Shaped Plasma Barriers
FROM POINT-DEFENCE TO AREA COVERAGE
The Aegis system demonstrates that plasma can function as a physical barrier. Plasma Press is extending this principle to shaped plasma curtains — magnetically confined planar arcs approximately 5 cm thick — that seal architectural openings, contain hazardous atmospheres, and replace mechanical doors and airlocks.
The Plasma Window
First demonstrated by Ady Hershcovitch at Brookhaven National Laboratory in 1995, a plasma window maintains a pressure differential across an opening using a magnetically confined plasma arc. Scaling to architectural dimensions requires extending the plasma confinement geometry from a circular bore to a rectangular curtain.
Configuration
The shaped plasma barrier uses opposing electrode rails with a transverse magnetic field confining the plasma sheet to a planar curtain approximately 5 cm thick. The plasma is sustained by a pulsed DC discharge in argon or nitrogen at atmospheric pressure, powered by the same pulse-forming networks used in the Codex manufacturing line.
Applications
Clean-room entry. A plasma curtain at the doorway maintains ISO Class 5 cleanliness continuously, destroying airborne particles on contact with the plasma. Personnel walk through without stopping. The plasma exposure duration at walking speed (~1.5 m/s) is approximately 30 ms — insufficient for thermal transfer to skin.
Hazardous atmosphere containment. A plasma curtain decomposes volatile organic compounds on contact, producing CO2 and water. The fumes never leave the work zone.
Thermal barriers. A high-temperature plasma curtain (~5,000 K) at a furnace opening replaces refractory doors. Metallic Sciences has specified plasma barriers for their Bridgman crystal growth furnace openings.