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Summary
Plasma science is on the cusp of a new era. It is poised to make significant
breakthroughs in the next decade that will transform the field. For example, the
international magnetic fusion experiment—more exactly, the International Ther-
monuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER)—is expected to confine burning plasma
for the first time, a critical step on the road to commercial fusion. The National
Ignition Facility (NIF) plans to ignite capsules of fusion fuel to acquire knowledge
necessary to improve the safety, security, and reliability of the nuclear stockpile.
Low-temperature plasma applications are already ushering in new products and
techniques that will change everyday lives. And plasma scientists are being called
on to help crack the mysteries surrounding exotic phenomena in the cosmos. This
dynamic future will be exciting but also challenging for the field. It will demand a
well-organized national plasma science enterprise. This report examines the broad
themes that frame plasma research and offers a bold vision for the future.
Principal Conclusion: The expanding scope of plasma research is creating
an abundance of new scientific opportunities and challenges. These oppor-
tunities promise to further expand the role of plasma science in enhancing
economic security and prosperity, energy and environmental security, na-
tional security, and scientific knowledge.
Plasma science has a coherent intellectual framework unified by physical pro-
cesses that are common to many subfields. Therefore, and as this report shows,
plasma science is much more than a basket of applications. The Plasma 2010 Com-
mittee believes that it is important to nurture fundamental knowledge of plasma
1
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Plasma science
2
science across all of its subfields in order to advance the science and to create op-
portunities for a broader range of science-based applications. These advances and
opportunities are, in turn, central to the achievement of national priority goals such
as fusion energy, economic competitiveness, and stockpile stewardship.
The vitality of plasma science in the past decade testifies to the success of
some of the individual federally supported plasma science programs. However, the
emergence of new research directions necessitates a concomitant evolution in the
structure and portfolio of programs at the federal agencies that support plasma
science. The committee has identified four significant research challenges that the
federal plasma science portfolio as currently organized is not equipped to exploit
optimally: fundamental low-temperature plasma science; discovery-driven, high-
energy-density plasma science; intermediate-scale plasma science; and crosscutting
plasma research.
Notwithstanding the success of individual federal plasma science programs,
the lack of coherence across the federal government ignores the unity of the sci-
ence and is an obstacle to overcoming many research challenges, realizing scientific
opportunities, and exploiting promising applications. The committee observes
that effective stewardship of plasma science as a discipline will likely expedite the
applications of plasma science. The need for stewardship has been identified in
many reports over two decades. The evolution of the field has only exacerbated
the stewardship problem, and the committee concluded that the need for a new
approach is greater than ever.
Recognizing the need both to provide an integrated approach and to connect
the science to applications and the broader science community, the committee
considered a number of options. After weighing relative pros and cons, the com-
mittee recommends as follows:
Principal Recommendation: To fully realize the opportunities in plasma
research, a unified approach is required. Therefore, the Department of En-
ergy’s Office of Science should reorient its research programs to incorporate
magnetic and inertial fusion energy sciences; basic plasma science; non-
mission-driven, high-energy-density plasma science; and low-temperature
plasma science and engineering.
The new stewardship role for the Office of Science would extend well beyond
the present mission and purview of the Office of Fusion Energy Sciences (OFES).
It would include a broader portfolio of plasma science as well as the research
OFES currently supports. Two of the thrusts in this portfolio would be new: (1) a
non-mission-driven, high-energy-density plasma science program and (2) a low-
temperature plasma science and engineering program. The stewardship framework
would not replace or duplicate the plasma science programs in other agencies;
rather, it would enable a science-based focal point for federal efforts in plasma-
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summary
based research. These changes would be more evolutionary than revolutionary,
starting modestly and growing with the expanding science opportunities. The
committee recognizes that these new programs would require new resources and
perhaps a new organizational structure for the Office of Science.
A comprehensive strategy for stewardship will be needed to ensure a successful
outcome. Other guidance for implementing this vision appears in the main report.
Among the issues to be addressed in planning such a strategy are these:
• Integration of scientific elements,
• Development of a strategic planning process that not only spans the field
but also provides guidance to each of the subfields, and
• Identification of risks and implementation of strategies to avoid them.
There is a spectacular future awaiting the United States in plasma science and
engineering. But the national framework for plasma science must grow and adapt
to new opportunities. Only then will the tremendous potential be realized.
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