Plasma Nanoscience: from Nano-Solids in Plasmas to Nano-Plasmas in Solids

The unique plasma-specific features and physical phenomena in the organization of nanoscale solid-state systems in a broad range of elemental composition, structure, and dimensionality are critically reviewed. These effects lead to the possibility to localize and control energy and matter at nanoscales and to produce self-organized nano-solids with highly unusual and superior properties. A unifying conceptual framework based on the control of production, transport, and self-organization of precursor species is introduced and a variety of plasma-specific non-equilibrium and kinetics-driven phenomena across the many temporal and spatial scales is explained. When the plasma is localized to micrometer and nanometer dimensions, new emergent phenomena arise. The examples range from semiconducting quantum dots and nanowires, chirality control of single-walled carbon nanotubes, ultra-fine manipulation of graphenes, nano-diamond, and organic matter, to nano-plasma effects and nano-plasmas of different states of matter.Comment: This is an essential interdisciplinary reference which can be used by both advanced and early career researchers as well as in undergraduate teaching and postgraduate research trainin

Micron-scale mapping of megagauss magnetic fields using optical polarimetry to probe hot electron transport in petawatt-class laser-solid interactions

The transport of hot, relativistic electrons produced by the interaction of an intense petawatt laser pulse with a solid has garnered interest due to its potential application in the development of innovative x-ray sources and ion-acceleration schemes. We report on spatially and temporally resolved measurements of megagauss magnetic fields at the rear of a 50-μm thick plastic target, irradiated by a multi-picosecond petawatt laser pulse at an incident intensity of ~1020 W/cm2. The pump-probe polarimetric measurements with micron-scale spatial resolution reveal the dynamics of the magnetic fields generated by the hot electron distribution at the target rear. An annular magnetic field profile was observed ~5 ps after the interaction, indicating a relatively smooth hot electron distribution at the rear-side of the plastic target. This is contrary to previous time-integrated measurements, which infer that such targets will produce highly structured hot electron transport. We measured large-scale filamentation of the hot electron distribution at the target rear only at later time-scales of ~10 ps, resulting in a commensurate large-scale filamentation of the magnetic field profile. Three-dimensional hybrid simulations corroborate our experimental observations and demonstrate a beam-like hot electron transport at initial time-scales that may be attributed to the local resistivity profile at the target rear

Plasma enhanced pulsed laser deposition: A study of laser produced and radio frequency plasmas, and deposited films

Plasma enhanced pulsed laser deposition (PE-PLD), is a novel thin film deposition technique, which utilises both laser produced and radio frequency (RF) plasmas, in order to deposit semiconducting, metal oxide thin films. In PE-PLD, a pure metal target is ablated within the environment of a RF inductively coupled plasma, which generates reactive oxygen species that react with the laser produced plasma, forming oxides that deposit onto a substrate. Metal oxides of interest within this work are copper oxides (CuO, Cu2O) and zinc oxide (ZnO), both of which are wide band-gap semiconductors, with applications in photovoltaics, electronic displays, batteries, and more. PE-PLD has shown promise in the deposition of metal oxides, with the RF plasma lending additional control over film growth, no need of substrate heating or film annealing, and the deposition of films on flexible plastic substrates. Characterisation of both the laser ablated and RF plasmas will be presented in this work; laser ablation of metal and metal oxide targets has been modelled using the code POLLUX, showing that the compound nature of the oxide targets results in volatile ablation under the conditions used in PE-PLD. Whereas metal targets ablate in a much more stable and controlled manner. Plus, gas temperature measurements of the RF plasma have been performed via complimentary diagnostic techniques, and the effect of pulsed operation on the gas temperature. Additionally simulations via the use of the code HPEM, have been used to characterise the importance of processes, such as heat transfer to reactor walls. Lastly, analysis of films deposited by PE-PLD has been performed, showing ZnO, Cu2O and CuO films of uniform density across their entire depth, as well high density planes of ZnO, on both SiO2 and Si substrates, and the successful deposition of Al2O3 films on steel substrates, and semiconducting films on polymer substrates

The 2022 Plasma Roadmap: low temperature plasma science and technology

The 2022 Roadmap is the next update in the series of Plasma Roadmaps published by Journal of Physics D with the intent to identify important outstanding challenges in the field of low-temperature plasma (LTP) physics and technology. The format of the Roadmap is the same as the previous Roadmaps representing the visions of 41 leading experts representing 21 countries and five continents in the various sub-fields of LTP science and technology. In recognition of the evolution in the field, several new topics have been introduced or given more prominence. These new topics and emphasis highlight increased interests in plasma-enabled additive manufacturing, soft materials, electrification of chemical conversions, plasma propulsion, extreme plasma regimes, plasmas in hypersonics, data-driven plasma science and technology and the contribution of LTP to combat COVID-19. In the last few decades, LTP science and technology has made a tremendously positive impact on our society. It is our hope that this roadmap will help continue this excellent track record over the next 5–10 years.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Antenna near-field wave studies in magnetized plasmas as part of the optimization of auxiliary heating in fusion devicesAntenna near-field wave studies in magnetized plasmas as part of the optimization of auxiliary heating in fusion devices

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The 2022 Plasma Roadmap: low temperature plasma science and technology

Documento escrito por un elevado número de autores/as, solo se referencia el/la que aparece en primer lugar y los/as autores/as pertenecientes a la UC3M.The 2022 Roadmap is the next update in the series of Plasma Roadmaps published by Journal of Physics D with the intent to identify important outstanding challenges in the field of low-temperature plasma (LTP) physics and technology. The format of the Roadmap is the same as the previous Roadmaps representing the visions of 41 leading experts representing 21 countries and five continents in the various sub-fields of LTP science and technology. In recognition of the evolution in the field, several new topics have been introduced or given more prominence. These new topics and emphasis highlight increased interests in plasma-enabled additive manufacturing, soft materials, electrification of chemical conversions, plasma propulsion, extreme plasma regimes, plasmas in hypersonics and data-driven plasma science.Cristina Canal acknowledges PID2019-103892RB-I00/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 Project (AEI) and the Generalitat de Catalunya for the ICREA Academia Award and SGR2017-1165. The research by Annemie Bogaerts was funded by the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (ERC Synergy Grant 810182 SCOPE). Eduardo Ahedo was funded by Spain's Agencia Estatal de Investigación, under Grant No. PID2019-108034RB-I00 (ESPEOS Project)