Low-Temperature Plasma Generation, Diagnostics, and Surface Modification
This community investigates the creation, control, and measurement of low-temperature plasmas, with a focus on atmospheric-pressure discharges and their interaction with surfaces, gases, and biological materials.
The work centers on dielectric barrier discharges, plasma jets, and inductively coupled systems, frequently utilizing argon, helium, and nitrogen. Key methods include optical emission spectroscopy for diagnosing plasma properties and atomic layer etching for material processing. Applications span the modification of polymer surfaces for adhesion, the treatment of food and water for safety, and the generation of reactive species for chemical synthesis. The research also covers the fundamental physics of electron-impact ionization and harmonic generation within these gas discharges, providing the mechanistic basis for the applied technologies.
The community is most heavily represented in research tracked for neon, where it accounts for 21.6% of all neon-related papers, followed by argon at 20.8% and krypton at 15.9%. Helium research also shows a significant presence, with 9,275 papers in this community representing 15.5% of the total helium literature.
The community comprises 80,678 papers, primarily published in Physical Review A, The Journal of Chemical Physics, and Journal of Physics B: Atomic, Molecular and Optical Physics.
Recent work continues to explore atmospheric-pressure cold plasma for food safety and antimicrobial applications, as well as atomic layer processes for semiconductor manufacturing and the modification of carbon materials.