CRC 1316 approved by German Research Foundation

The German Research Foundation approved the proposal of Prof. Achim von Keudell and his consortium concerning the funding of a collaborative research project with the title "Transient atmospheric plasmas - from plasmas to liquids to solids". Within the consortium, 17 research projects on different topics are addressed. The funding period is from 2018 until 2022.

For more information see SFB 1316.

Prof. Dr. Jan Benedikt moves to Christian-Albrechts University Kiel

At April 1st, 2017 Jan Benedikt was appointed full professor for experimental plasma physics at Christian-Albrechts University Kiel. The research department will continue the collaboration with the group of Prof. Benedikt and will strenghten thereby the ties with CAU.

In 2004 Dr. Jan Benedikt joined RUB as a PostDoc in the research group reactive plasmas of Prof. von Keudell. He build up the experiments on mass spectrometry, µ-plasmas, and plasma medicine. In 2010 he was appointed a junior professorship for Coupled Plasma-Solid State Systems at the faculty for plasma physics and astronomy. During his time at RUB, he supervised six PhD thesis and numereous master and bachelor thesis.

The research department plasmas with complex interactions whishes Jan Benedikt all the best for his future and looks forward to many fruitful collaborations.

JUN.-PROF. DR.-Ing. KATHARINA STAPELMANN: "PLASMA - THE NEW ALL-PURPOSE WAFFER IN MEDICINE".

As part of the lecture series "Everything Plasma!", Jun.-Prof. Dr. Katharina Stapelmann will give a lecture on "Plasma - the new all-purpose weapon in medicine?" on December 1, 2016. The lecture will take place on floor 1 in BlueSquare starting at 6:00 pm.

Plasma medicine is a comparably young field of research. One method, cold atmospheric pressure plasma, has proven particularly effective in healing chronic wounds. Plasma has many different mechanisms of action. For example, it not only helps to reduce the bacterial load in the wound, but also stimulates the body's own immune system, promotes blood circulation and thus supports wound healing on many levels. However, plasma medicine is being researched worldwide for a wide variety of applications, for example as a new cancer therapy or as a painless alternative to root canal treatment in dentistry. Plasma can also be used to sterilize medical instruments or surfaces in hospitals and is also reliably effective against so-called "hospital germs".

The lecture will give an overview of current research topics in plasma medicine with a focus on wound healing. We will trace the mechanisms of action and find out why plasma is so effective and can be used in so many different ways. At the end there will be an opportunity to look at a plasma for wound healing - touching allowed!

Prof. Bernhard Unterberg "Hotter than the Sun"

On November 3, Prof. Bernhard Unterberg will give a lecture on "Hotter than the Sun" as part of the "All Plasma" lecture series. This will take place at Blue Square starting at 18:00. Interested parties are welcome to attend!
A new primary energy source modeled on our sun - to realize this vision, plasmas with extreme temperatures of 150 million degrees Celsius must be confined. This is already possible today with the help of magnetic fields, and now fusion researchers are building the fusion experiment "ITER" (lat. the way), in which 500 MW of fusion power will be generated for the first time.
In this lecture, we will explain the physical principles of fusion in magnetically confined high-temperature plasmas and what challenges have to be overcome on the way to a fusion reactor - especially with regard to the wall materials, which have to withstand the highest stresses in the fusion reactor.

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Awakowicz "Plasma, the all-rounder"

PD Dr. Horst Fichtner could introduce in his lecture different plasmas of the solar system and for phenomena like "the solar fire", the hundred thousand degrees hot solar wind, to which interplanetary space probes and astronauts are exposed, detailed and vrständliche explanations supply. Also the energetic cosmic rays he conveyed with an ease in his execution.

He was able to explain why the understanding of these plasmas is important for fundamental physics as well as for the prediction of the so-called space weather and space climate. 

100 Ruhr researchers study cosmic rays

They are constantly raining down on us from space: cosmic ray particles. Scientists from the Ruhr University Alliance are founding a center to study them.
Cosmic rays are the link between the research areas of the working groups that have joined forces in the Ruhr Astroparticle and Plasma Physics Center, or RAPP Center for short. Around 100 researchers will celebrate the opening of the facility in the Ruhr University Alliance on September 21, starting at 7 p.m. in the Bochum Planetarium. An inaugural conference will have been held at RUB on September 22 and 23.

Questions from dark matter to planet formation

At the RAPP Center, researchers ranging from students to professors will work at the intersection of astrophysics, plasma physics and particle physics. They will ask questions like: What is dark matter, anyway? Where does cosmic radiation come from? Why is there more matter than antimatter? Which interactions of elementary particles are relevant and how can they be studied? What is the role of magnetic fields in the universe? How does planet formation work?
Funding

The RAPP Center is funded by the Mercator Research Center Ruhr (Mercur) with about 330,000 euros.

PD Dr. Horst Fichtner "Plasma in the solar system"

PD Dr. Horst Fichtner could introduce in his lecture different plasmas of the solar system and for phenomena like "the solar fire", the hundred thousand degrees hot solar wind, to which interplanetary space probes and astronauts are exposed, detailed and vrständliche explanations supply. Also the energetic cosmic rays he conveyed with an ease in his execution.

He was able to explain why the understanding of these plasmas is important for fundamental physics as well as for the prediction of the so-called space weather and space climate.

Dr. Dominik Bomans "Plasmas in and around Galaxies"

Prof. Dr. Ralf-Peter Brinkmann demonstrates that theory does not have to be gray, as Mephistopheles claimed in Faust. The plasma researcher addresses the following questions: Why are plasmas hot and cold at the same time? What does this have to do with theory? And what is the ultimate practical use of all this?

Dr. Dominik Bomans "Plasmas in and around Galaxies".

In the lecture series "All Plasma" we went out into space again. Dr. Domink Bomans explained vividly how plasmas form in and around galaxies and what we can learn from this about the formation and development of our universe.

Judith Golda and Julian Held "Plasmas to touch"

As part of the lecture series "Everything Plasma", Judith Golda and Julian Held gave a lecture on the topic "Plasmas to touch".

While in the previous lecture the distance of the discussed plasmas (stars, interstellar medium) was very large, the two speakers showed where we have points of contact with plasmas in everyday life. The participants of the lecture could look at plasmas, touch them and learn more about the tehnical background.