Atomic Processes in Plasmas

This event, which was held at the ICTP from 27 February to 3 March 2017, provided advanced training in theoretical and computational methods for atomic processes in plasmas. The schedule featured lectures by international experts, exposure to some important codes, invited and contributed research talks, posters and discussion sessions, with good time available for personal interaction.

Further details about this event are available on the ICTP website

Directors

• Bastiaan BRAAMS (IAEA)
• Hyun-Kyung CHUNG (IAEA)
• Yuri RALCHENKO (National Institute of Standards and Technology, USA)

Local Organizer

• Joseph NIEMALA (ICTP)

Purpose

The conditions in laboratory and industrial plasmas, laser-produced plasmas, astrophysical plasmas, and warm and hot dense matter are determined by numerous atomic processes including electron-ion and heavy particle collisions, photon-induced processes, and radiative decays. Even in fully ionized plasmas, which are typical for fusion energy research, atomic processes are very important as they underlie all impurity-based spectroscopic diagnostics.

The school will assist qualified Ph.D. students and early career researchers to develop their quantitative understanding of collisional and radiative atomic processes in plasmas with applications to fusion energy research, astrophysical science, laser-produced plasmas and other plasma environments. Participants will become acquainted with their international peers and will have a unique opportunity to establish links for their mutual support. Knowledge transfer will be facilitated between individuals from developed and developing countries.

A poster session was held on the afternoon of the first day: a book of abstracts is available here.

Topics

The school is concerned with theoretical and computational methods for the study of collisional and radiative atomic processes in plasmas including the following:

• Atomic processes in low-density plasmas (e.g. astrophysical, fusion and laboratory);
• Atomic processes in warm and hot dense matter and X-ray sources;
• Computational methods for atomic structure and collisions;
• Principles of spectroscopic diagnostics of plasma;
• Collisional-radiative modelling and calculation of plasma spectra;
• Simulations of non-Maxwellian and highly transient plasmas;
• Opacity (radiation transport) effects on plasma properties and plasma diagnostics;
• Methods for analysis of spectral line shapes and profiles;
• Online codes for calculation of ionization distributions and spectra.

Lecturers and Invited Speakers

• Connor BALLANCE, Queen's University Belfast, UK
• Hyun-Kyung CHUNG, International Atomic Energy Agency
• Stephan FRITZSCHE, Helmholtz-Institut Jena, Germany
• Hans-Joachim KUNZE, Ruhr University, Germany
• Yuri RALCHENKO, National Institute of Standards and Technology, USA
• Howard A. SCOTT, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, USA
• John SEELY, Artep, Inc., USA
• Evgeny STAMBULCHIK, Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel