Announcing a Special Issue of the
IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science
on Modeling and Simulation of Collisional Low-Temperature Plasmas
(Scheduled for October 2007)

Low-temperature collisional plasmas are of importance in a wide range of fields: plasma-based materials processing, microdischarges, lighting sources, displays, lasers, pulse power switches, plasma cleaning of pollutants, and biomedical science and engineering.  Modeling, simulation and diagnostics have contributed to the understanding and development of these applications.  Both theoretical and experimental methods for studying electron kinetics, ion and neutral chemistry, plasma transport, and plasma-surface interactions have advanced rapidly.  Significant progress has been made in the subjects of Monte Carlo simulations, fluid models, hybrid models, multidimensional analysis, applications to plasma equipment design, and a variety of plasma and surface diagnostics techniques.  The intent of this Special Issue is to provide a forum and assemble papers addressing both the fundamental and applied aspects of modeling and simulation of low-temperature collisional plasmas.  The plasmas of interest include, but are not restricted to those having:

• Average (bulk) electron energy less than ~ 10 eV
• Fractional ionization less than ~ 0.1
  

Contributions are solicited in (but are not restricted to) the following areas:

• Low-pressure discharges (e.g., dc, rf, inductively coupled, ECR, helicon, and microwave discharges, hollow cathodes, thyratrons, etc.)
• Atmospheric-pressure non-equilibrium microdischarges (e.g., dc, rf, inductively coupled, microwave discharges, hollow cathodes, etc.)
• High-pressure pulsed discharges (e.g., lasers, sparks, applications in air pollution cleaning, surface modification, biomedical applications, etc.)
• Plasma reactor modeling, simulation and control
• Electron and ion kinetics, ab initio methods
• Fluid, kinetic, and hybrid models (e.g., Boltzmann equation solutions, Monte Carlo, particle-in-cell simulations, DSMC, etc.)
• Plasma chemistry (e.g., etching, deposition etc.)
• Plasma-surface interaction and near-surface phenomena (e.g., sheaths), profile evolution simulations
• Pulsed plasmas, dusty plasmas, ion-ion plasmas
• E-beam excited plasmas (e.g., lasers, plasma cathode devices, etc.)

Emphasis should be placed on models and simulations that improve our understanding of phenomena in collisional low-temperature plasmas or the operation of discharge devices.  Contributions that compare theory and/or simulations with experimental data are highly encouraged.

Please submit your manuscript (standard IEEE web submission) by February 15, 2007.  Instructions for authors may be found on the inside back cover of current issues of the IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science or on the web (http://tps-ieee.manuscriptcentral.com). Thank you for your interest!

Guest Editors: