physics faculty members among all physics departments in the U.S. We are ranked among the top ten universities nationwide in plasma physics. Our faculty members have strong international reputations, frequently giving invited talks at international conferences and winning grants from a wide range of funding agencies. Our faculty includes five elected fellows of the APS and one member of the National Academy of Sciences. Our labs, and our instruments in space, are unique and world class. We offer a wide choice of research problems, which are diversified among the most rapidly growing topics in plasma physics. Students publish highly-cited papers in leading journals, and give talks at major conferences. Plasma physics offers strong job placement opportunities, and our PhD graduates have excellent success in finding the jobs that they most want.

• Basic plasma physics problems, including laboratory simulations of space plasma phenomena, dusty plasmas
• Emeritus professor

• 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; 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
• Previous assistants found employment in the semiconductor industry and as academic postdocs; one is now a professor
• In most years, grant support is available for multiple RA stipends and student travel to conferences

• 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 a large number of research scientists, engineers, and programmers
• Supervised over 50 space physics thesis projects; former students now at NASA centers, industry, other universities
• In most years, grant support is available for multiple RA stipends and student travel to conferences

• 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
• In most years, grant support is available for an RA stipend and student travel to conferences

• 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, an electronics lab with all equipment newer than 1997
• 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
• In most years, grant support is available for multiple RA stipends and student travel to conferences

• Solitons and sheaths in plasmas
• Solitons in Schottky-barrier-diode transmission lines

• 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 also interact with an electrical engineer and may participate in collaboration with Naval Research Laboratory scientists
• Students develop skills including: vacuum, electronics, data acquisition, machining
• Previous PhDs are now employed in industry, government labs and universities, including a professor and two research scientists
• In most years, grant support is available for multiple RA stipends and student travel to conferences

• 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
• Two previous PhD students, placed in three-year postdoc positions at LANL and UC Berkeley
• Students also interact with group members including four software engineers as well as other faculty
• In most years, grant support is available an RA stipend and student travel to conferences

• 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 as academic postdocs or in the semiconductor and optics industries; one is now a professor
• In most years, grant support is available for multiple RA stipends and student travel to conferences

• Theory and data analysis, with applications to astrophysical plasmas
• Turbulence in plasmas, nonlinear plasma waves, and interaction of charged particles with waves and turbulence
• Spacecraft data from NASA's ACE spacecraft in the solar wind
• Student projects involve analytic and computational studies of wave and turbulence equations, and tests of theories with spacecraft data
• Students develop skills in numerical methods, writing code in C and other languages
• In most years, grant support is available for RA stipends and student travel to conferences