Laboratory of Plasma Physics
Location: W. Ostwaldi Str 1, (D-wing, 4. floor), Tartu
Employees of the laboratory
The primary research field of the Laboratory of Plasma Physics is the physical and chemical processes taking place in gas discharge plasma as well as at the plasma-solid and plasma-liquid interfaces. Plasma at medium and atmospheric pressures is excited by DC, pulsed and high frequency electric fields and ns laser pulses. Plasma spectroscopy is the main experimental method which connects all research directions. Absorption and emission spectroscopy are combined with optical and electrical measurements for interpretation and modelling of the results.
Our studies are currently focused on following main topics:
1. Plasma-production of reactive oxygen and nitrogen species (RONS) and their interaction with solid and liquid surfaces. Our laboratory has developed various low-temperature plasma sources for the production and utilization of RONS in different applications such as surface treatment of plastics, wood and textiles, deposition of thin films, cancer treatment, sterilization of seeds and odour removal from air.
2. Laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) and its applications. LIBS method uses short and intense laser pulses to ablate and ionize tiny amount of investigated material. Optical emission from the formed plasma plume allows to determine the elemental composition of the investigated material. LIBS method allows to obtain the composition of all types of materials in mere seconds at large range of distances. It is becoming an important industrial tool for scrap metal sorting, analysis of coal quality etc. Our laboratory has developed LIBS method for the composition analysis of fusion reactor walls and the express-analysis of oil-shale quality.
Ongoing projects
The laboratory has participated and participates in several national and international projects. The largest ongoing international project is under the EUROfusion program where our task is the application of (LIBS) for in situ monitoring of erosion/deposition processes and fuel retention at the reactor wall.
Another important project PUT1432 is funded by Estonian Research Council and investigates the use of low-temperature plasma produced reactive oxygen and nitrogen species for the cancer therapy. In addition, our laboratory participates in the development of plasma assisted atomic layer deposition (ALD) method in the Estonian Research Council funded project PSG448. We are also member in the COST action CA19110 which aims to develop plasma-based methods for agricultural applications.
Previous projects
International project PlasTEP connected EU countries in the Baltic sea region and was aimed to the reduction of the environmental pollution by the means of plasma technologies. A project funded by international ABB company investigated the dielectric properties of environmentally friendly insulating gases used in high- and medium voltage equipment.
An Estonian Research Council funded project investigated the combination of plasma and catalyst for the flue gas cleaning (PUT585). The development of LIBS method for oil-shale quality analysis was investigated by the funding of Estonian Energy and Center for Environmental Investigations. Surface treatment of wood was investigated under the Estonian Research Council project PUTJD732 in cooperation with Centre of Competence for Wood Processing and Furniture Manufacturing.
International partners
Our main international partners are University of Greifswald, INP Greifswald, Jülich Research Zentre in Germany, DIFFER in Netherlands, VTT in Findland, ENEA in Italy, Masaryk University in Czech Republic, Comenius University in Slovakia, University of Latvia in Latvia, Lithuanian Energy Institute in Lithuania and Denmark Technical University in Denmark.