The TU/e Hands-on PlasmaLab is a facility that allows students to gain experience in working with plasma physics experiments. The PlasmaLab currently consists of 11 setups that students can interactively work with, and in addition features a number of demonstration experiments.

The PlasmaLab is a facility realized by four plasma groups of the TU/e:

• The Group Elementary Processes in Gas Discharges (EPG)
• Plasma & Materials Processing Group (PMP)
• Coherence and Quantum Technology Group (CQT)
• Fusion Group (Fusion)

Students can work on the different setups, encountering experiments on plasma initiation, plasma confinement, heating plasmas, plasma surface interaction, diagnostics and others.

Some of the experiments are well-understood, others have more complex behavior that can be used in research studies. One of these experiments features a demonstration of wave propagation in a plasma for different modes and polarisations (see photo below). Research is being done on how the wave propoagation is changed when changing polarisation, magnetic field strength and plasma density.

The PlasmaLab can also be used for commercial training, e.g. of companies that work with plasmas. More details on the experiments of the PlasmaLab can be found on the PlasmaLab@TU/e Website.