Plasma Physicists

Employment for all types of physicists is expected to grow 7 percent from 2023 to 2033, according to the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL). This is faster than the average for all occupations. The DOL says that “physicists are projected to have employment growth in scientific research and development services, colleges and universities, and hospitals.” Employment will be especially strong with the following employers:

• computer systems design and related services firms: +17.8 percent
• semiconductor and other electronic component manufacturing: +14.0 percent
• scientific research and development services firms: +11.1 percent

Job opportunities with federal agencies are expected to decline due to budget and staff cuts and other factors.

Demand for plasma physicists should be strong because they focus on a variety of interdisciplinary areas that are on the cutting-edge of science. Nuclear fusion—which could create clean, unlimited, and sustainable energy—is one of the top research areas for plasma physicists. “Other growing topics in the plasma field include low-temperature plasma physics (with implications for etching computer chips, industrial cleaning, or performing eye surgeries), understanding the large-scale behavior of plasmas (for instance, sheets of the aurora borealis, solar flares, or a lightning bolt), exascale computing to model particles within a plasma at a detailed level, and even the plasma-based sterilization of water or surfaces—a topic that takes on particular relevance in light of COVID-19,” according to an article about industry trends by Abigail Dove in American Physical Society News.