Queen’s University Belfast, Centre for Plasma Physics

The Centre for Plasma Physics at Queen’s University Belfast is one of the major plasma physics groups in the UK, currently consisting of 14 academics and 40 postgraduate and postdoctoral researchers. The centre mostly investigates the physics of plasmas created by high-intensity laser irradiation of matter or by electrical discharges, with internationally leading activities in fundamental science as well as in applied research. The work of the researchers is supported by significant funding from the UK Research Councils, as well as from other national and international sources. They host state-of-the-art research facilities and are also frequent users of major national and international large-scale installations.

• TARANIS laser facility: the laser delivers two optically synchronised pulses of about 20 Joules of energy per pulse in sub-ps duration, for a power of about 20 TW (about 400 times more powerful than the entire UK National Grid – but only for a very short time). The capability of delivering laser beams of nanosecond (10-9 s,) or picosecond (10-12 s) duration enables studies of very transient, short lived phenomena.

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