485th Brookhaven Lecture on Wednesday, 3/20

Ady Hershcovitch of Brookhaven Lab's Collider-Accelerator Department to discuss 'The Plasma Window'

March 19, 2013

Space…the final frontier. Think back to a Star Trek or Star Wars scene taking place in a space station. Remember ships taking off through large bay doors directly into the vast, empty void of space while people stood on the decks breathing freely without scuba tanks or air supplies on their backs? Sure that was science fiction, but the technology that could separate the empty space outside from the air inside without a sheet of glass or metal is, in fact, real. This technology—called a plasma window—was developed at Brookhaven Lab and is being used at scientific research facilities around the world. The plasma window has made a difficult but ultra-powerful welding technique more versatile too.

On Wednesday, March 20, join Ady Hershcovitch of the Collider-Accelerator Department, for the 485th Brookhaven Lecture, titled "The Plasma Window." All are invited to attend this free talk, which is open to the public and will be held in Berkner Hall at 4 p.m. Refreshments will be offered before and after the lecture. Visitors to the Lab age 16 and older must carry a photo ID while on site.

To join Hershcovitch for dinner at a restaurant off site after the talk, contact Sandy Asselta (Ext. 4550).

During his talk, Hershcovitch will discuss the properties of plasma and the technology he developed to create the plasma window that can separate empty space from air. He will also explain how plasma windows are being, or will be, integrated with vacuum systems for science experiments at Brookhaven, Michigan State University, and the RIKEN laboratory in Japan as well as for the air-sensitive electron welding process.

Hershcovitch earned a doctor of science degree in applied plasma physics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in June 1977. He arrived at Brookhaven Lab in 1980 and is currently a physicist in the Collider-Accelerator Department. He is also a research professor at Southern Methodist University; holds eight patents; has helped set up plasma windows for different applications at institutions and companies in the United States, Germany, Israel, Japan, and South Africa; and is working on plans for new plasma windows in Austria and China.

2013-3757  |  INT/EXT  |  Newsroom