Plasma, discharged under vacuum conditions, underpins the development of the silicon wafer industry, which makes the devices that you're using to read this abstract. Atmospheric plasma technology - discharging plasma in the air - has been under development for several decades and has many benefits over vacuum technologies: in surface engineering applications there is no limit on component size and processing can be undertaken much faster as there is no requirement for a vacuum chamber. Atmospheric plasma generation has many other applications beyond surface engineering, which includes increasing the range planes can fly on a certain amount of fuel, increasing the energy efficiency of solar energy plants, creating functional nanomaterials, chemical analysis for forensics, advanced engine combustion, and decontamination of microorganisms: fungi, bacteria and viruses. This presentation will give an overview of these exciting technologies and show you videos of some technology in operation.

Speaker: Dr Adam Bennett obtained a first degree and a post-graduate Masters scored at the equivalent of a first class in science and physics, before achieving his Doctorate in applied plasma physics for ultra-precision engineering. Dr Bennett has seven years of experience working in laboratories on research and development. He is currently the Head of R&D of Levidian Nanosystems Ltd, the Director of Cranfield Plasma Solutions (a Plasma Technology Consultant), and a Visiting Lecturer on Atmospheric Plasma Technology at Cranfield University and Visiting Fellow at the University of Edinburgh.