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Welcome to the 27th Symposium On Fusion Engineering (SOFE) Special Edition of the IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science (TPS). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The joint conference of the 6th Euro-Asian Pulsed Power Conference (EAPPC 2016), the 21st International Conference on High-Power Particle Beams (BEAMS 2016), and the 15th International Conference on Megagauss Magnetic Field Generation and Related Topics (MEGAGAUSS 2016) was held in Estoril, Portugal, on September 18–22, 2016. It was the first time that researchers from these three areas, although closely related, have come together to share their findings following an integrated scientific program. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Prospective authors are requested to submit new, unpublished manuscripts for inclusion in the upcoming event described in this call for papers. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Describes the above-named upcoming special issue or section. May include topics to be covered or calls for papers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Describes the above-named upcoming special issue or section. May include topics to be covered or calls for papers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prospective authors are requested to submit new, unpublished manuscripts for inclusion in the upcoming event described in this call for papers. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The iterant strong sustain discharge that occurs during a sustain period over a few minutes causes image sticking, which means a ghost image remains in the subsequent image when the previous image was continuously displayed over a few minutes. Accordingly, this paper investigates whether the dominant factor in image sticking is the MgO surface or phosphor layer by testing the effects of image sticking in subsequent dark and bright images using a 42-in plasma display panel. When the subsequent image was dark, the image sticking was found to produce a brighter ghost image than the background. Thus, since the luminance of a dark image is produced by the weak discharge that occurs during the reset-period, the higher luminance of the ghost image was mainly due to the activation of the MgO surface. Conversely, when the subsequent image was bright, the image sticking was found to produce a darker ghost image than the background. Thus, since the luminance of a bright image is predominantly produced by the strong discharge that occurs during the sustain period, the lower luminance of the ghost image was mainly due to the deterioration of the phosphor layer. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 39th International Conference on Plasma Science (ICOPS) was held in Edinburgh, Scotland in July 2012. The conference featured a wide range of advances in innovative plasma and beam science and applications, and served as a venue for an international community to meet and discuss their ideas and research results. More than 800 abstracts were received in 35 different topical areas, with more than half the papers originating outside the United State. The conference was attended by over 600 delegates and enjoyed the participation of over 200 registered students. This Special Issue of the IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON PLASMA SCIENCE contains eight refereed papers representing a small collection of some of the most exciting presentations from ICOPS 2012. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article offers information on a special issue with inviting applications for submission of manuscripts by the readers and presents details of guest editors including Joshua Leckbee, Jianqiang Yuan and Fernando Silva.

The 2013 IEEE Pulsed Power and Plasma Science Conference (PPPS 2013) was held at the Hyatt Regency in San Francisco, CA, USA in June 2013. The PPPS 2013 combined the 19th IEEE Pulsed Power Conference (PPC) and the 40th IEEE International Conference on Plasma Science (ICOPS). This conference marks the third combined IEEE PPPS meeting, following the very successful PPPS 2001 in Las Vegas, NV, USA, and the PPPS 2007 in Albuquerque, NM, USA. The most recent ICOPS was held in 2012 in Edinburg, Scotland, and the most recent PPC was held in 2011 in Chicago, IL, USA. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

These instructions give guidelines for preparing papers for this publication. Presents information for authors publishing in this journal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction to the journal is presented in which the editors discusses articles from papers presented at the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) International Conference on Plasma Science (ICOPS) and the 23rd Symposium on Fusion Engineering (SOFE) held in San Diego, California from May 31 to June 5, 2009, including ones about thermal plasmas, electron beam plasmas and laser plasmas.

