The BMSTU Research and Educational Centre for Plasma Science and Technology

The BMSTU Research and Educational Centre for Plasma Science and Technology was officially opened on April 10th 2013. During the preparation stage of the laboratories already a series of lectures was started in order to prepare the students for the new opportunities which the Centre will offer. Plasma Science and Technology - and this may come as a surprise to some - has become a major growth area, mainly through new discoveries (such as plasma crystals), new frontiers (such as high power lasers), interdisciplinary applications (such as plasma-biology, plasma-medicine and plasma-colloid physics) and technological advances (such as mono- and multilayer surface applications) as well as progress in plasma-chemistry, novel materials and plasma source design. The Centre for Plasma Science and Technology focuses on these modern and innovative aspects of plasma research and aims to play a major role in these fields. Economically, some of these topics have the potential to become major “‘disruptive technologies ” with the corresponding impact on society. Thus the Centre - in its current form and the planned additions — will play an important role in shaping this future. In the following, a brief summary of the activities, now and in future, will be presented.