This project proposal is to develop the automation of data collection, measurement, and control for two projects at the UAA Plasma Lab: an Atmospheric Pressure Plasma (APP) experiment and an experiment studying the current-free electric double layer in an expanding plasma (Helicon). For both experiments, providing and measuring voltage and current accurately and repeatedly are processes that require a precision that is impossible to achieve without automation. In addition, it is necessary to automate safety interlocks for the Helicon experiment, shutting it off if critical levels of temperature, water flow, or power are reached.
The APP project allows us to conduct research on the effects of plasma on biological samples such as bacteria and cancer tissue, and the Helicon project is a high-density plasma source for studying the physics behind a kind of space propulsion system as well as that relating to space weather. Both projects require automation in order to produce experimentally useful results and operate safely. In the APP experiment, the plasma discharge conditions are varied over a large “parameter space” of discharge voltage, current, gas flow, and electrode configuration, and automation of parameter control and data collection will allow large, meaningful datasets to be collected systematically and efficiently. In particular, optical emission spectroscopy data need to be continuously collected as the discharge parameters are varied, so that the production of certain chemical species in the discharge can be correlated with discharge conditions.
A notable way in which the APP research aligns with NASA is in sterilization of bacteria. This will allow for foreign organisms to be eradicated in spacecraft and equipment so as not to contaminate extraterrestrial environments with Earth microbiota, and vice versa [1].
The Helicon project aligns with NASA’s strategic goals to expand human presence in the solar system, understand space weather, and mature innovative space technologies.
Profile
Name: Max Zaki, Undergraduate Student
Institution: University of Alaska Anchorage
Mentor: Nathan Hicks, nkhicks@alaska.edu
Award: Summer Apprenticeship
Funding Period: 2019