Prospective authors are requested to submit new, unpublished manuscripts for inclusion in the upcoming event described in this call for papers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prospective authors are requested to submit new, unpublished manuscripts for inclusion in the upcoming event described in this call for papers. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Prospective authors are requested to submit new, unpublished manuscripts for inclusion in the upcoming event described in this call for papers. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Prospective authors are requested to submit new, unpublished manuscripts for inclusion in the upcoming event described in this call for papers. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Prospective authors are requested to submit new, unpublished manuscripts for inclusion in the upcoming event described in this call for papers. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Prospective authors are requested to submit new, unpublished manuscripts for inclusion in the upcoming event described in this call for papers. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This is a Special Issue containing selected papers presented at the 5th Euro-Asian Pulsed Power Conference (EAPPC) in Kumamoto, Japan, held on September 8-12, 2014. The present Special Issue continues the tradition of chronicling the latest advances in the domain of pulsed-power science and technology. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Surrounding air pollution is one of the important warnings to human health. It is necessary to detect hazardous pollutant gases in the air. The gas sensor is the candidate for such detection. Progress of smart and flexible sensors has been receiving growing curiosity in recent years because of their enormous sensing applications. Such smart and flexible sensors can be manufactured by depositing conducting materials, such as conducting polymer, carbon nanotube (CNT), graphene oxide, and metallic nanoparticles, onto nonconducting polymeric flexible substrates, such as paper, plastic films, and textiles. Most of the flexible polymeric substrates, such as polyethylene, polyester, nylon, and polypropylene, have low surface energy and poor wettability, which weakens the adhesion between conducting material and flexible substrate. Plasma surface modification is a novel technique to enhance surface properties to produce stable composites. This review focuses on various types of plasmas for surface modification and their effects on the surface after plasma treatment to improve the grafting and adhesion of the sensing layer with the substrate. The aim of this article is to systematically overview the development of plasma-enhanced smart and flexible gas sensors to date and to envisage their future progress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An introduction is presented in which the guest editors discusses various reports within the issue on topics including microwave generation and plasma interactions, basic processes in partially and full ionized plasmas, and applications of high-energy density plasma.

Describes the above-named upcoming special issue or section. May include topics to be covered or calls for papers. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Describes the above-named upcoming special issue or section. May include topics to be covered or calls for papers. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

An introduction is presented to the October 2015 special issue of the journal "IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science," featuring papers to be presented at the September 2014 Euro-Asian Pulsed Power Conference (EAPPC) in Kumamoto, Japan.

Describes the above-named upcoming special issue or section. May include topics to be covered or calls for papers. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Information about the 35th IEEE International Conference on Plasma Science (ICOPS 2008) held at the Congress Center in Karlsruhe, Germany on June 15-19, 2008 is presented. The technical program of the conference includes basic processes in fully and partially ionized plasmas, microwave generation and plasma interactions, and charged particle beams and sources. It also includes high energy density plasmas applications, plasma diagnostics, and pulsed power other plasma applications.

Information about the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE) Pulsed Power and Plasma Science Conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico from June 17-22, 2007 is presented. The event combined both the 16th IEEE International Pulsed Power Conference (PPC) and the 34th IEEE International Conference on Plasma Science (ICOPS) for the second consecutive year. Topics included the expansion of the PPS-2007 technical program.

The article discusses various reports published within the issue, including one by P.K. Chu on plasma treated biomaterials and another by K. Ostrikov on how plasmas are used in nanoscience areas.

The article discusses various reports published within the issue, including one on laser-based accelerators, one on plasma-based chemical reactors, and one on electron beam based microwave devices.

Describes the above-named upcoming special issue or section. May include topics to be covered or calls for papers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Describes the above-named upcoming special issue or section. May include topics to be covered or calls for papers. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article offers information on the special issue of the journal in October 2015 that will feature the papers presented at the biennial Euro-Asian Pulsed Power Conference (EAPPC) to be held in Kumamoto, Japan on September 8-12, 2014, including such topics as pulsed power applications.

