Richard Engeln is Associate Professor in the Plasma and Materials Processing group at the Department of Applied Physics of the Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e). His research has included spectroscopic studies using Raman, CARS and CRD spectroscopy of molecules in technological plasmas, ranging from deposition plasmas containing hydrocarbon molecules to plasma expansions of molecular hydrogen.

Engeln worked for several years on the development of novel ultra-sensitive absorption detection schemes. His research currently focuses on the study of plasmas for gas conversion and the development of optical diagnostics to study the reaction kinetics and dynamics of those conversion processes.

Create an educational and research environment where students, PhDs and postdocs can excel

Richard Engeln received his MSc and his PhD, both in Physics, in 1987 and 1991 from the Radboud University Nijmegen. After almost two years working as a project manager in the R&D division of Stork X-cel, Engeln began to perform post-doctoral research, first at Eindhoven University from 1993 to 1995 and then at Radboud University from 1995 to 1998.

Since 1998, Engeln has worked at Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e), first as Assistant and since 2005 as Associate Professor. Over the past years he has built a strong collaboration on the topic of CO₂ plasma conversion with groups in Paris, at École Polytechnique, and Lisbon, at the University of Lisbon, and at DIFFER. He has been editor-in-chief of the Dutch Journal of Physics from 2012 until 2016, and in 2016 and 2017 also of the English digital-version.