News
10 Feb. 2026
Exploring the link between edge flows and the good confinement of tokamak plasmas with negative triangularity
The cross-section of tokamak plasmas is usually non-circular; the plasma column tends to be vertically elongated and "D"-shaped. The shaping parameter that characterizes the "D"-ness is called triangularity. In recent years, the exotic negative...
10 Feb. 2026
Enceladus: Saturn’s Tiny Moon Sculpts its Environment Over Record Distances
Despite its modest size, Enceladus exerts a colossal electromagnetic influence on Saturn’s environment. An international study led by researchers from the Laboratory of Plasma Physics (LPP) reveals that this moon acts as a giant planetary-scale Alfvén...
26 Jan. 2026
Plasma-Assisted Combustion: a Two-Part Reference Review to Understand Fundamentals and Applications
In their two-part tutorial review published in Plasma Sources Science and Technology, Svetlana Starikovskaia, Victor Lafaurie, Jean-Baptiste Perrin-Terrin (EM2C), and Christophe Laux (EM2C) present a comprehensive overview of plasma-assisted combustion...
22 Jan. 2026
A topical review paper on iodine plasmas for space propulsion and industrial applications
Iodine is an emerging alternative propellant for high-performance electric propulsion systems and has also been proposed as a novel feed gas for the dry etching of III-V semiconductor materials. An international team, including several researchers from...
14 Jan. 2026
Analysis of Twenty Years of Measurements from Four Missions Validates Magnetic Reconnection Models
By allowing plasmas to exchange their magnetic connectivity, the process of magnetic reconnection enables the sudden release of magnetic energy in the form of accelerated particles and fast, heated flows. For more than half a century, reconnection has...
21 Dec. 2025
Precipitations of solar wind ions at the surface of the planet Mercury
The Sun constantly emits a stream of charged particles, known as solar wind. Mercury, the planet closest to the Sun, experiences solar winds and storms more than 10 times more powerful than those experienced by Earth, which is located 1 astronomical unit...
21 Dec. 2025
Anatole Berger defended his PhD "On the use of moment methods for modeling low-temperature plasmas in the low and intermediate pressure regime"
Congratulations to Anatole Berger who successfully defended his PhD "On the use of moment methods for modeling low-temperature plasmas in the low and intermediate pressure regime" on December 2025. Summary : Low-temperature plasmas are used in many...
21 Dec. 2025
A new theory to explain the relaxation oscillations observed in the sheaths of Hall effect thrusters
Hall-effect thrusters are used in satellites for orbit transfer and station-keeping. The LPP (Laboratory of Plasma Physics) has been conducting research in this field for over ten years and has recently focused on the instabilities observed at the plasma...
21 Dec. 2025
Dihya Sadi succesfully defended her PhD "Fundamental mechanisms of plasma-surface interaction : application to plasma-membrane coupling for CO2 recycling"
Congratulations to Dihya Sadi who successfully defended her PhD "Fundamental mechanisms of plasma-surface interaction : application to plasma-membrane coupling for CO 2 recycling" on December 12, 2025. Thesis committee: Mr Erik Johnson DR CNRS, LPICM...
21 Dec. 2025
Louis Saugé defended his PhD "Étude expérimentale sur les jets de plasma à pression atmosphérique : champs électriques, mécanismes de décharge et effets biologiques"
Congratulations to Louis Saugé who successfully defended his PhD "Étude expérimentale sur les jets de plasma à pression atmosphérique : champs électriques, mécanismes de décharge et effets biologiques" on November 27, 2025. Summary : Atmospheric pressure...
29 Nov. 2025
Benjamin Labérie defended his PhD "Plasma froid à pression atmosphérique : Rôle du champ électrique sur la migration cellulaire et étude d’un jet diffusif sur les marqueurs de la cicatrisation"
Congratulations to Benjamin Labérie who successfully defended his PhD "Plasma froid à pression atmosphérique : Rôle du champ électrique sur la migration cellulaire et étude d’un jet diffusif sur les marqueurs de la cicatrisation" on November 25, 2025...
29 Nov. 2025
Benoît Gay defended his PhD "Gravitational wave turbulence : multi-scale methods and numerical simulations"
The first direct detection of gravitational waves by the LIGO–VIRGO collaboration [Abbott et al., 2016], made a century after Einstein’s prediction, has opened the door to probing events in the early universe, where many models anticipate the presence of...