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Plasma Trial Day - What is plasma and where does it find application in technology & research?
Interested high school students are invited to participate in the Plasma Trial Day on Jan. 28, 2020 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. online. The chairs of the Ruhr-Universität Bochum will introduce themselves.
Technical plasmas find their application in many areas of everyday life and enable many achievements of our engineered world, such as in microelectronics, optics or mechanical engineering. But also in areas like air purification, sterilization and medicine plasmas can be used effectively in innovative concepts.
The fundamentals of technical applications are our field of research. We work interdisciplinary with partners from research and industry to develop innovative concepts and systems. And we would like to explain to you the largely unknown concept of physical plasma and introduce you to how we use and research the "fourth state of matter". Furthermore, we would like to show you how you might become part of a research team in the future!
Please register by email to:
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Successful Plasma Summer School in 2020 in an online format
Due to the current situation, this year's summer school did not take place at the usual location of the physics center in Bad Honnef, but online. The regular programme consisting of basic plasma physics lectures combined with a master class on special topics could not take place as usual. Nevertheless, all teachers have agreed to deliver their basic lectures via an online video format. The summer school was extended to two weeks with two lectures per day. This year more people were able to tune in, because the online format is much easier to reach from regions with limited travel possibilities.
The lectures were technically flawless and the feedback from students and teachers was very positive. Many discussions and interactions could be made possible due to the high commitment of all teachers. Two practical workshops were also held by L. L. Alves on solving the Boltzmann equation and by N. Braithwaite on analyzing the Paschen curve.
We hope for another summer school in 2021, then again in the facilities of the physics center in Bad Honnef. The latest information on the planning for 2021 will be published at the summer school homepage in March 2021.
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Research data management as central aspect within the collaborative research centres
Research data is a central output of science. They expand the scientific knowledge and are the basis for future research projects. The documentation of research data should follow subject-specific standards. The long-term archiving of research data is important for the quality assurance of any scientific work, but is also a fundamental prerequisite to allow the reusability of research results.
Researcher from the INP Greifswald enrolled a BMBF funded project with the title Quality assurance and networking of research data in plasma technology - QPTDat. This project aims to develop and test processes and methods for a quality assured and interdisciplinary reuse of research data from plasma technology.
QPTDat cooperation
A collaboration between INP and the CRC 1316 started in 2018 and now the Research Department Plasmas with Complex Interactions, and also the SFB-TR 87 join the activities on research data management. A workshop organized by INP Greifswald in January 2020 was the starting point for further active implementations in the field of research data management in the plasma community in the CRCs as well as in the Research Department.
First measures at EP2
As a first measure, an initiative at the research group EP2 at RUB results in an improved data storage on the local server of the institute. The storage volume has a regular backup and granting access to the complete group or to individual persons is possible. Beside measurement data, all further analysis steps are documented including meta data from all process steps. The members of the research group used a file name scheme, so that files can be found easily by other researchers.
Research data repository
Finally, published research data can be stored and published for the open public on the repository at
The idea of such a repository is the full documentation of measurement conditions (measurement data in a readable file format including meta data). First research groups from the CRCs have access to this repository and upload research data of published papers.
The concept of the repository is based on a multi-level system for publishing records. Users can put data online for review, which are then published by group moderators. The standards for publishing records must be defined by the group. In addition, meta data standards are currently being developed within the CRCs and together with INP Greifswald, so that data entry will be clearer and more uniform in future.
NFDI4Phys
Recently, the Research Department Plasmas with Complex Interactions has started to join the collaboration of different scientific institutions within the so-called
NFDI4Phys consortium. It aims to create structures and tools to simplify and unify the exchange of (mainly) numerical factual data in all areas of physics, with related disciplines and with the industry. The consortium is applying to the DFG for funding within the National Research Data Infrastructure (NFDI) project.
Within the framework of the NFDI4Phys consortium, the CRCs developing meta data standards for research questions in plasma science. Further goals are to contribute to the definition of basic and interdisciplinary standards and to develop methods to make research data from different sources generally accessible and interpretable.
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Plasma workshop at Bo.Ing 2020
The SFB-TR 87 and CRC 1316 joined the workshop program of the Bo.Ing 2020. At the Bochum engineering forum "BO.Ing", pupils are given an insight into the engineering sciences in workshops, laboratory tours and discussion groups. The event is organised by the zdi network IST.Bochum.NRW and is implemented in cooperation with universities from Bochum and the surrounding area.
With plasma workshop, sixteen pupils in two different workshop learned the basic ideas about plasma and its applcation. In hands-on activities, the girls and boys were able to perform their own experiments.
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Dr. habil. Julian Schulze GEC Executive Committee Chair 2020
PI Dr. habil. Julian Schulze has been elected as GEC Executive Committee Chair with the tenure beginning 10/2020. The Gaseous Electronics Conference (GEC) is a prestigous plasma science meeting of the APS, which is organized annually usually in the US.
