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Virtual Pressroom 2006

48th Annual Meeting of the APS Division of Plasma Physics

Most of the matter we are familiar with in everyday life comes in three states -- solid, liquid, or gas. But much more of the matter in the universe exists in a fourth state known as plasma. Plasmas are gaseous collections of electrically charged particles such as electrons and protons. Stars are primarily composed of hot plasmas. On Earth, plasmas are formed in lightning strikes and produce light in fluorescent bulbs. They are used to inscribe patterns in computer chips and other electronics, and they are also at the heart of the most promising nuclear fusion devices that may someday lead to an abundance of cheap, clean, and safe power sources.

Seven international partners, including the U.S., have now committed to the construction of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) as the next step toward fusion energy. Many new advances relevant to magnetic confinement in ITER—such as methods to suppress plasma instabilities, control heat loss, diagnose plasma behavior, and enhance heating—have been recently achieved. At the same time, impressive progress in inertially confined fusion plasmas, high-energy-density physics, space and astrophysical plasmas, and basic plasma science has been made.

These highlights and results of many other subjects will be addressed at the 48th Annual Meeting of the American Physical Society’s Division of Plasma Physics, to be held October 30-November 3, 2006, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. More than 1500 attendees will present 1600 papers covering the latest advances in plasma-based research and technology.

The American Physical Society is the world's largest professional body of physicists, representing over 43,500 physicists in academia, national laboratories, and industry in the US and internationally.

Highlights & Press Releases

American Physical Society Invites Philadelphia to Discover Plasma

Bringing stars and galaxies down to Earth

Dense colliding plasmas

Diamonds aren't forever

DPP06 - "Unsociable" electrons help optimizing plasma devices

DPP06 - A little rotation provides a lot of stability

DPP06 - A nonlinear wrinkle in the investigation of heating of fusion plasmas by fast ions

DPP06 - An exhaust system for a high performance fusion engine

DPP06 - Cryogenic DT and D2 targets for inertial confinement fusion

DPP06 - Dynamics of mass transport and magnetic fields in low wire number array z-pinches

DPP06 - Fastest Waves Ever Photographed

DPP06 - Keeping tokamaks toasty: Small fusion machine achieves big breakthrough in energy confinement

DPP06 - New discovery on reconnection layer profile of MRX in 2006

DPP06 - New fusion research into slowly rotating plasmas gives favorable results for ITER performance

DPP06 - New measurements lead to an improved understanding of Alfvén waves

DPP06 - Overcoming High Heat Flux Roadblock to Fusion Energy

DPP06 - Shock-driven nuclear fusion reactions from nanoplasma explosions

DPP06 - Tearing a magnetic field to heat a fusion plasma

DPP06 - Tokamak Turbulent Transport Coupling Large and Small Eddies

DPP06 - Water on giant planets gets a new look

Flying a fusion plasma straight and level when stabilizing plasma flow is reduced

From zero to a billion electron volts in 3.3 centimeters

Generating plasma current in spherical tokamaks

Measuring how high temperature plasmas boil

Understanding how rotating plasmas can be slowed down

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Annual Meeting of the APS Division of Plasma Physics (DPP)