Insights on fusion, lightning and more at NNV Plasma Physics Symposium
The second NNV Plasma Physics Symposium took place in Zonheuvel on April 1-2, bringing together plasma physicists from across the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany. Organized by ARCNL and Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e), the annual conference welcomed around 120 participants for inspiring talks, poster sessions and opportunities for collaboration.
Plasma is everywhere
The field of plasma physics spans a wide variety of research areas. As a broadly plasma physics conference, NNV Plasma Physics Symposium Zonheuvel saw a range of topics. Keynote speaker Dr. Peter de Vries (ITER) shared an impressive overview of the status of the ITER project , the world’s largest and most cohesive approach to achieving stable fusion for next-generation clean energy. In another talk, new TU/e research group leader Dr. Dongshuai Li gave an update on lightning research, sharing observations of blue corona discharges – a specific type of plasma-driven flash of light – in thunderclouds.
ARCNL plasma research shines
ARCNL researchers gave four talks and several posters, covering a range of topics. PhD students Thije Tjebbes and Emiel de Wit from the Ion Interactions group, also affiliated with the University of Groningen (RUG), presented, respectively, a talk and a poster on the “hop-skip-jump” mechanism which explains how tin ions can capture two electrons at once.
Felix Kohlmeier, PhD student in the EUV Plasma Processes group, gave a strong presentation in which he shows how to fully explain where the laser energy goes in laser-produced plasma. Dr. Mikheil Kharbedia, a postdoctoral researcher in the same group, closed the session with surprising findings of plasma-propelling tiny water droplets. Plasma Theory and Modeling PhD student Bowie Brewster impressed with complicated complex integrals to explain better laser light absorption by plasma.
Plasma physics in the media
In a slightly different kind of talk, interdisciplinary scientist Dr. discussed the need for stronger science communication about plasma physics – 99.9% of the universe is made up of plasma, but less than 1% of all newspaper articles on physics refer to “plasma.” “It was a great talk,” says ARCNL group leader Prof. Oscar Versolato, chair of the conference. “There’s much to gain in this area for the plasma physics community.”
Another successful conference
With as many participants as last year and strong contributions, this edition of the conference was a success. “We saw a very high level of presentations,” says Versolato. “The advisory committee was impressed.”
The prize for best poster was awarded to Jonas Kuijpers (Radboud University Nijmegen), and Mark Cornelissen (TU/e and DIFFER) received the prize for best oral presentation.
The third NNV Plasma Physics Symposium will be held in April 2027.
Contact
If you have questions about the NNV Plasma Physics Symposium, please contact us at events@arcnl.nl.
