Plasma Physics

Riverside Research’s plasma lab, located in Beavercreek, OH, provides the resources required to perform experiments in a controlled laboratory environment. We have three environmental vacuum chambers, each with the capability to precisely control test conditions that include gas composition, pressure, and temperature. Our largest chamber can accommodate materials or objects up to 2m X 2m X 4m depending on required test conditions. We have several current and planned plasma sources with the largest capable of producing a pulsed plasma beam up to 3 m in length and 0.9 m in diameter with electron densities of up to 10¹⁸ m^-3 and electron temperatures up to 10 eV.

Individually controllable magnets have been demonstrated to manipulate both plasma shape and dynamics (e.g., narrow slab plasmas, lower density diffuse plasma, dense plasma with significant instability activity). Plasmas can be run repeatably, consistently, with a relatively short turnaround. Under vacuum or noble gas environments, materials may be heated to temperatures of 2000 °C, or higher, using a custom built 100 kW graphite heater. We have a full suite of plasma, gas, and microwave diagnostics capable of measuring plasma parameters, background gas composition, material temperature, and material electromagnetic properties.