Optical Plasma Diagnostics for Inductively Coupled Plasma (ICP) Material Testing and MHD Jet Stability

The NASA Postdoctoral Program (NPP) offers unique research opportunities to highly-talented scientists to engage in ongoing NASA research projects at a NASA Center, NASA Headquarters, or at a NASA-affiliated research institute. These one- to three-year fellowships are competitive and are designed to advance NASA's missions in space science, Earth science, aeronautics, space operations, exploration systems, and astrobiology. This specific research opportunity focuses on a new inductively coupled plasma (ICP) jet experiment developed for studying spacecraft material catalycity under reentry-relevant conditions and basic physics relevant to arcjet facilities. The primary project is to design and implement several optical diagnostics to characterize plasma flow, plasma–material interactions, and the stability of the magnetized plasma jet. Applicants should be familiar with at least one of the following methods: Argon laser-induced fluorescence (LIF), O* laser absorption spectroscopy (LAS), optical emission spectroscopy (OES), and/or collisional-radiative (CR) modeling. The selected postdoctoral fellow will integrate these diagnostics into ongoing material testing campaigns and provide benchmark data for both material response modeling and plasma flow validation. Applicants should hold a Ph.D. in plasma physics, aerospace engineering, mechanical engineering, or a related field. Prior experience with laser-based plasma diagnostics is required. Additional expertise with inductively coupled plasmas, arcjets, Python, or CAD design for hardware integration is desirable.