Plasma Physics at West Virginia University

___________________________________ Cassak Group:

Koepke Group not shown: Vladimir Demidoff, Research Professor Dimitris Vassiliadis, Research Associate Professor Jeff Walker, graduate student

Scime Group not shown: Alex Hansen, postdoctoral researcher Amy Keesee, postdoctoral researcher Ioana Biloiu, graduate student Judi Connelly, graduate student Justin Ellis, undergraduate student

Welcome to the West Virginia University Plasma Physics Laboratory Web Page. These pages describe our research in general terms and provide specific information for prospective graduate students. This page also contains links to the WVU Physics Department, WVU, and the international communities of plasma physics and space physics.

The Plasma Physics group studies the fourth state of matter. As many substances are heated from a low temperature, they go through a succession of states: solid, liquid, gas, and finally plasma. At high temperatures, all matter is in the plasma state. West Virginia University's plasma research program has concentrated on basic problems of plasma behavior that are also relevant to the understanding of processes that occur naturally in space plasmas and in magnetically confined fusion plasmas. The laboratory facilities include sophisticated plasma devices for generating plasmas and modern instrumentation for measuring plasma properties.