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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. 10.0% 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%
1.2k
per year above
Top-10% rate
10.0%
share of its works in the world top 10%
Growth, 2018-21 → 2022-25
+17%
the tick is no change
Largest producer
China
49% of the 10 largest, 2022-now

Which countries lead Vacuum and Plasma Arcs research?

By volume, China and Russia publish the most (753 and 251 works in 2022-now).

By volume, 2022-now

  1. 1 China 753 works
  2. 2 Russia 251 works
  3. 3 United States 166 works
  4. 4 Japan 83 works
  5. 5 Germany 75 works
  6. 6 France 57 works
  7. 7 ?? 53 works
  8. 8 India 41 works
  9. 9 United Kingdom 38 works
  10. 10 Ukraine 32 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: 48.6%Russia: 16.2%United States: 10.7%Japan: 5.4%6 others listed: 19.1%49%largest
China753 · 48.6%Russia251 · 16.2%United States166 · 10.7%Japan83 · 5.4%6 others listed296 · 19.1%

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

Which institutions lead Vacuum and Plasma Arcs research?

By volume in 2022-now, Xi'an Jiaotong University publishes the most Vacuum and Plasma Arcs research, followed by Russian Academy of Sciences and State Grid Corporation of China (China).

Who are the leading researchers in Vacuum and Plasma Arcs?

The most-cited researchers publishing on Vacuum and Plasma Arcs include M. Shoji, Xiaogang Wang and Kenji Watanabe.

  1. 1 M. Shoji Japan 806k citations
  2. 2 Xiaogang Wang China 260k citations
  3. 3 Kenji Watanabe Japan 237k citations
  4. 4 Frede Blaabjerg Denmark 203k citations
  5. 5 Paul K. Chu China 130k citations

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

What are the most cited papers in Vacuum and Plasma Arcs?

The most cited paper in Vacuum and Plasma Arcs is "On a plasma sheath separating regions of oppositely directed magnetic field" (Edward G. Harris, 1962), with 1,309 citations. Next come "Plasma physics via computer simulation" (1,308) and "Collision Phenomena in Ionized Gases" (1,099).

Most cited papers
#PaperReleasedCitations
1 On a plasma sheath separating regions of oppositely directed magnetic field Edward G. Harris · Il Nuovo Cimento 1962 1,309
2 Plasma physics via computer simulation T. Tajima · Computer Physics Communications Sep 1986 1,308
3 Collision Phenomena in Ionized Gases Earl W. McDaniel, Ernest P. Gray · Physics Today Dec 1965 1,099
4 Plasma assisted ignition and combustion Svetlana M Starikovskaia · Journal of Physics D Applied Physics 4 Aug 2006 953
5 Electric Tunnel Effect between Dissimilar Electrodes Separated by a Thin Insulating Film John G. Simmons · Journal of Applied Physics Sep 1963 950
All 101 most cited papers, with filters and sorting

Where is Vacuum and Plasma Arcs research done?

The largest centres of Vacuum and Plasma Arcs research in 2022-now are Xi'an (China), Beijing (China), Moscow (Russia) and Wuhan (China). 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-now

  1. 1 Xi'anChina 149 works
  2. 2 BeijingChina 125 works
  3. 3 MoscowRussia 101 works
  4. 4 WuhanChina 40 works
  5. 5 TomskRussia 39 works
  6. 6 ChengduChina 39 works
  7. 7 GuangzhouChina 37 works
  8. 8 ShanghaiChina 32 works
  9. 9 TokyoJapan 32 works
  10. 10 Xi'an 31 works

Where it is the local speciality

  1. Xi'an31.1 works263×
  2. TomskRU · 39.4 works46×
  3. Xi'anCN · 149.0 works11×
← less than its size predicts1×more →

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, Southwest Jiaotong University and Huazhong University of Science and Technology 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%10%20%mean 13.23%fractional works in this field (log) →share of work in the world top 10% →Southwest Jiaotong U…Shenyang University …Xi'an Jiaotong Unive…Huazhong University …
above the meannear itbelow it

One dot per university in the first ten of the table below, at the default weights. The upper left is the interesting corner: small places doing unusually strong work.

Excellenceshare of its work in the world top 10%, 2022-now and all time averaged
40%
Specialisationhow much of its work is in this field, counted up to 10× the world share
10%
Sizeits output in this field, on a log scale
30%
Growthoutput growth, counted from -20% to +20%
10%
Internationalshare of its work with a co-author abroad
10%
Each slider sets a weight; the share it gets of the score is beside it.
#UniversityScoreTop 10%SpecialisationWorksGrowth
1Xi'an Jiaotong UniversityChina 73.914.2%53.0×144 +25.6%
2Southwest Jiaotong UniversityChina 66.119.3%10.6×13 +74.9%
3Huazhong University of Science and TechnologyChina 45.111.5%8.5×24 +100.8%
4Shenyang University of TechnologyChina 43.216.1%54.0×18 +129.2%
5Tsinghua UniversityChina 42.818.1%3.2×11 +64.2%
6North China Electric Power UniversityChina 42.19.7%20.4×21 +112.6%
7Dalian University of TechnologyChina 40.87.9%15.2×22 +45.5%
8Harbin Institute of TechnologyChina 40.49.6%6.6×17 +48.7%
9Zhengzhou UniversityChina 37.816.4%4.7×9 +265.7%
10Hebei University of TechnologyChina 37.59.5%20.0×12 +148.0%

Universities only. The score blends excellence (40%), size (30%), specialisation (10%), growth (10%), international reach (10%), 2022-now; growth compares 2018-21 with 2022-25 and counts up to +20%, since a jump from a small base is mostly noise.

Every institution in Vacuum and Plasma Arcs, country by country

Is Vacuum and Plasma Arcs research growing?

Output in 2022-2025 was 17% higher than in 2018-2021, peaking in 2025. The fastest-growing topics are Vacuum and Plasma Arcs.

still counting19801990200020102020
grewheldshrank

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

Its share of all research

Growing output can still be a shrinking share: all of science grows. This is Vacuum and Plasma Arcs as a percentage of every work published that year, 0.0076% in 2024.

still counting0.020%0.040%Vacuum and Plasma Arcs0.0086% in 202519801990200020102020

Fractional works of Vacuum and Plasma Arcs over all fractional works that year. How the balance of science has shifted.

How much of it reaches the world top 10%

Year by year.

still counting5%10%15%Vacuum and Plasma Arcs9.6% in 2025200020102020

Of each year's works in it, the share that reached the world's 10% most cited for their field and year. A field is the world for its own topics, so there is no other line to hold it against.

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.

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