plasma-diagnostics-and-applications

Nature, Published online: 03 June 2026; doi:10.1038/d41586-026-01412-z Supersonic shocks in the vicinity of Jupiter suggest that transient plasma structures could govern the acceleration of particles travelling through space.

Subrata Roy, a University of Florida professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering has been selected for induction into the Florida Inventors Hall of Fame for his pioneering work developing plasma‑based technologies that address challenges in areas including health care, food safety, water treatment and space exploration. Roy’s inventions have been patented, commercialized and applied beyond …

A new lab experiment is testing plasma jets as a water-free solution for "space laundry" on future missions to the moon and Mars.

A cloaked alien invasion force is approaching Earth and coming up on Mars. The first officer looks through a viewfinder and says, “Captain, the fourth planet’s atmosphere is behaving strangely. As though it were trying to block incoming energy.” The captain takes a moment, then his (already big) eyes get wide and he exclaims, “It’s a defense shield! The Earthlings are hiding on the fourth planet …

Researchers in the Aerospace Plasma Group along with European collaborators conducted experiments involving lightning sweeping across an airplane’s surface in the Wright Brothers Wind Tunnel, using diagnostics to better understand […] The post Wind tunnel experiments of long arcs in crossflow: Cathodic roots and scaling appeared first on MIT AeroAstro .

Scientific Reports, Published online: 29 May 2026; doi:10.1038/s41598-026-45164-2 Generation of single-mode and two-mode quantum squeezed states of light by degenerate four-wave mixing in a plasmonic waveguide

Fusion reactions power our sun and other stars. Studying those reactions and recreating them in the laboratory helps physicists understand the forces that shape our universe. That basic research may also lead to fusion energy technology that could generate limitless energy on Earth.

A massive new simulation study published in Nature suggests the universe creates giant magnetic fields through organized plasma flows hidden inside cosmic turbulence.

There is currently no good way for astronauts in space to do laundry, but researchers may have finally come up with one: a bright purple jet of microbe-killing plasma

Abstract The Hall thruster is an electromagnetic plasma accelerator widely used in spacecraft propulsion. In the thruster channel exit region, where the strong E×B field exists, high-frequency electron drift instability (EDI) arises, driving anomalous axial electron transport. While the physical characteristics of EDI have been extensively studied, the impact of radial magnetic field intensity an…

For many graduate students, waking up at noon after a 4 a.m. bedtime is a sign of a night well spent. For a group of MIT students, it was simply the start of their workday — timed not to the sun, but to the aurora. Their goal was simple: to study plasma phenomena using the […] The post MIT students study plasma physics beneath Alaska’s aurora appeared first on MIT Physics .

Help scientists understand how the Earth’s magnetic field sculpts the solar wind. For anyone with a smartphone or laptop. The post Shock Detectives appeared first on NASA Science .

This company says its pulsed plasma machine will deliver electricity to the grid by 2029. Some physicists warn that its promises are outrunning what the technology has proved

Electric vehicles are pushing scientists to tackle one of the biggest hidden energy drains inside electric motors: magnetic energy loss. Now, researchers in Japan have developed a powerful AI-driven physics model that can peer into the chaotic “maze-like” magnetic patterns inside motor materials and reveal how heat and microscopic magnetic structures trigger wasted energy.

Scientists have demonstrated a new plasma operating regime that could help solve two of fusion energy’s biggest challenges at once. Inside a fusion reactor, matter is heated to temperatures hotter than the Sun and confined by powerful magnetic fields. But keeping this superheated plasma stable long enough to produce usable energy remains one of the [...]

Scientific Reports, Published online: 16 May 2026; doi:10.1038/s41598-026-46720-6 Physics-based design and simulation of hollow-core anti-resonant fiber plasmonic sensors