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Plasma Response
Department of Energy, ARPA-E
Post-doctoral Researcher
Oregon State University, UCLA, Plasma Energy and Space Propulsion Laboratory
This project is a sneak peek into nuclear fusion and deep-space spacecraft propulsion. Plasma, the fourth state of matter, basically a soup of electrons and ions, which is omnipresent in space, isn't found in ready availability on Earth except for lightning strikes or if you are curious enough to wander outside of the Earth, that is the ionosphere or to our nearest star, the Sun. How about having the power of the Sun on our home planet, the Earth? Nuclear fusion generating scorching plasma is the only way. How about traveling to Mars? Propulsion based on plasma is one of the most efficient ways in the next 50 years. For both the situations described, one needs to contain the plasma in a chamber, which leads to material walls playing an essential role in the health of the plasma. The hotter the plasma is, the better we can extract power from it and put it to our use, advancing the next generation of the human race. This picture shows one such experiment conducted, illustrating the intricate interplay between plasma and materials.
Plasma Diagnostics Used: Electrostatic probes, Optical Emission Spectroscopy
Coding Languages Used: Matlab, LabView
