29th International School on Low Temperature Plasma Physics: Basics and Applications 2026

Program of the International School on Low Temperature Plasma Physics and its Master Class 2026

In 2026, the 29th International School on 'Low Temperature Plasma Physics: Basics and Applications' (03/10/2026 - 08/10/2026) and its Master Class 'Electrical breakdown and plasma initiation' (09/10/2026 - 10/10/2026) takes place at the Physikzentrum Bad Honnef (Germany).

Program of the School

We are looking forward to it because, once again, we are putting together a very promising program, with the support of many colleagues who are willing to give a talk at the School.

04/10/2026
08:45Welcome and introduction
Marc Böke & Marina Prenzel / Tomáš Hoder & Zdeněk Bonaventura (Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany & Masaryk University Brno, Czech Republic )
09:00Plasma Fundamentals I
Achim von Keudell (Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany)
10:30Coffee break
10:45Plasma Fundamentals II
Achim von Keudell (Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany)
13:45Plasma modelling I: General Overview
Annemie Bogaerts (University of Antwerp, Belgium)
15:15Coffee break
15:30Plasma sources I: Micro-wave plasmas
Alexander Navarrete (KIT, Germany)
17:00Forum with teachers
18:30Dinner
20:00Evening lecture: History of plasma physics
Holger Kersten (Christian-Albrechts-Universität Kiel, Germany)


05/10/2026
09:00Plasma modelling II: Electron kinetics in atomic and molecular plasmas
Luís L. Alves (Lisbon Technical University, Portugal)
10:30Coffee break
10:45Plasma modelling III: Fluid modelling of discharge plasmas
Luís L. Alves & Antonio Tejero del Caz (University of Lisbon, Portugal & University of Cordoba, Spain)
12:30Lunch break
13:45Plasma diagnostics I: Basics of plasma spectroscopy
Sylvain Iséni (GREMI Orléans, France)
15:15Coffee break
15:30Plasma sources II: High pressure thermal plasmas and sources
Tony Murphy (CSIRO, Australia)
17:00Forum with teachers
18:30School Dinner


06/10/2026
09:00Plasma diagnostics II: Measuring electron density and ion flux
Jean-Paul Booth (Ecole Polytechnique, France)
10:30Coffee break
10:45Plasma diagnostics III: Advanced optical diagnostics
Richard Engeln (ASML, The Netherlands)
12:30Lunch break
14:00 Workshop Simulation
Luís L. Alves (Lisbon Technical University, Portugal)
14:00Experimental Workshop I: ‘Basics of laser absorption spectroscopy’
Olivier Guaitella (École Polytechnique, France)
14:00Experimental Workshop II:‘Spectroscopic instruments and their application’
Sylvain Iséni (GREMI Orléans, France)
18:30Dinner
20:00Evening lecture: FAIR Data Principles for Data Management and Open Science Practices
Markus Becker (INP Greifswald)


07/10/2026
09:00Plasma sources III: High density magnetized plasma sources
Diederik Depla (Ghent University, Belgium)
10:30Coffee break
10:45Plasma sources IV: Dielectric Barrier Discharges
Olivier Guaitella (École Polytechnique, France)
12:30Lunch break
13:45Plasma technologies I: Material processing
Stephanos Konstantinidis (University of Mons, Belgium)
15:15Coffee break
15:30Plasma technologies II: Plasma chemistry for bio-applications and in contact with liquids
Zdenko Machala (University of Bratislava, Slovakia)
17:00Forum with teachers
18:30Dinner
20:00Poster session
Tomáš Hoder, Zdeněk Bonaventura & Pavel Dvořák (Masaryk University Brno, Czech Republic)


08/10/2026
09:00Plasma diagnostics IV: Plasma-Surface Interactions
Jan Benedikt (Kiel University, Germany)
10:30Coffee break
10:45Machine Learning for Low-Temperature Plasma Science
Jan Trieschmann (CAU Kiel, Germany)
12:30Lunch break


Program of the Master Class on Electrical breakdown and plasma initiation

Regular lectures have duration of ~1.15h + 15min for final extended discussion

09/10/2026
08:45Welcome and introductive words
Tomáš Hoder (Masaryk University, Czech Republic)
09:00Streamer breakdown and branching
Sander Nijdam (TU/e, The Netherlands)
10:30Coffee break
10:45Atmospheric electricity, transient luminous events and relativistic runaway discharges
Victor Pasko (PennState, USA)
12:30Lunch break
13:30Breakdown in Liquid media
Zdeněk Bonaventura (Masaryk University, Czech Republic)
15:00Master class poster session
Tomáš Hoder, Zdeněk Bonaventura & Pavel Dvořák (Masaryk University Brno, Czech Republic)
16:30Non-thermal to thermal plasma transition: arc discharges
Margarita Baeva (INP Greifswald, Germany)
18:30Dinner


10/10/2026
09:00Initiation and development of plasmas for electric propulsion
Francesco Taccogna (ISTP Bari, Italy)
10:30Coffee break
11:00Laser induced breakdown
Libor Juha (PALS/HiLASE, Czech Republic)
12:30Lunch break