| The Laboratory for Plasma Studies conducts basic physics and applications research in plasma physics, the science of electrically conducting fluids and high temperature ionized gases. While the best known research impetus is controlled fusion as a potential source of electric power, plasma physics also underlies many solar, astrophysical, and ionospheric phenomena, as well as industrial applications of plasmas. A specialty of the laboratory is the physics and technology of high power electron and ion beams and their applications. Scientists use state-of-the-art pulsed power accelerators to produce and study electron and ion beams for applications to fusion research, advanced accelerator concepts, and the generation of high power microwave radiation. A second specialty is the use of sounding rockets and radar to probe Earth's upper atmosphere, ionosphere, and magnetosphere. |