Plasma Lab for Applications in Sustainability and Medicine - ANTwerp
The PLASMANT research group has a wide expertise on atomic scale surface simulations as well as macroscale plasma simulations. The main research activities of the group are focused at developing and applying numerical models for:
- gas discharge plasmas
- the interaction between a plasma and a solid surface
- the interaction between a laser and a solid surface
with the aim to optimize the applications of plasmas and lasers in materials science, nanotechnology, analytical chemistry, environmental and medical applications.
For the gas discharge plasmas the group develops Monte Carlo models, particle-in-cell Monte Carlo simulations, fluid models, collisional-radiative models as well as hybrid codes. PLASMANT investigates various kinds of plasmas, including direct current, radio-frequency, magnetron and dielectric barrier discharges, in different kinds of gases and configurations.
For the interaction of plasmas and surfaces, classical molecular dynamics simulations are used, frequently combined with Monte Carlo simulations to study the dynamical evolution of the substrate, such as e.g. the morphology, structure, composition and physicochemical properties as a function of the interaction with the plasma. The PLASMANT group also develops reactive force fields for use in atomistic classical simulations.
For the interaction between a laser and a solid surface, the group developed a set of original models, which describe the behaviour during and after laser-solid interaction.
For its computations, the PLASMANT group has access to the supercomputer Turing at the UAntwerp. Moreover, PLASMANT has also built its own computer cluster. The group uses a host of codes, including home-written codes, as well as commercial software or software under academic licence, including ADF, BAND, VASP, ReaxFF, COMSOL and FLUENT.