Parametric Instability in laser plasma interaction

Chuan Sheng Liu

Hopeman 224

Parametric instability, its convective and absolute nature and consequences, in laser plasma interaction is reviewed .

Recent progress in understanding the sudden enhancement  Stimulated Raman backscattering [SRBS]  as nonlinear transition of the convective to absolute instability due to trapped electrons in the plasma wave is presented.

Dr. Chuan Sheng Liu had been a Professor of Physics at the University of Maryland (UM) from 1974 to 2014. He also served in many administrative positions at University of Maryland: Chairman of the Department of Physics and Astronomy from 1985 to 1990, Director of the Institute of Global Chinese Affairs from 2001 to 2003, and UM interim Vice President for Research and Dean of Graduate Studies (2001 -2002) among others.

From 2003 to 2006, he served as President of Taiwan’s National Central University.  He returned to University of Maryland in 2006 to resume his research and teaching in physics until his retirement in July 1^st, 2014 after 40 years of service. He was conferred upon the title of Professor Emeritus.

From June 2014 to June 2017, Dr. Liu served as Founding Master of a residential College at the new campus of University of Macau. The campus-wide residential system, modeled after Oxford and Cambridge of England, has now become the most comprehensive residential college system in Asia.  He was conferred upon the title of Master Emeritus after completing his three-year tenure.

Dr. Liu graduated from Tunghai University, Taiwan in 1960 with B.S. in Physics. He did graduate research in space plasma theory, under A. N.               Kaufman and received his PhD in Physics from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1968.

After graduation from Berkeley, He joined UCLA as an Assistant Professor in Residence working with C.F.Kennel and B. D. Fried. In 1970, He began fusion research at General Atomic with T. Ohkawa. The following year he joined the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton as a long-term member, working with M.N.Rosenbluth on Parametric instability in Laser Plasma interaction, such as Raman and Brillouin scattering by plasma and ion waves . In 1974, Dr. Liu joined the University of Maryland as a full professor. In 1979 he was appointed Acting Director of the newly founded Laboratory for Plasma and Fusion Studies. From 1981 to 1985, he directed the Theoretical Science Division of General Atomic.

He is a fellow of the American Physical Society. He was Chairman of the Division of Plasma Physics in 1993. He served as Chairman of the Plasma Physics Committee of the National Research Council .He was a member of the Board of Physics and Astronomy of the National Research Council from 2001 to 2003.

Dr. Liu has been active in international scientific cooperation and exchanges. In 1980, he was a visiting professor at the Ecole Polytechnique Federale, Lausanne, Switzerland. In 1993, Dr. Liu was conferred upon an Honorary Doctorate degree by Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, Sweden. For the past decade, he has served as Chairman of the International Advisory Committee for the Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak [EAST] Project at the Institute for Plasma Research, Chinese Academy of Science.   

Dr. Liu has now returned home in Annapolis and is actively engaging in laser plasma interaction research with international collaborators. He is also interested in writing books on controlled fusion and plasma physics.