All articles starting with P

Plasma lens

A plasma lens is a beam-optics device that focuses charged-particle beams using fields in a plasma; active types drive currents through gas-filled capillaries, reaching kilotesla-per-meter gradients.

Plasma medicine is the direct application of physical plasma on or in the human body for therapy, using cold atmospheric plasmas to kill drug-resistant microbes, promote wound healing, and destroy cancer cells.

Plasma membrane Ca2+ ATPase

Plasma membrane Ca2+ ATPase (PMCA, genes ATP2B1-4) is a P-type ATPase pumping one Ca2+ out of animal cells per ATP, with high affinity (Km 100-200 nM), low capacity, calmodulin activation, and over 30 splice isoforms.

Oct 21, 2026

Plasma membrane fusion protein PRM1

PRM1 (Prm1p), yeast pheromone-induced 4-pass membrane protein, 661 aa, UniProt P53835; first gene acting at plasma membrane fusion in mating; prm1Δ pairs arrest unfused or lyse.

Plasma mirror

A plasma mirror is a reflective layer of plasma formed when an intense laser ionizes a target surface, used to clean pulse contrast and generate attosecond light.

Plasma modeling

Plasma modeling is the use of numerical simulation to predict the behavior of ionized gases, from fusion reactor cores and laser-plasma experiments to planetary magnetospheres, through fluid, fully kinetic, and hybrid methods.

Plasma nitriding

Plasma nitriding, also called ion nitriding or glow-discharge nitriding, is a surface-hardening treatment that diffuses nitrogen into metal parts using ionized gas plasma to improve wear resistance.

Plasma osmolality

Plasma osmolality (serum osmolality) is the concentration of osmotically active particles in plasma, normally 275-295 mOsm/kg, measured by freezing point osmometry; the osmolal gap screens for toxic alcohols.

Plasma oxidation

Plasma oxidation is a low-temperature materials-processing method that grows a thin oxide layer, such as SiO2 on silicon, by exposing the surface to an oxygen-containing plasma.

Plasma plume

A plasma plume is the luminous cloud of electrons, atoms, and ions ejected from a solid target by pulsed laser ablation, used in thin-film deposition and LIBS.

Plasma polymerization

Plasma polymerization is a dry thin-film deposition method in which a glow discharge fragments vaporized monomers into highly crosslinked polymer films used for barrier coatings and biocompatible surfaces.

Plasma propulsion engine

A plasma propulsion engine, or plasma thruster, is a spacecraft engine that accelerates ionized propellant, usually xenon, with electric or magnetic fields to produce thrust.

Plasma protein binding

Plasma protein binding (PPB): reversible binding of drugs to plasma proteins, mainly albumin and alpha-1-acid glycoprotein. Only the unbound fraction is pharmacologically active; measured by equilibrium dialysis or ultrafiltration; displacement interactions are rarely clinically significant.

Plasma reflectometry

Plasma reflectometry is a radar-like diagnostic that launches microwaves into a plasma and measures the wave reflected from the cutoff layer to determine electron density, its fluctuations, and turbulence, used routinely in fusion reactors.

Plasma rotation effects on turbulence and stability

Plasma rotation effects on turbulence and stability cover how sheared flow suppresses turbulent heat loss and how toroidal rotation stabilizes the resistive wall mode in tokamaks.

Plasma sheath communication blackout

Plasma sheath communication blackout is the loss of radio, telemetry, and GPS signals when a hypersonic vehicle is enveloped in shock-heated, ionized gas, a problem known since the Apollo reentries.

Plasma sheet

The plasma sheet is a near-equatorial layer of relatively dense plasma in the tail of Earth's magnetosphere, typically 2 to 6 Earth radii thick and a source of auroral particles.

Oct 21, 2026

Plasma Skin Regeneration

Plasma skin regeneration (PSR, Portrait, NeoGen): non-laser skin resurfacing using millisecond pulses of nitrogen plasma, 1-4 J, FDA cleared 2006 for wrinkles, actinic keratoses, and acne scars.

Plasma spray physical vapor deposition

Plasma spray physical vapor deposition (PS-PVD), also called very low pressure plasma spray, is a low-pressure thermal spray process producing vapor-grown thermal barrier coatings on turbine components.

Plasma spraying

Plasma spraying is a thermal spray coating process that melts powder feedstock in a plasma jet up to 16,000 K and deposits it as a coating on nearly any thermally stable substrate.

Plasma torch

A plasma torch is a device that generates a controlled jet of thermal plasma by passing gas through an electric arc, used for cutting, spraying, and melting metals.

Plasma treatment (surface engineering)

Plasma treatment is a surface engineering method that exposes a material to ionized gas, altering only its outermost surface layers to improve wettability, adhesion, and biocompatibility.

Plasma turbulence

Plasma turbulence is chaotic fluctuation in ionized gases, distinguished from fluid turbulence by nonlinearity, nonlocality, and anisotropy, and studied in the solar wind and fusion devices.

Oct 21, 2026

Plasma Volume

Plasma volume is the cell-free intravascular portion of blood, part of the extracellular fluid compartment. Measured by indicator dilution with Evans blue, indocyanine green, or radio-iodinated albumin; hematocrit-based estimates are unreliable.

Plasma wall conditioning

Plasma wall conditioning treats the surfaces inside a fusion device's vacuum vessel to control impurities and hydrogen recycling, using techniques like baking, glow discharge cleaning, and boronization.

Plasma waveguide

A plasma waveguide is a column of plasma whose electron density rises with radius, guiding high-intensity laser pulses used in laser wakefield acceleration to reach multi-GeV electron energies.

Plasma X-ray laser

A plasma X-ray laser uses ionized gas or solid-density plasma as its gain medium, emitting coherent extreme ultraviolet and X-ray radiation in a single pass.

Plasma-assisted CO2 conversion

Plasma-assisted CO2 conversion uses non-thermal plasma, whose hot electrons activate CO2 near ambient temperature, splitting it into CO and O2 or reforming it with methane into syngas.

Plasma-assisted combustion

Plasma-assisted combustion (PAC) uses electrical discharge plasmas to modify flame chemistry and flow, enhancing ignition, stabilizing ultra-lean mixtures, and reducing pollutants in gas turbines and aerospace engines.