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    Francis F. Chen, Professor Emeritus
    Electrical Engineering Department
    University of California, Los Angeles

Prof. Chen is a plasma physicist with a career extending over 61 years and encompassing both experiment and theory.  He has devoted about a decade each to the subfields of magnetic fusion, laser fusion, plasma diagnostics, basic plasma physics, and low-temperature plasma physics.  Most plasma students are familiar with his textbook Introduction to Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion.  His current interest is in radiofrequency plasma discharges, especially helicons, that can be used in manufacturing or plasma propulsion.    To learn more about this, please visit the site for UCLA's Low Temperature Plasma Technology Laboratory (LTPTL).  This site also contains downloads of recent presentations and useful computational programs.

Though formally retired, Prof. Chen still works full time, maintains an active research laboratory, and advises an occasional student.  He is also catching up on the writing of several books.  The first of these, An Indispensable Truth, How Fusion Power Can Save the Planet, was published in 2011.  In 2015 wrote the 3rd edition of his textbook Introduction to Plasma Physics and  Controlled Fusion. Vol. 1, adding new chapters on Special Plasmas and Plasma Applications.  He spends part of his time catching up with news on climate change and renewable energies, and on bringing fusion energy into the public consciousness.