Reno Reporter

Plasma physics researchers at the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR) were recently awarded Department of Energy grants.

Department of Physics professors Alla Safronova and Bruno Bauer were presented with the grants, according to a news release from the university. The funds will be utilized to study high-energy-density laboratory (HEDL) plasma physics.

"Because we do both theoretical and experimental work, we can do really great science," Safronova said in the news release.

Plasma is an ionized gas that contains positively charged ions and negatively charged electrons, the news release noted. Lightning and auroras are plasmas that are found naturally on Earth. Plasma is often alluded to as the fourth state of matter. It makes up much of the universe's visible matter and is a component of stars. Plasma physics can be applied to fusion energy and astrophysics.

HEDL plasma physicists utilize trillions of watts of electricity and laser light to analyze how matter behaves, according to the news release. Magnetic fields that are millions of times stronger than Earth's are studied. Physics faculty members and students can study radiation and instabilities in severe conditions – two main areas of plasma physics – because of the grants.

Researchers will use the university's Zebra pulsed-power generator to produce HEDL plasmas, the news release noted. The generator features a current capacity of up to nearly two million amps. Though it is smaller than the 26-million-amp machine at Sandia National Laboratories, it will help researchers replicate conditions in typical physics experiments, leading to a better understanding of how and why such devices work.