This index covers all technical items - papers, correspondence, reviews, etc. - that appeared in this periodical during the year, and items from previous years that were commented upon or corrected in this year. Departments and other items may also be covered if they have been judged to have archival value. The Author Index contains the primary entry for each item, listed under the first author's name. The primary entry includes the co-authors' names, the title of the paper or other item, and its location, specified by the publication abbreviation, year, month, and inclusive pagination. The Subject Index contains entries describing the item under all appropriate subject headings, plus the first author's name, the publication abbreviation, month, and year, and inclusive pages. Note that the item title is found only under the primary entry in the Author Index. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Graphene has attracted great interest for its distinctive band structure and physical properties. Results from previous studies show that a graphene cathode can provide stable field emission and intense emission in a vacuum. In this paper, a graphene cathode was fabricated using chemical vapor deposition (CVD) on copper electrodes, and the breakdown of the cathode in a high-pressure gas was studied. A low-jitter, self-breakdown gas spark switch based on a graphene cathode is proposed in this paper. The impulse-breakdown characteristics of this switch in a quasi-uniform electric field were studied. When the gap length is 5 mm, and the gas pressure is 0.6 MPa, the average breakdown voltage ($U_{\mathrm {BD}}$) is nearly 85.9 kV, and the voltage jitter is only 3.2%; these values are much lower than those for pure copper cathodes and graphite cathodes. The graphene cathode is found to be a suitable choice for use as a high-power gas switch in applications requiring an intense emission source. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Railguns are current-driven guns that allow reaching large muzzle velocities and energies. In the military context, the long-range artillery scenario makes use of these two capabilities to enable the launch of hypervelocity projectiles to target distances above 100 km. As of today, the most advanced railgun project is conducted by the Office of Naval Research, Arlington, VA, USA, and features railguns with a muzzle energy of 32 MJ. Such large artillery railgun systems with efficiencies above 30% are fed by a pulsed power system with a nominal energy content of about 100 MJ. In contrast to this, experiments with French-German Research Institute’s (ISL) most powerful railgun, PEGASUS, have reached muzzle energies of 2 MJ, only. The nearer future ISL has to answer two questions: 1) is the railgun technology adequate for a long-range artillery scenario? 2) can the railgun launch a hypervelocity projectile which is being developed by other groups in ISL? To do so and to support the development of the hypervelocity projectile, a larger railgun installation with a significant increase of the energy and free flight capability is required. In this paper, three different railgun systems were investigated using an electric circuit simulation code. The systems are referred to by the energy being stored in the capacitors as 25, 50, and 100 MJ. The aim of this paper is to investigate what masses can be accelerated to the relevant velocity range for the long-range artillery scenario by these different primary energies. The results of this paper can be used to aid the decision about the required size, with respect to the military scenario, of a potential future railgun system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The results of an experimental study of the generation of runaway electrons (REs) during the formation of a negative streamer in an 8.5-mm-long point-to-plane gap filled with air are presented. Negative nanosecond voltage pulses (18 kV, $\tau _{0.5}\approx 10$ ns, and $\tau _{0.2-0.9} \approx 4$ ns) were applied across the gap. In this paper, we attempted to determine when REs are generated relative to the appearance of the streamer. In our previous studies of a positive streamer, we have shown that the formation of the streamer is accompanied by a dynamic displacement current (DDC) caused by the redistribution of electric field strength in the gap. This current can be easily measured with a collector placed behind a grounded grid electrode. The collector is typically used to measure the current of REs at negative polarity. In this paper, we were able to measure together and separately the DDC caused by a negative streamer and the RE beam current. This allowed us to accurately determine the moment of generation of REs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Before the formation of the anode spot, the anode current constriction is considered as a result of current constriction on the cathode surface and in the arc column. The objective of this paper is to quantitatively determine the current constriction characteristics by experiments at the anode of vacuum arcs under an axial magnetic field (AMF). In this paper, the radial distribution of the anode current density in a diffused vacuum arc was determined quantitatively by a novel method of four types of split-anode contacts, with various diameters of the central areas. The vacuum arc was in the diffuse arc mode with the arc current ranging from 6-to 14-kA rms. An external AMF was applied at 74 mT. The results indicate that the radial distribution of the anode current density $j_{z}$ is in the form of the three-parameter equation, $j_{z}=aj_{A}e^{(-br\wedge 2)}+c$ , where $j_{A}$ is the average current density on the whole anode surface, $r$ is the radius of the anode contact, and the value of constants $a$ , $b$ , and $c$ depends on the arc current. Moreover, the results reveal the constriction characteristics of the anode current density in high-current vacuum arcs subject to the AMF, which was quite uneven in the radial distribution of the anode current density in the diffuse arc mode. Finally, under various arc currents, the constriction characteristics of the anode current density reveal similar patterns. The current density mainly constricted in the central region, in which the diameter might be only one-third of the whole diameter of the anode contact. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of the effort described here is to model and monitor the insulation shear bonds between the three conductors of the toroidal field (TF) outer legs. Mechanical failure of the insulation could be a precursor to an electrical failure that could damage the TF inner leg central column, which is more difficult to repair. The shear stress in these bonded layers is proportional to the TF outer-leg out-of-plane (OOP) bending. This is a part of a larger program at National Spherical Tokamak Upgrade to instrument and monitor the structural performance of the machine. Components of the instrumentation plan are shown in this study. Bending of the outer leg due to out-of-plane loads is supported partly by shear in the bond between the three conductors that are bonded together to form the outer leg. Bending stress in the outer conductors provides an indication of the integrity of the shear bond. As a part of the orderly planned increase in operational parameters to 0.8 T (as of Feb 2016 it was at 0.61 T). Ten new FISO gauges were purchased and installed in March 2016. They yielded useful data prior to the forced shut-down due to the failure of PF1aUpper coil. The analytic process used to split out the thermal, in-plane and out-of-plane bending strains is described and compared with the measured results. The measured results provide reasonable benchmarks for the analysis. Ultimately, the main purpose of the instrumentation is to compare coil-to-coil behavior, to watch for consistency. If a coil starts to deviate from the others, the coil can be inspected for possible debonding between the three conductors that make up the outer leg. To properly monitor the full TF system, more channels are needed than Fabry–Pérot systems can provide. The planned fiber-Bragg grating (FBG) system is introduced in this paper. Monitoring and evaluation of the TF outer leg strains are also related to computed quantities that are monitored and protected by the digital coil protection system. Currently, the bending strain is expected to be adequately represented by upper–outer leg global moment sums. This relationship is discussed in this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prestrike phenomenon in circuit breakers (CBs) can cause electromagnetic transients in power systems. Therefore, the investigation of this phenomenon has considerable importance. The scope of this paper is to investigate the effects and importance of arcing contact shape on the prestrike in SF6 gas CBs. In order to simulate the prestrike with high accuracy, a multi-physics model is developed precisely. In this model, equations of motion of the SF6 gas, the electric charge conservation equation, turbulent