JPhysD presents the 2017 Plasma Roadmap: the first of a planned series of periodic updates to the original Plasma Roadmap published in 2012.
The continuously growing interdisciplinary nature of the low temperature plasma field and its equally broad range of applications are making it increasingly difficult to identify major challenges that encompass all of the many sub-fields and applications. This intellectual diversity is ultimately a strength of the field.
Plasma grid at 14 kVpp. Image taken from I Adamovich et al 2017 J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 50 323001, © IOP Publishing, All Rights Reserved.
The current state of the art for the 19 sub-fields addressed in this roadmap demonstrates the enviable track record of the low temperature plasma field in the development of plasmas as an enabling technology for a vast range of technologies that underpin our modern society. At the same time, the many important scientific and technological challenges shared in this roadmap show that the path forward is not only scientifically rich but has the potential to make wide and far reaching contributions to many societal challenges.
The 19 sub-fields featured in the roadmap are:
1. New plasma sources and regimes
2. Plasma metamaterials and plasma photonic crystals
4. Particle transport in non-equilibrium plasmas
5. Plasma–surface interactions for material fabrication
7. Plasma synthesis of nanomaterials and nanostructured materials
8. Plasma agriculture and innovative food cycles
10. Environmental applications
11. Plasma-assisted combustion and chemical conversion
12. Aerospace applications: propulsion and flow control
13. Thermal plasma applications
15. Plasmas in analytical chemistry
18. Atomic and molecular data for plasma science
19. Plasma chemistry: mechanisms, validation and distribution
The roadmap is now available free on IOPscience.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License. Image taken from I Adamovich et al 2017 J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 50 323001, © IOP Publishing, All Rights Reserved.
Categories: Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics
Image of the Week: Flexible, polarization-controllable diffusion metasurface with optical transparency 
Quantifying plasma chemistry products at atmospheric pressure 
Image of the Week: Direct writing using 3D printed, melt electrospun fibres 
Image of the week: Coalescence of Pickering emulsions. 
JPhys+ 