Prof. Wirz recently gave an invited seminar at the Michigan Institute of Plasma Science and Engineering (MIPSE) entitled “Plasma Interactions with Materials, Metamaterials, and Photonic Crystals.” He was invited by Michigan Dean of Engineering (Prof. Alec Gallimore) and the MIPSE Director (Prof. Mark Kushner). During the talk, Prof. Wirz discussed recent breakthroughs in his lab related to aerospace-related plasma physics for plasmas in the presence of unique material architectures and conditions.
Seminar flyer: http://mipse.umich.edu/files/Wirz_flyer_v02.pdf
Seminar video: http://leccap.engin.umich.edu/leccap/viewer/r/pENrT0
The abstract for the talk: Plasma interactions with surfaces can significantly affect the local material and the plasma behavior. This talk will cover two topics: (1) the use of advanced surfaces to reduce plasma‐material interactions and (2) the plasma functionalization of metamaterials and photonic crystals. The Plasma Interactions (Pi) facility at UCLA enables testing of plasma‐facing surfaces over a wide range of densities, energies, and fluence while providing in‐situ observation with a wide range of intrusive and non‐intrusive diagnostics. Using this facility and computational models, we have developed and characterized new surfaces that reduce ion-induced sputtering and ion‐induced secondary electron emission (iSEE) by over 50%. Certain geometries improve trapping of sputterants and electrons for high‐energy plasma applications. Similar surfaces provide significant reductions to electron‐induced secondary electron emission (eSEE), resulting in materials that are plasma‐resilient and minimally invasive. The talk will also cover recent discoveries on plasma‐functionalized metamaterials and photonic crystals. We have uncovered coupling modes between “spoof” surface plasmons (SSPs) and plasma‐based surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs) that could lead to a new class of devices for EM‐manipulating metasurfaces including rapidly tuneable filters, switches, multiplexers, and beam steering.