Experimental master projects?
We can offer projects in a well equipped laboratory, with the goal to study plasma phenomena related to energy distributions in plasmas with flows and beams, phenomena which is often encountered in space plasmas. Ion beams are also studied in laboratories world wide, with the aim to develop ion propulsion in space. Projects in collaboration with colleagues in the Space physics group on rocket instrumentation and hypervelocity dust impact may also be offered.
For experimental projects you need background introductory plasma physics, and knowledge from some of the courses on basic experimental physics, signal analysis, statistics, introductory electronics and measurement technique, will be valuable. Some knowledge of complex analysis, differential equations and numeric methods, as well as chemistry will also be useful.
Necessary 2000– level courses:
Fys-2009 Introductory plasma physics
Necessary 3000 level courses:
Fys-3017 Laboratory plasma for space physics
Recommended courses:
Fys-2008 Measurement techniques
Fys-2001 Statistical Physics and thermodynamics
Fys-2006 Signal analysis
Fys-3000 Introduction to satellite and rocket techniques and space instrumentation
You can find proposed master thesis projects at the IFT pages here.
(scroll down to near bottom)
Currently, three project descriptions are available for master projects at the lab, but other projects can be defined based on specific interest and lab setup.
Current project titles:
- Arc discharges in a DC plasma
- Photoemission Measurements of selected metals in a Space-like Environment, resembling the ambient conditions in Near Space
- Dipole plasma in a laboratory experiment
As a master student at the Aurolab, you can also visit our Erasmus + partners in
University of Innsbrück, Austria (contact: Roman Schrittwieser)
Brno University of Technology, Tsjekkia (contact: Vera Mazankova)
University of Bochum-Ruhr (contact: tbd)
University of Milano Bicocca, Italy (contact: Claudia Riccardi).
For further questions, contact Åshild Fredriksen.
What are the prospects of work after a master project in experimental plasma physics?
The best answer to this is to list the former students at the plasma laboratory throughout its history and what they were doing last time we had news from them:
Master students:
Name (year) | Thesis | Present employment |
Harald Johnsen (1981) (exp) |
Evolusjonen av en lav-energetisk ionestråle i et plasma | Forsker, NORUT |
Åge Skøelv (1981) (exp) |
Ionestrålediagnostikk ved hjelp av elektronmettet plan Langmuirprobe | Senior advicer, NDRI |
Gunn Karlstad (1983) (exp) |
Elektronplasmabølger i et plasma med to elektrontemperaturer | Brukerstøtte seismikk-data, lærer |
Åshild Fredriksen (1983) (exp) |
Utbredelse av elektron Bernstein-bølger i inhomogent magnetfelt | Professor, IFT, UiTø |
Einar Grønvoll (1988) (exp) |
Betingede virvler i ioneakustisk turbulens | OsloMet |
Knut Brede Liland (1991) (num) |
A study of a langmuir probe in a magnetic field | Forsker, SINTEF Energiforskning |
Olsen, Odd-Arne (1994) (exp) |
Probestyringsprogram for Blåmann | ? |
Tommy Andreassen (1999) (exp) |
Electron temperature fluctuation diagnostics in a magnetized plasma. | Software Engineer, Kongsberg Spacetec |
Ane Aanesland (1999) (exp) |
Design, control and diagnostics of an electron cyclotron resonance plasma source for thin film deposition. | École Polytechnique & ThrustMe startup, Frankrike |
Woldesenbet, Alemayehu Berga (2001) (analysis) |
Probe measurements of anomalous cross-foeld transport in a magnetized plasma | ? |
Andrey Lyachev (2002) (exp) |
Application of emissive probes for the plasma potential fluctuations measurements in the Blaamann device | Postdoc, Central Laser Facility, Rutherford Appleton Laboratory |
SOCRATES student Giulio Tribulato (2007) (exp) |
Characterization of a magnetized plasma in a cylindrical geometry | Working in industry in Milan. |
Christian Schregel (2012) (exp) |
Studies of plasma potential with emissive probes in the low temperature plasma experiment NJORD | Graduated from PhD studies in Bochum. Works in Berlin. |
Varberg, Erik (2016) (exp) |
Effect of permanent magnets on plasma confinement and ion beam generation in a double layer helicon plasma source | Works at EISCAT |
Karianne Dyrland (2016) (exp) |
Installation and characterization of an electron bombardment ion source for a Space Simulation Chamber (SSC) | Studies at UiO |
Osnes, Sindre (2017) (exp) |
‘Beam and plasma properties downstream from positively biased source chamber’ | Works at Unicus AS |
Kenneth Nilsen (2017) (exp) |
Plasma cloud detection and diagnostics from arcing by conditional averaging | ? |
Erasmus Int. Lisa Buschmann (2019) (exp) |
Measurements and analysis if ions and electrons in a helicon plasma source | tbd |
Erasmus Int. Pascal Sado (2019) (exp) |
Plasma parameter regimes and ion energy measurements in an ECR source with variable magnetic field | tbd |
Graduated Ph.D. students
Name | Thesis (year) | Present employment |
Harald Johnsen | Interaction between low energy ion beam and ion acoustic fluctuations in field free plasma (1984) | NORUT IT, Tromsø |
Einar Grønvoll | Plasma confinement and waves in the toroidal plasma machine Blaamann (1994) | OsloMet |
Frank Øynes | Experimental investigation of fluctuations in a simple magnetized torus (1996) | Kongsberg Spacetec, Tromsø |
Ole-Morten Olsen | Studies of the plasma state in a magnetized torus (1998) | Kongsberg Spacetec, Tromsø |
Svetlana Ratynskaia | Electric probe measurements in low-temperature magnetized plasmas : particle energy distributions, fluid observables, fluctuations and anomalous transport (2002) | Royal Technical Institute, Stockholm |
Ane Aanesland | Radio frequency heating of low pressure, high-density plasmas (2004) | Thrustme, Paris |
Njål Gulbrandsen | RFEA Measurements of High-Energy Electrons in a Helicon Plasma Device with Expanding Magnetic Field (2017) | Tromsø Geophysical Observatory, UiT |