Research in Basic Plasma Science and Engineering
The FES Discovery Plasma Science: Plasma Science and Technology–General Plasma Science (GPS) program seeks new or renewal single-investigator or small-group applications to carry out hypothesis-driven frontier-level research in basic plasma science and engineering. This program aims to develop accurate descriptions of the complex behavior of the plasma state, to push it into new regimes that expand our concept of what constitutes a plasma, to design experiments and diagnostics to explore these states, and to validate theoretical models. GPS topical areas are broad and include but are not limited to: understanding the onset of magnetic reconnection and trigger mechanisms for explosive instabilities in nature (solar flares, geomagnetic storms) and in the laboratory; magnetic dynamo processes by which magnetic fields are generated in laboratory and astrophysical plasmas; mechanisms by which energy is transferred between fields, flows, and particles; how coherent
structures are created through the self-fields of the plasma and its interactions with waves; coupling of dusty plasma in strong magnetic fields; and plasma chemistry and processes related to interaction of plasma with surfaces, materials, or biomaterials.