Plasma jets have numerous applications in medicine, agriculture and environmental remediation. Examples are accelerated wound healing, acceleration of plant growth and water cleaning. However, the interactions between plasmas and liquids are poorly understood due to a pronounced lack of diagnostic methods. We propose to develop a surface tension sensor with a high spatial and temporal resolution, that is not disturbed by the concurrent high-speed gas flow. This method would allow to quantify plasma-liquid interactions, and thus enable their systematic study and the development of more targeted treatment methods.

Het vakgebied van Zachte Gecondenseerde Materie is een relatief nieuw subdiscipline van de Gecondenseerde Materie wetenschappen, die onderzoek omvat uit diverse vakgebieden zoals natuurkunde, scheikunde, vloeistofmechanica, biofysica, enz. De Nederlandse Soft Matter Meeting biedt regelmatige mogelijkheden voor discussie en uitwisseling voor MSc-studenten, promovendi, postdocs en senior wetenschappers die in Nederland werken aan alle onderwerpen die verband houden met Zachte Gecondenseerde Materie. Deze eendaagse bijeenkomst vindt twee keer per jaar plaats en bevat lezingen door uitgenodigde internationaal gerenommeerde experts, nieuwe PI’s in Nederland, en korte pitches door postdocs en promovendi.

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The project aims to solve a long-standing problem in boundary layer meteorology: to find the physical mechanism that drives intermittent (discontinuous) turbulence in the nocturnal boundary layer. During intermittency, periods with ?laminar? flow are interrupted by chaotic bursts of turbulence and a significant transport of heat, moisture and momentum occurs. Bursts also act as an efficient ?venting?-mechanism of pollutants that usually accumulate in quiet periods. The problem is highly relevant in weather and climate prediction and for air pollution problems. Current nocturnal boundary layer parameterizations are highly empirical and lead to significant errors in weather and climate predictions. Besides the intermittent boundary layer two other prototypes exist: the ?radiative? (laminar) boundary layer and the well-understood continuous turbulent (windy) boundary layer. The key innovative aspect lies in our hypothesis: we hypothesize that both intermittent and radiative boundary layers are natural physical instabilities of the continuous turbulent boundary layer, which cannot maintain its turbulence when the large-scale pressure force is too small. As such, we will show that all three prototypes can be described within a single physical framework: a ground-breaking result! In our approach we combine our mathematical analysis with advanced numerical modelling of turbulence (so-called: direct numerical simulation). A fundamentally new aspect is the fact that in our theoretical analysis we incorporate the important nonlinear atmosphere-surface feedbacks explicitly. This aspect was disregarded in the past. We aim to come up with a predictive theory for the regime-transitions mentioned above, so that weather and climate model will have a solid physical basis on this aspect. Finally, the theoretical predictions are compared with two well documented datasets (the CASES99 field experiment dataset, Kansas, U.S.A.; KNMI-Cabauw dataset, Netherlands). The grant applies for the applicant plus a PhD. Keywords: STABLE BOUNDARY LAYER, REGIMES, INTERMITTENCY

With electron microscopes it is nowadays possible to visualize individual atoms, the fundamental building blocks of matter. At the same time these instruments are capable by means of spectroscopy to not only identify individual atoms, but also their collective behavior, determining whether the material is, e.g., a superconducting metal or an insulator. We will expand the electron microscope toolbox with novel microwave technology, enabling ultrashort exposure times to study extremely fast processes occurring in materials, while maintaining the state-of-the-art precision of imaging and spectroscopy. This will help us to better understand and further develop advanced quantum materials.