This project investigates physical and chemical phenomena and mechanisms during the production of particulate from plasmas induced by laser or electric discharge in a chemically active ambient gas atmosphere in a wide pressure range, from technical vacuum to high pressures. These phenomena are the basis for processes such as thin-film deposition or nucleation of ultrafine particles.

The aim of the experiments is to obtain a precise picture of dust-laden plasma in order to understand the influence of process parameters on physical and chemical properties of synthesized powder material. Methods of holographic interferometry, high-speed pyrometry, metallographic, x-ray structural and micro-x-ray spectroscopic analysis will be used in experimental investigations.

Jointly with these experiments, the project mathematical modelling of the processes in plasma-containing products of erosion and condensation in the form of particles of various size and shape will also be carried out. The fundamentals of plasma-particles interaction such as mass, charge, momentum and heat transfer, under conditions of considerable ionization, will be investigated using methods of the kinetic theory of rarefied gases. The processes of laser action on materials in gaseous atmosphere and the dynamics of laser-produced plasma will be simulated.