equations, heat transfer equation in fluids, and the governing equations of an electric circuit in which the CB works are considered simultaneously. The numerical study is performed on a 72.5-kV single pressure puffer type SF6 CB. Three different types of arcing contacts are investigated in this paper. Numerical results show that the arcing contact shapes have an important effect on the prestrike in gas type CBs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the results of studies of dust formations in a radio frequency (RF) discharge plasma. In particular, the behavior of dust clouds in various types of traps was investigated. The experiments were carried out in argon plasma with the following discharge parameters: gas pressure of 0.02–0.6 Torr and discharge power of 1–50 W. Two types of the ring were used as a trap—“closed” and “nonclosed.” It was found that by changing the discharge parameters and using a different type of trap, it is possible to control the capture region of dust formations, and therefore, manipulate the extraction of dust particles by mass (size, in the case of monodispersity of particles). It has been observed that at a lower gas pressure the dust cloud is less affected by the traps; moreover, the wider the edge opening of “nonclosed” ring trap, the more efficient the process of extracting dust particles. The results of this paper can be useful for practical application in the processes of separation and extraction of dust particles from a plasma crystal, the study of particle interactions, and the manipulation of individual particles, etc. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To enhance the heat dissipation of high-power light-emitting diodes (LEDs), corona wind based on corona discharge was promoted. In this paper, we aimed at reinforcing the intensity of corona wind by modifying the needle electrode with graphene solution. To explore the differences in the graphene-coated electrode and the original bare electrode on the electrical characteristics, the intensity of corona wind, and LED heat dissipation, a corona wind cooling system and a thermal test system were built for the experimental study. The results showed that the graphene-coated electrode system could produce corona wind at a lower voltage. In addition, the discharge current of the graphene-coated electrode system is higher than that of the bare electrode system under the same discharge voltage. The graphene-coated electrode system can induce a faster corona wind and the highest speed is about 3.4 m/s, showing that it is more efficient than the bare electrode system in corona wind production. Moreover, the temperature drop of LEDs for the graphene-coated system is greater, which means that the corona wind cooling system can reduce the junction temperature of the LED chips effectively. Ultimately, as the discharge power increases, the average convective heat transfer coefficient increases. Indeed, the result of this paper can be used for the wide variety of the graphene-coated corona wind generator application as a promising technology for the LED heat management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a novel approach to test surface material charging under electron flux representative of space conditions below 400 keV. The experimental protocol used to test space material electrical properties consists in adapting the electron flux distribution to mimic worst case spectra met in space. Input environments are taken from Kp > 5 specifications at geosynchronous orbit (GEO) and from the analysis of both RBSP and LANL spacecraft data at middle Earth orbit (MEO) and GEO. Experimental results using GEO specifications show that the surface potential strongly depends on the energetic particle flux. Above a given > 100-keV electron flux, the radiation-induced conductivity tends to govern the charging dynamics. A numerical analysis based on the environments selected in this paper shows that charging levels could be larger at MEO than at GEO. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a simulation study of the dynamics of dust grains around a small asteroid. Plasma-asteroid interactions and asteroid charging are obtained from fully kinetic particle-in-cell simulations. Dust transport simulation takes into account the electrostatic force, solar radiation pressure, and the gravitational force. Both the result derived from laboratory measurements of regolith surface charging and the single dust charging model are considered for dust charging. For the small asteroid considered in this paper, we find that dust transport is mostly determined by the competition between the electrostatic force and the solar pressure and dust distribution is sensitive to both dust charging and dust grain size. For dust grains in the tens of micrometer size range, the solar radiation pressure dominates dust transport at small dust charge-to-mass ratio, whereas the electrostatic force dictates dust transport at large dust charge-to-mass ratio. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper was dedicated to the experimental characterization and numerical assessment of the possible risk of charging during the electric orbit raising (EOR). Different elements [printed circuit board (PCB), ethylene tetrafluoroethylene wires (ETFE)] considered at risk in representative electron environment have been tested to assess their charging behavior and any risks of electrostatic discharges in this environment. This task has been performed in the GEODUR irradiation test facility installed at Office National d’Etudes et de Recherches Aérospatiales (Toulouse, France) and equipped with a 2.5-MeV electron accelerator. The samples have been irradiated with an electron spectrum representative of the maximum spectrum (in regard of electron flux) met during the EOR behind 1-mm shielding. This experimental study revealed high charging kinetics on the different elements over successive cycles that led to the initiation of several electrostatic discharges on PCB, located on metallic floating parts. This paper demonstrated the risk of high charging and electrostatic discharge (ESD) risks during EOR on sensitive components. These discharges could affect the electronics operation and damage the insulators. The final step of this paper was to perform numerical simulation for internal charging assessment in global positioning system (GPS)-type orbit on different space used materials with a dedicated tool that takes into account the temporal evolution of high energy electron fluxes. Then we demonstrated a strong evolution of internal charging with the radiation environment, which has been ascribed to the influence of radiation-induced conductivity (RIC). Strong discrepancies from one material to the other have been observed later on the temporal evolution of the surface potential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deals with the repetitively pulsed spark discharges over the water surface by studying both the electrical and the spectroscopic aspects. Detailed discharge electrical parameters, vibrational and rotational temperatures, and electron density measurements for nine different conditions of input frequencies and voltages over the water surface have been reported. The objective of this paper was to find effective operating conditions and compile results for the future industrial applications. The spectroscopic characterizations such as temperatures and densities were gathered from the optical emission spectroscopy (OES). The N2 (C–B) second positive system (SPS) transition (370–382 nm) and the O triplet line (777 nm) obtained from plasma spectrum were analyzed by SpecAir software in order to get the vibrational/rotational temperatures and electron densities, respectively. The results of this work are concurred with our previous work on softening hard water using pulsed spark discharge, finding the most effective conditions practically. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A relentless root cause analysis of a series of unresolved bearing failures and friction anomalies on spacecraft utilizing ITHACO reaction wheels was funded and completed by United Technologies Corporation, Danbury, CT, USA, which is now known as Collins Aerospace. The analysis implicated a severe space-charging environment as a likely root cause, a factor that was not considered in the previous failure investigations. The strong correlation of geomagnetic storms with ball bearing friction events observed on-orbit was supported by the results of laboratory tests, which successfully duplicated the friction event signatures. The objective of this paper is to shed a new light on previously unexplained or unverified bearing anomalies and failures using this new approach to mechanism friction behavior. The scope of this paper is to open the discussion of anomalous friction signatures to include the effects of the space environment and electrical discharge and introduce this potential root cause to both the space charging and space mechanism communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

