Science Explorer Interactive view Map

Vacuum and Plasma Arcs

Vacuum and Plasma Arcs is a research topic within Atomic and Molecular Physics, and Optics. Science Explorer counts 12k research works in it since 1950. 7.6% of them reached the world's top 10% most cited for their field and year.

This cluster of papers focuses on the physics of vacuum arcs and thermal plasmas, including topics such as ion energy distribution, electrode erosion, magnetic field effects, transport properties, and their application in circuit breakers.

  • Vacuum Arcs
  • Thermal Plasma
  • Circuit Breakers
  • Magnetic Field
  • Transport Properties
  • Ion Energy Distribution
  • Plasma Modeling
  • Arc Behavior
  • Electrode Erosion
  • Ion Charge States
Research works
12k
fractional, since 1950
In the world top 10%
885
per year above
Top-10% rate
7.6%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2013–17 → 2018–22
+9%
the tick is no change

Which countries lead Vacuum and Plasma Arcs research?

By volume, China and Russia publish the most (617 and 234 works in 2022–2025).

By volume, 2022–2025

  1. 1 China 617 works
  2. 2 Russia 234 works
  3. 3 United States 130 works
  4. 4 Japan 74 works
  5. 5 Germany 65 works
  6. 6 France 50 works
  7. 7 ?? 48 works
  8. 8 India 34 works
  9. 9 United Kingdom 32 works
  10. 10 Ukraine 27 works

How concentrated that is

The same countries as shares of everything the list above accounts for. A node where two countries do two thirds of the work and one spread evenly across twelve read alike as a ranking and not at all alike here.

China: 47.1%Russia: 17.9%United States: 9.9%Japan: 5.6%6 others listed: 19.5%47%largest
China617 · 47.1%Russia234 · 17.9%United States130 · 9.9%Japan74 · 5.6%6 others listed256 · 19.5%

Shares of the rows listed above, not of the whole node.

Which institutions lead Vacuum and Plasma Arcs research?

By volume in 2022–2025, Xi'an Jiaotong University publishes the most Vacuum and Plasma Arcs research, followed by State Key Laboratory of Electrical Insulation and Power Equipment and China Southern Power Grid (China).

Who are the leading researchers in Vacuum and Plasma Arcs?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Vacuum and Plasma Arcs include Kenji Watanabe and Paul K. Chu.

  1. 1 Kenji Watanabe Japan 6.4k citations
  2. 2 Paul K. Chu Hong Kong 3.7k citations

Ranked by citations received across their whole record, among researchers with at least three works on this topic.

Where is Vacuum and Plasma Arcs research done?

The largest centres of Vacuum and Plasma Arcs research in 2022–2025 are Xi'an (China), Beijing (China), Moscow (Russia) and Tomsk (Russia). Among places with at least 20 works in it, it is an unusually large share of all research in Xi'an, Tomsk and Xi'an.

Largest cities, 2022–2025

  1. 1 Xi'an China 128 works
  2. 2 Beijing China 97 works
  3. 3 Moscow Russia 94 works
  4. 4 Tomsk Russia 37 works
  5. 5 Guangzhou China 34 works
  6. 6 Chengdu China 33 works
  7. 7 Wuhan China 32 works
  8. 8 Xi'an ?? 30 works
  9. 9 Tokyo Japan 29 works
  10. 10 Dalian China 25 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. Xi'an29.9 works274×
  2. TomskRU · 37.2 works49×
  3. Xi'anCN · 128.0 works11×
← less than its size predictsmore →

Location quotient: how much more of its research is in Vacuum and Plasma Arcs than the world average.

See Vacuum and Plasma Arcs on the map

Where is the best place to study Vacuum and Plasma Arcs?

Among universities, judged by research, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University and North China Electric Power University score highest, combining excellence, specialisation, size, growth and international reach. Research strength is one signal when choosing where to study; it does not measure teaching.

0%2.5%5%7.5%mean 4.84%fractional works in this node (log) →share in the world top 10% →Xi'an Jiaotong University: 97, 6.7%Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University: 10, 6.7%North China Electric Power University: 16, 6.3%Bauman Moscow State Technical University: 9, 3.8%Southwest Jiaotong University: 10, 5.0%Lomonosov Moscow State University: 9, 3.9%Hebei University of Technology: 10, 5.6%Shenyang University of Technology: 16, 5.0%Huazhong University of Science and Technology: 19, 5.1%Dalian University of Technology: 21, 0.3%Xi'an Jiaotong Unive…Peter the Great St. …North China Electric…Bauman Moscow State …
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the table below. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1 Xi'an Jiaotong UniversityChina 86.46.7%40.3×97 +88.8%
2 Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic UniversityRussia 74.86.7%31.8×10 +810.3%
3 North China Electric Power UniversityChina 67.96.3%15.7×16 +89.6%
4 Bauman Moscow State Technical UniversityRussia 57.53.8%31.9×9 +219.4%
5 Southwest Jiaotong UniversityChina 55.75.0%8.7×10 +108.9%
6 Lomonosov Moscow State UniversityRussia 54.73.9%6.7×9 +200.6%
7 Hebei University of TechnologyChina 54.05.6%17.4×10 -36.9%
8 Shenyang University of TechnologyChina 53.45.0%48.8×16 -41.5%
9 Huazhong University of Science and TechnologyChina 50.65.1%8.0×19 -24.5%
10 Dalian University of TechnologyChina 38.80.3%14.8×21 +13.6%

Universities only. Score blends excellence (30%), specialisation (25%), size (20%), growth (15%) and international reach (10%), 2015–2022; growth compares 2010–14 with 2015–19.

Is Vacuum and Plasma Arcs research growing?

Output in 2018–2022 was 9% higher than in 2013–2017, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Vacuum and Plasma Arcs.

19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

The same series as a ribbon — one cell per year, darker for more. The line above answers how much; this answers when.

Which topics inside it are moving

Growth and decline on one axis around a shared zero. Two lists side by side hide the thing that matters: whether the growth dwarfs the decline, or the other way round.