Peng Zhang
University of Michigan, MI·Engineering
Plasmas, gases of charged particles, are usually made by electrical breakdown: a high voltage tears electrons from neutral gas. Plasmas can also be made with light.
- Fields
Engineering
Physics
- Topics
plasma physics
non-equilibrium plasma
photoemission
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Aug 2027
What they work on
- Model theoretically and numerically how photoemitted plasma electrons relax from a direction-dependent velocity distribution to a thermalized state, including the development of plasma waves and instabilities.
- Test whether tailoring the properties and repetition rate of ultrafast photoemission pulses can create a normal glow plasma directly, without Paschen's breakdown.
- Explore plasma generation and control with low-intensity light sources, using plasmonic resonances to enhance photoemission.
- Evaluate photoemission-induced plasmas as a way to detect the carrier-envelope phase of few-cycle laser pulses with a stronger signal.
More about the research
When an ultrafast laser hits a metal surface, it knocks electrons out in a process called photoemission. Advances in ultrafast nano-optics mean these electrons can now be launched with chosen positions and velocities. That opens a controlled way to seed plasmas and to study basic plasma physics.
Why it matters
Making plasmas with light, without electrical breakdown, could reduce circuit stress and contamination and improve reliability in plasma systems. It could benefit high-speed plasma electronics and microchips, plasma catalysis and materials processing, and robust detectors for ultrafast lasers. Control of plasmas on time scales shorter than one light cycle may eventually support chip-scale accelerators and precise electrical control of chemical reactions.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
John Foster
University of Michigan, MI·Engineering
Test whether plasma breaks down PFAS through a non-oxidative route in which electrons and photons produce short-lived hydrofluorocarbons that hydroxyl radicals then oxidize to release fluoride ions.
Louise Willingale
University of Michigan, MI·Physics
Develop and characterize a charged-particle probe diagnostic at the NSF ZEUS laser facility that measures rapidly changing electric and magnetic fields inside laser-made plasmas.
Matthew Stoneking
Lawrence University, WI·Physics
Test whether electron plasmas confined in a toroidal (doughnut-shaped) magnetic field can reach thermal equilibrium, as existing theory suggests they cannot.
The school
University of Michigan: 124 labs on PI Pages, $2.1B a year on research, 963 research doctorates a year.
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