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 | |
|---|---|
| 08:45 | Welcome and introduction Marc Böke & Marina Prenzel / Tomáš Hoder & Zdeněk Bonaventura (Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany & Masaryk University Brno, Czech Republic ) |
| 09:00 | Plasma Fundamentals I Achim von Keudell (Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany) |
| 10:30 | Coffee break |
| 10:45 | Plasma Fundamentals II Achim von Keudell (Ruhr-University Bochum, Germany) |
| 13:45 | Plasma modelling I: General Overview Annemie Bogaerts (University of Antwerp, Belgium) |
| 15:15 | Coffee break |
| 15:30 | Plasma sources I: Micro-wave plasmas Alexander Navarrete (KIT, Germany) |
| 17:00 | Forum with teachers |
| 18:30 | Dinner |
| 20:00 | Evening lecture: History of plasma physics Holger Kersten (Christian-Albrechts-Universität Kiel, Germany) |
| 05/10/2026 | |
|---|---|
| 09:00 | Plasma modelling II: Electron kinetics in atomic and molecular plasmas Luís L. Alves (Lisbon Technical University, Portugal) |
| 10:30 | Coffee break |
| 10:45 | Plasma modelling III: Fluid modelling of discharge plasmas Luís L. Alves & Antonio Tejero del Caz (University of Lisbon, Portugal & University of Cordoba, Spain) |
| 12:30 | Lunch break |
| 13:45 | Plasma diagnostics I: Basics of plasma spectroscopy Sylvain Iséni (GREMI Orléans, France) |
| 15:15 | Coffee break |
| 15:30 | Plasma sources II: High pressure thermal plasmas and sources Tony Murphy (CSIRO, Australia) |
| 17:00 | Forum with teachers |
| 18:30 | School Dinner |
| 06/10/2026 | |
|---|---|
| 09:00 | Plasma diagnostics II: Measuring electron density and ion flux Jean-Paul Booth (Ecole Polytechnique, France) |
| 10:30 | Coffee break |
| 10:45 | Plasma diagnostics III: Advanced optical diagnostics Richard Engeln (ASML, The Netherlands) |
| 12:30 | Lunch break |
| 14:00 | Workshop Simulation Luís L. Alves (Lisbon Technical University, Portugal) |
| 14:00 | Experimental Workshop I: ‘Basics of laser absorption spectroscopy’ Olivier Guaitella (École Polytechnique, France) |
| 14:00 | Experimental Workshop II:‘Spectroscopic instruments and their application’ Sylvain Iséni (GREMI Orléans, France) |
| 18:30 | Dinner |
| 20:00 | Evening lecture: FAIR Data Principles for Data Management and Open Science Practices Markus Becker (INP Greifswald) |
| 07/10/2026 | |
|---|---|
| 09:00 | Plasma sources III: High density magnetized plasma sources Diederik Depla (Ghent University, Belgium) |
| 10:30 | Coffee break |
| 10:45 | Plasma sources IV: Dielectric Barrier Discharges Olivier Guaitella (École Polytechnique, France) |
| 12:30 | Lunch break |
| 13:45 | Plasma technologies I: Material processing Stephanos Konstantinidis (University of Mons, Belgium) |
| 15:15 | Coffee break |
| 15:30 | Plasma technologies II: Plasma chemistry for bio-applications and in contact with liquids Zdenko Machala (University of Bratislava, Slovakia) |
| 17:00 | Forum with teachers |
| 18:30 | Dinner |
| 20:00 | Poster session Tomáš Hoder, Zdeněk Bonaventura & Pavel Dvořák (Masaryk University Brno, Czech Republic) |
| 08/10/2026 | |
|---|---|
| 09:00 | Plasma diagnostics IV: Plasma-Surface Interactions Jan Benedikt (Kiel University, Germany) |
| 10:30 | Coffee break |
| 10:45 | Machine Learning for Low-Temperature Plasma Science Jan Trieschmann (CAU Kiel, Germany) |
| 12:30 | Lunch 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 | |
|---|---|
| 08:45 | Welcome and introductive words Tomáš Hoder (Masaryk University, Czech Republic) |
| 09:00 | Streamer breakdown and branching Sander Nijdam (TU/e, The Netherlands) |
| 10:30 | Coffee break |
| 10:45 | Atmospheric electricity, transient luminous events and relativistic runaway discharges Victor Pasko (PennState, USA) |
| 12:30 | Lunch break |
| 13:30 | Breakdown in Liquid media Zdeněk Bonaventura (Masaryk University, Czech Republic) |
| 15:00 | Master class poster session Tomáš Hoder, Zdeněk Bonaventura & Pavel Dvořák (Masaryk University Brno, Czech Republic) |
| 16:30 | Non-thermal to thermal plasma transition: arc discharges Margarita Baeva (INP Greifswald, Germany) |
| 18:30 | Dinner |
| 10/10/2026 | |
|---|---|
| 09:00 | Initiation and development of plasmas for electric propulsion Francesco Taccogna (ISTP Bari, Italy) |
| 10:30 | Coffee break |
| 11:00 | Laser induced breakdown Libor Juha (PALS/HiLASE, Czech Republic) |
| 12:30 | Lunch break |


