The full version of the position paper is provided below. To have your name appear on the publicly available list of supporters, please fill out the form that immediately follows the position paper.
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25 March 2025
Plasma Science and Engineering:
A Foundational Asset For National and Economic Security
Plasma science and engineering (PSE), the investigation and application of ionized matter, is the basis of a broad range of technologies critical to the economic vitality and national security of the US. As described in the Plasma 2020 Decadal Survey of Plasma Science, PSE is rooted in the fundamental science of understanding the visible universe around us and translating that understanding to technologies that US society depends on daily. PSE is broadly impactful, from underpinning stewardship of our nuclear stockpile to predicting space weather that affects our electric power grid. PSE will bring fusion energy to the US – a nearly limitless power source that could revolutionize US energy security. PSE is an economic driver across key industrial sectors, insuring US international leadership in high tech manufacturing. PSE programs at universities and federal laboratories are at the core of tech workforce development, providing highly trained scientists and engineers who underpin industry, national security, and space exploration.
PSE is so vital to the nation’s scientific goals that it is supported by multiple federal funding agencies, including the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Department of Energy-National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), the Department of Energy Office of Science Fusion Energy Sciences, the Department of Defense, and NASA, each addressing unique science and technology issues. This breadth of federal support reflects the critical and unique role that PSE plays in advancing national priorities and seeding industrial innovation. Continuing and expanding federal support for PSE promotes national security and economic prosperity.
National Security: The translation of fundamental PSE to national security applications is rapid and impactful. A Memorandum of Understanding between the NNSA and the NSF jointly supports High Energy Density (HED) science that underlies both astrophysical phenomena and secures our nuclear deterrent. NSF sponsored research programs and facilities at the University of Rochester, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, the University of Michigan, and networks of facilities (LaserNET, ZNet) are closely aligned with NNSA priorities. They also facilitate the training of students who are in high demand in the NNSA and national laboratories. These programs enable the US to maintain international leadership in HED science, while also enabling discoveries on how the sun and galactic phenomena are powered. In addition, hypersonic vehicles, directed energy weapons, plasma propulsion for satellites, and nuclear weapons effects testing critically depend on a robust PSE community in the US. PSE allows us to predict solar and space weather events that impact our national electrical grid, the operation of satellites and the safety of astronauts.
Manufacturing, Technology, AI & Quantum: PSE is the foundation for industrial technologies that are important to US economic vitality and essential to national security. PSE has uniquely advanced semiconductor microelectronics fabrication, while plasma-based extreme-ultra-violet (EUV) sources for photolithography is the key enabling technology for next generation microelectronics devices. Nearly all high technology industries, from automobiles to aerospace, rely on plasma-aided-manufacturing for materials synthesis and modification. For example, PSE enables synthesis of unique nanoparticles for nanotechnology applications; heavy industries, such as metal refining and steel production, are progressively reliant on plasma processes to enhance efficiency and competitiveness; and plasma based particle accelerators are enabling advances in materials processing, medical imaging, monitoring nuclear proliferation, and intense radiation sources. In addition, PSE technologies underpin US leadership in artificial intelligence (AI) and quantum computing by enabling fabrication of the semiconductor devices upon which they rely.
Energy and Water Security: To achieve US national goals, secure and reliable sources of energy and natural resources are needed. PSE is at the heart of developing fusion electrical power plants based on successes in inertial confinement fusion (ICF) and magnetic fusion energy (MFE). Strategic investments in PSE will preserve US international leadership in bringing fusion power to the grid. PSE enables chemical conversion and plasma aided combustion to improve use of fossil fuels; and enables battery fabrication. PSE processes are being developed for liquefaction of natural gas, and helping with waste conversion and reuse to make cities more energy efficient. New PSE based technologies are restoring water resources through purification, decontamination and desalination.
Medicine and Agriculture: The interaction of plasmas with living tissue, from humans to plants, is a rapidly developing field with the potential of providing new therapies for cancer treatment and wound healing, and adaptable therapeutic treatment for long duration space flight. Plasma applications in agriculture improve yields and replace energy intensive chemical fertilizers with onsite plasma based processes, reducing pesticide use and improving crop health.
Scientific Breakthroughs Create Societal Benefit: PSE has an exceptional record for translating basic research and discovery to society transformative technologies. For example, the study of dynamic solar events (e.g., solar flares) and space weather yield predictions of these events so that we can take actions to protect US satellites used for communications, global positioning, reconnaissance, and national security. Fundamental plasma physics studies of the interiors of planets and stars and of the neighborhoods about massive astrophysical objects translate to advances in HED science for defense and energy. Dusty plasma research, the interaction of micron-scale matter with plasmas, has resulted in industrial processes for materials synthesis and semiconductor manufacturing; and insights on wall erosion in fusion reactors and preventing dust contamination for lunar astronauts. With more than 99.9% of visible matter in the universe being in the plasma state, plasma-based discovery across all scales, laboratories to galaxies, plays a critical role in international US scientific leadership, enabling the US to influence world events.
Workforce Development: PSE is an interdisciplinary field that touches nearly every national strategic priority and every technology sector, from manufacturing to medicine. Robust federal funding of PSE programs generates a keenly-trained scientific workforce with critically needed skill sets that benefit national research laboratories and high technology manufacturing while seeding innovative new industries.
As the Administration assesses opportunities and makes resource allocation decisions to align with national priorities, the undersigned members of the plasma science and engineering (PSE) community, and industrial beneficiaries of PSE, emphasize the vital need to maintain and expand federal support for PSE research. PSE research strengthens national security and leads to economic prosperity for the Nation.
