Selected) Frontiers in plasma science)

Plasma is a partially of fully ionized gas, comprising the 99 % of the visible matter in the universe. The physical plasma is scarce in nature on Earth, however is continuingly gains popularity in the science and technology fields, since being described by Langmuir in 1920s. Currently, multiple directions of plasma related research are prominent in a variety of scientific and technological fields: from the quest for fusion energy, through plasma propulsion for space-travel, to plasma medicine, agriculture and material fabrication and functionalization.  The potential for applications is indeed vast, however so are the scientific challenges that emerge in the context of the above applications. In this talk I will concentrate on two exciting areas: plasma-assisted synthesis of nanomaterials and the plasma interactions with liquids, biological tissues and cells. Both of these research areas are incredibly complex, owing to multiple different interacting species with a wide variety of energies, sizes and chemical potentials, interacting across all the possible phases of matter, from gas to liquid, solid and crystal phases, presenting many exciting physical challenges. Notably, both these areas consider multiphase environment, posing many scientific challenges, such as: large density and temperature, unknown plasma characteristics, the control of the reactivity transfer at the plasma–liquid/solid interface, interfacial charging, droplet transport and self-organization of plasmas in contact with liquid/solid. Similar challenges occur in the interface of plasma with biological tissues and cells. The phenomenon of plasma self-organization into coherent structures and patterns is particularly interesting, because it modulates the characteristics of the plasma, influencing the density and the energy of the charged particles, chemical composition, species transport along and across the plasma-tissue/liquid interface, radiation and electric fields. The aim of this seminar is to introduce these selected frontiers of plasma science, discuss their promise, challenges and the experimental approach to their investigation.