Professor Declan Diver

My research interest is in the physics of plasmas, particularly theory and numerical simulations of fluid and kinetic plasmas, and imperfectly ionised low-temperature technological plasmas.

Specific topics of interest:

• LOW TEMPERATURE PLASMAS: electron avalanches, ionization waves, metastable excitation, streamer formation, surface modification;
• ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE PLASMAS: dielectric barrier discharges in air, sprites and energetic particle beam formation above thunderclouds via atmospheric electrostatics;
• PLASMAS AND DUST: charging and growth of dust particles in plasmas, including aerosols (liquid droplets), and modification of ambient neutral gas by grain discharges and/or surface catalysis via electron-moderated plasma chemistry.
• FLUID PLASMAS: MHD plasma - neutral gas momentum coupling, magnetic evolution in cosmological plasmas Ferrofluids: suspension and control of ferrofluid droplets against gravity.
• SOLAR PLASMAS: solar surface flows and the interaction with magnetic elements; ionising flows and critical ionization speeds.
• RELATIVISTIC PLASMAS: pair plasma kinetic theory, including Bernstein mode analysis and relativistic Landau damping; radiation coupling to, and damping of, electrostatic oscillations and waves in pulsar atmospheres;