NorSat-1 was launched on July 14, 2017 as a satellite carrying, among other instruments, the multineedle Langmuir probe (m-NLP), an instrument which, on NorSat-1, is capable of measuring the ionospheric plasma electron density with the high sampling frequency of 1000 Hz. The m-NLP instrument operates by analyzing the current–voltage diagram resulting from the measurements from each individual probe. In principle, the m-NLP operation methodology should be insensitive to spacecraft charging. However, this is not always the case. In this paper, we present an overview of the instrument response to passes into and out of eclipse. When the satellite exits eclipse, we observe a collapse in the collected probe currents. This acute drop is unaccounted for by the theoretical operation of the instrument. We present a statistical analysis of the phenomenon based on several months of NorSat-1 data, and we suggest a plausible reason for the observed drop in the current, namely, spacecraft charging, by solar cell arrays upon eclipse exit. We briefly discuss how satellite orientation and plasma wake affect the current drop. With this paper, we address Langmuir probe current susceptibility to spacecraft potential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 41st IEEE International Conference on Plasma Science (ICOPS14) and the 20th IEEE International Conference on High-Power Particle Beams (Beams14) combined for the first time in 2014 as the IEEE ICOPS/Beams meeting. This scientific meeting took place from May 25 to May 29, 2014, in Washington, DC, at the historical Marriott Wardman Park hotel in Northwest DC. Participation included a broad range of scientific attendance, with a total of 566 researchers from 36 countries, with scientists from China, Russia, and Japan making the largest contribution to the international contingent. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article offers information on the biennial Euro-Asian Pulsed Power Conference (EAPPC) to be held in Kumamoto, Japan on September 8-12, 2014.