From the archives: HAKONE XVIII Symposium with the Kogelschatz Lecture Award for Giorgio Dilecce
From the archives: this report on HAKONE XVIII was originally written for the ILTPC Newsletter in 2024, before this website was launched. It is published here to keep a record of past symposia.
The 18th International Symposium on High Pressure Low Temperature Plasma Chemistry was held in Abano Terme, Italy, from September 1 to 6, 2024. The symposium is widely known as HAKONE, named after the first conference venue in Japan in the 1980s. It brings together scientists and engineers from academia and industry to connect more traditional subjects such as ozone synthesis, basic oxidants generation, water treatment and environmental protection to the emerging and innovative fields of biomedical applications, gas conversion, microplasmas and alternative materials.
At HAKONE XVIII, 128 participants presented 6 invited talks, 56 orals and 37 poster contributions. Twenty of the oral presentations were given by early career scientists; the best one being awarded to Yulin Guo (Xi’an Jiaotong University/Laboratoire LPGP, Université Paris-Saclay) entitled “Investigation of diffuse nanosecond discharge characteristics under double pulse experiments”. The best poster by a young scientist was presented by Elène Bizeray (LAPLACE, Université de Toulouse) and entitled “Synthesis of metal/polymer nanocomposite thin films by an aerosol-assisted atmospheric pressure plasma process”.
The highlight of the symposium was the Kogelschatz award lecture given by Giorgio Dilecce. This lecture award was created in 2016 in memory of Ulrich Kogelschatz, one of the founders of the HAKONE Symposium. It is intended to honor the awardee for significant contribution to basic research on high pressure low temperature plasma chemistry and/or for the use of this knowledge in applications. Giorgio Dilecce’s contributions to the field are numerous. He has a longstanding and internationally recognized experience in the development and application of plasma diagnostic techniques in particular laser spectroscopy (e.g. LIF, TALIF, OODR-LIF, CARS, CRDS and LIBS). His work addresses the development of gas discharge devices and of plasma diagnostic techniques for both fundamental plasma physics and kinetics studies and for applications. Giorgio Dilecce’s presentation “Optical Diagnostics of Plasma Chemistry” was an inspiring and outstanding contribution.
The entire symposium was once again characterized by an informal atmosphere, which enabled the participants to engage in a close and concentrated scientific and personal exchange. In the name of the International Scientific Committee and all participants I express my deepest gratitude to Ester Marotta, Cristina Paradisi and all colleagues from the University of Padua for the perfect organization.
The next HAKONE (XIX) was announced for August 2026 in Montréal, Québec, Canada. The organization is under the leadership of the Université de Montréal (CAN) and the University of Michigan (USA).
Ronny Brandenburg
Chair of the International Scientific Committee