Debra Callahan Receives 2023 Ronald C. Davidson Award for Plasma Physics

Physics of Plasmas has bestowed the 2023 Davidson Award to Debra Callahan for her paper “Exploring the limits of case-to-capsule ratio, pulse length, and picket energy for symmetric hohlraum drive on the National Ignition Facility Laser.” The annual award of $5,000 is presented in collaboration with the APS Division of Plasma Physics to recognize outstanding plasma physics research by a Physics of Plasmas author.

Defining Plasma Dose for Potential Future Cancer Treatments

Chinese researchers may have found a new approach to treat cancer by using a plasma treatment to induce apoptosis, without any obvious side effect to normal cells. A plasma-activated medium (PAM) can be treated as a drug, with a dose-effect relationship. In Physics of Plasmas, the scientists’ definition of a plasma dose, the equivalent total oxidation potential (ETOP), can be used for PAM to reveal the plasma dose-response relationship for different cell types.

Cosmic Rays May Be Key to Understanding Galactic Dynamics

While moving around within the gas in the interstellar medium, cosmic rays kickstart the background protons, which causes a collective plasma wave movement akin to ripples on a lake. The big question is how cosmic rays deposit their momentum into the background plasma. In Physics of Plasmas, plasma astrophysicists review recent developments within the field of studying the streaming instability triggered by cosmic rays, which likely have more impacts on galactic dynamics and the star formation cycle than previously known.