Atmospheric pressure plasmas: A review

TL;DR: A review of the state-of-the-art of this multidisciplinary area and identifying the key research challenges is provided in this paper, where the developments in diagnostics, modeling and further extensions of cross section and reaction rate databases are discussed.

Abstract: Progress in science asks for new students and continuous education. This is particularly true for plasma physics, as the technological development is fast and continually opening up new interests and possibilities. As a consequence, students and new scientists need to be introduced to the fundamentals of plasma physics and the physical processes on which new developments are based. Initiated by the ERASMUS program of the European Community five years ago, an intensive summer school was started in Eindhoven with the help of many colleagues in Europe. The purpose of this school was to give new graduate students in Europe a solid introduction and concise overview of the plasma physics field. The emphasis has been on fundamental education and in-depth treatment of subjects such as plasma kinetics, surface processes, diagnostics and modelling, over the full breadth of the plasma physics field. This first course in 1996 was so well received that courses have been organized in subsequent years. The number of students has varied between 40 and 80. Another positive effect of the course appeared to be that it contributed to the building of the plasma community. Many contacts were created among the graduate students, not only with each other but also with the 15 - 20 teachers from the contributing universities and institutes in Europe. Therefore it was considered helpful to publish the course notes in a special section of Plasma Sources, Science and Technology. As it did for the students, it may serve as an introduction to important subjects in plasma physics to the readers. The result of this suggestion lies before you: of the 25 lectures presented at the school you will find 8 lectures in this issue. It will be forwarded to the students of the 2000 school and might also serve as an introduction to the schools to come. The 2001 school will be in Bad Honnef in Germany, organized by J Winter at the University of Bochum (jw@plas.ep2.ruhr-uni-bochum.de). Publishing the course notes is an experiment in itself and we would like to learn whether the readers of PSST appreciate this type of presentation. From the schools' point of view, the advantage is twofold: students get to learn about the journal and the content of the lectures can still be flexible and changed each year. We hope that for the journal it contributes both in information provided and in creating a community around the journal. At this point I would like to acknowledge the collaboration of the Editor-in-Chief N Hershkowitz, the referees of the various contributions (which have been refereed to the same standards as the regular papers in the journal) and the Publishing Editor N Gulley. I would like to thank all my colleagues for continuous support and their willingness to contribute to the school education. Also I would like to thank the sponsors who made this school possible: European Community: ERASMUS/SOCRATES Eindhoven University of Technology Board (College van Bestuur) Faculty of Physics Center for Plasma Physics and Radiation Technology Graduiertenkolleg HTPP Arbeitsgemeinschaft Plasmaphysik APP Nederlandse Organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek (NWO) Stichting voor Fundamenteel Onderzoek der Materie (FOM) Technologiestichting STW Philips Research Laboratory Philips Lighting Finally, I would like to thank the members of the local committees and in particular Mrs A Loonen who has played an essential role in the organization.