Akshat Jiwan Sharma

Last month,July 22, I attended Dr André Anders' conference on the physics of vacuum arcs[1] organised by the American institute of physics. VA are fascinating because of the complex phenomenon that leads to the ignition of plasma in vacuum.  Starting as an initial field emission the current through metallic imperfections increases with voltage leading to rapid resistive heating which causes evaporation of tiny sections of metal in the vicinity. The high energy electrons ionise these vapors leading to formation of plasma between electrodes and establishment of a vacuum arc.  The number density for these evaporated sections is extremely high causing a massive pressure spike in regions close to the negative electrode and it's this pressure spike that drives the ions towards the positive electrode overpowering the electric force between them.  This high pressure phenomenon itself is quite fascinating as the temp in these tiny vapor spots can reach 20000K. This leads to rapid ...

I thank the American institute of physics for organising their monthly Physics of plasma webinar series and for giving me. a chance to interact with  some of the leading researchers in plasma science.  On several occasions I have remarked that plasma science is possibly one of the most important areas of research that has the potential to impact almost every engineering and scientific domain. Medicine ,power,communication,chemical,materials,electronics ,packaging,food and more.  Therefore I was extremely excited to attend this month's webinar presented by Igor Kaganovich [1],highlighting this multidisciplinary aspect of plasma science and his work at the Princeton plasma physics laboratory. While his presentation dived deep into plasma modelling using Particle in cell approach as well as other models like , Vlasov and Poisson Boltzmann the most significant aspect of his presentation was the one slide in which he demonstrated the overlap between plasma models used in fusio...

13th May 2026 I thank the American Institute of Physics (AIP)  for organising an exceptional talk by Dr Merav Opher on the SHIELD (Solar wind with Hydrogen Ion charge Exchange and Large-Scale Dynamics) project, which she is heading at Boston University in collaboration with NASA and several other institutions. It was a great privilege for me to learn from one of the leading plasma astrophysicists about this highly complex interdisciplinary initiative.  The SHIELD project aims to implement a ‘digital twin’ of the heliosphere, the bubble surrounding our solar system created by solar wind from the sun travelling supersonically with velocities in the range of 400Km/s.  This protective bubble,which is much larger than our solar system, is responsible for shielding nearly 70% of harmful cosmic rays.  The motive behind creating a digital twin emerges from the fact that the plasma characteristics of the heliosphere are quite different from lab plasmas and interstellar plasma...

Electromagnetic wave propagation inside electron sheaths in a capacitive discharge plasma  ABSTRACT While the influence of plasma frequency on the propagation of electromagnetic (EM) waves has been extensively studied, the potential role of Lorentz force in perturbing free electrons in plasma sheath and thereby facilitating transmission of electromagnetic waves as per maxwell laws has received comparatively little attention. An oscillating EM wave at a frequency above the plasma frequency interacts with free electrons in the sheaths leading to generation of conduction currents. The frequency of oscillation of these conduction currents is equal to the applied wave frequency.  Although the primary EM wave propagates only a limited distance due to attenuation and geometric spreading, these free electrons carry the currents through the volume of the plasma making them detectable by probes placed deeper within the plasma body. This mechanism is similar to propagation of EM waves ...

Air plasma driven high temperature blackbody light emitter for lighting and display applications  ABSTRACT  Plasma based light sources are usually based on noble gasses relying on emission from atomic lines to display colors. Whereas blackbody based emitters rely on the temperature of the emitter for the color and intensity of light. Neither BB nor plasma emitters by themselves are capable of producing light efficiently, BB emitters being especially notorious for their low efficiency. Yet the simplicity in manufacturing of plasma & BB light sources presents a compelling argument in their favor if their efficiency could be increased. In this paper we explore why these emitters suffer from poor efficiency and present a novel light emitter that combines the properties of plasmas and blackbodies to create a light source emitting at 5800K — the temperature of the surface of the sun offering both high luminous efficacy and wall plug efficiencies greater than 40% — exceeding the ...