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Prof. Dr. Julia Bandow accepted the offer for the chair of applied microbiology at RUB
Prof. Dr. Julia Bandow, Ruhr University Bochum, declined a call to the Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf for the W3 Professorship for Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical Biology, a call to the Westphalian Wilhelms University in Münster for the W3 Professorship for Microbiology and a call from the Technical University of Darmstadt for the W3 professorship for microbiology. Instead she accepted the offer of the Ruhr University Bochum for the W3 professorship for applied microbiology.
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PLASNOW (Plasma generated Nitric Oxide in Wound healing)
The DFG granted research project PLASNOW (Plasma generated Nitric Oxide in Wound healing) is an interdisciplinary collaboration within the research field of plasma medicine. The project was approved in November 2019 for 36 months. It will start with the start it will only start with the start of contract of the PhD student which is still in process at the moment.
Two groups from electrical engineering (AEPT, Prof. Dr. P. Awakowicz) and plasma physics (Experimental physics II, Dr. V. Schulz-von der Gathen) are involved. It is a successor and continuation of projects that were beforehand bundled in the cooperation “Plasma2Cell“. In this cooperation, other groups participate e.g. from chemistry, medicine, and biology at the Ruhr-University, the Heinrich-Heine-University in Düsseldorf and the DLR in Cologne.
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Cosmology explained in a television program
Prof. Hildebrandt was guest in a television program and explained cosmology. Moreover, he pointed out the importance of basic research. The full episode of the television program "Planet Wissen" can be found here.
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Teenagers enjoy plasma physics
During the Easter holidays the Schülerprojektwoche for 14 and 15 year old pupils took place at the Ruhr-University Bochum. The Schülerprojektwoche is an established part of public relations for pupils and is, belong others, financed by both SFBs.
For one week 60 girls and boys did experiments in four different workshops, namely “astronomy”, “plasma physics”, “energy efficient house building” and “physics in medicine”.
In the plasma project, which was supervised by PhD and Master students of both SFBs, the pupils deposited thin gold layers on glass substrate using a plasma coater. Additionally, they characterized different samples regarding thickness, optical transmission and conductivity in dependence of the plasma deposition time.
Besides the workshops, the girls and boys experienced university life. They attended a lecture, visited “real” physics laboratories and watched a show at the planetarium in Bochum. At the end of the 4 days, they created posters and presented their results of the workshops to the other pupils during a poster session.
The Schülerprojektwoche was successfully finished with a quiz duel about the learned physics between the four workshop groups. Here, the plasma physics group won and was awarded with a cup.
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New Mercator fellow of the CRC 1316 - Prof. Dr. Satoshi Hamaguchi, University of Osaka
Prof. Satoshi Hamaguchis research focus on plasma-material interactions in general, including their industrial applications. The aim of research is to understand fundamental mechanics of plasma-material interactions under various conditions. To achieve this, we combine plasma/beam experiments with numerical simulation/modeling. More specifically our current research topics include 1) etching, deposition, and surface modification processes for micro/nano electronics device manufacturing, 2) surface modification and functionalization of biomaterials by plasmas, 3) processing of water and biological systems by atmospheric-pressure plasmas mainly for applications in plasma medicine and plasma agriculture, and 4) dynamics and chemical reactions in plasmas under various conditions, including atmospheric-pressure plasmas.
Prof. Hamaguchi is also coordinator of the JSPS core-to-core program "Establishment of the Center for Collaborative Research in Data-Driven Plasma Science " that connects Osaka university with Ruhr University Bochum, and the universities in Bologna, Aix-Marseille, and York. In the framework of this program the sending side covers international airfare and the receiving side covers maintenance and the domestic travel costs. The hosting side covers the cost of holding the seminars.
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New PIs within the Research Department
During the last general meeting of the Research Department Plasmas with Complex Interactions, new Senior PIs were elected to join the collaboration of different scientists over the campus. Due to changed cooperations, the group was enlarged by four new Senior PIs: Prof. Dr. Martin Muhler from the chair for technical chemistry, Jun.-Prof. Dr. Dirk Tischler from the chair for microbial biotechnology, and Dr. Julian Schulze as well as Jun.-Prof. Andrew Gibson from the chair for electrical engineering and plasma technology.
With the coming into force of the new by-laws, the Research Department Plasmas with Complex Interactions now includes Associated PIs from other universitites, who work together with the scientists on campus. Here, the new memebers are: Prof. Dr. Jan Benedikt from the chair for plasma physics at the CAU Kiel, Prof. Dr. Guido Grundmeier from the chair for technichal and macomolecular chemistry at the university of Paderborn, Prof. Dr. Timo Jacob from the Insitute for Electrochemistry at the Uni Ulm, Prof. Dr. Thomas Mussenbrock from the chair for theoretical electrical engineering at the BTU Cottbus Senftenberg, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jens Oberrath from the institute for product and prozess innovation at the Leuphana Universität Lüneburg, Prof. Dr. Beatriz Roldán Cuenya from the institute for Interface Science at the Fritz-Haber-Institut Berlin, Prof. Dr. Jochen M. Schneider from the chair for material chemistry at the RWTH Aachen, and finally Dr.-Ing. Jan Trieschmann from the chair for theoretical electrical engineering at the BTU Cottbus.