Bio

Ken Hara is Assistant Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics at Stanford University. He received a Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering and a Graduate Certificate in Plasma Science and Engineering from the University of Michigan, and B.S. and M.S. in Aeronautics and Astronautics from the University of Tokyo. He was a Visiting Research Physicist at Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory as a Japan Society for the Promotion of Science Postdoctoral Fellow. Prior to joining Stanford, he spent three years as a faculty member in Aerospace Engineering at Texas A&M University. Professor Hara’s research interests include electric propulsion, low temperature plasmas, plasma physics (plasma-wall interactions, plasma-wave interactions), and computational fluid and plasma dynamics. He is a recipient of several awards, including the IEEE Nuclear and Plasma Sciences Society Graduate Scholarship Award, the Air Force Young Investigator Program Award, and the Department of Energy Early Career Award.

Academic Appointments

  • Assistant Professor, Aeronautics and Astronautics

Honors & Awards

  • Kuriki Award for Young Professionals, Electric Rocket Propulsion Society (2019)
  • Early Career Research Program Award, Department of Energy (2018)
  • JPL Summer Faculty Research Program, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Caltech (2017)
  • Young Investigator Research Program (YIP) Award, Air Force Office of Scientific Research (2017)
  • Postdoctoral Fellowship, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (2015-2016)
  • Nuclear and Plasma Sciences Society Graduate Scholarship Award, IEEE (2015)
  • Outstanding Student Paper Award, 41st IEEE International Conference on Plasma Science (2014)
  • Richard F. and Eleanor A. Towner Prize for Distinguished Academic Achievement, College of Engineering, University of Michigan (2013)

Professional Education

  • PhD, University of Michigan, Aerospace Engineering (2015)
  • MS, University of Tokyo, Aeronautics and Astronautics (2010)
  • BS, University of Tokyo, Aeronautics and Astronautics (2008)

Contact

  • kenhara@stanford.edu
    University - Faculty Department: Aeronautics and Astronautics Position: Asst Professor

Additional Info

  • Mail Code: 4035

2019-20 Courses

Stanford Advisees

  • Doctoral Dissertation Reader (AC)
    Fabio Righetti
  • Orals Evaluator
    Jeremy Morton
  • Master's Program Advisor
    Kareem Ramadan

All Publications

  • A data-driven approach to model calibration for nonlinear dynamical systems JOURNAL OF APPLIED PHYSICS Greve, C. M., Hara, K., Martin, R. S., Eckhardt, D. Q., Koo, J. W. 2019; 125 (24)

    View details for DOI 10.1063/1.5085780

    View details for Web of Science ID 000474439600008

  • Ion kinetics and nonlinear saturation of current-driven instabilities relevant to hollow cathode plasmas PLASMA SOURCES SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY Hara, K., Treece, C. 2019; 28 (5)

    View details for DOI 10.1088/1361-6595/ab18e4

    View details for Web of Science ID 000468882200003

  • An overview of discharge plasma modeling for Hall effect thrusters PLASMA SOURCES SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY Hara, K. 2019; 28 (4)

    View details for DOI 10.1088/1361-6595/ab0f70

    View details for Web of Science ID 000464043800001

  • Spatiotemporal data fusion and manifold reconstruction in Hall thrusters PLASMA SOURCES SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY Eckhardt, D., Koo, J., Martin, R., Holmes, M., Hara, K. 2019; 28 (4)

    View details for DOI 10.1088/1361-6595/ab0b1f

    View details for Web of Science ID 000463548800004

  • Multispecies plasma fluid simulation for carbon arc discharge JOURNAL OF PHYSICS D-APPLIED PHYSICS Mansour, A. R., Hara, K. 2019; 52 (10)

    View details for DOI 10.1088/1361-6463/aaf945

    View details for Web of Science ID 000455359600003

  • Non-oscillatory quasineutral fluid model of cross-field discharge plasmas PHYSICS OF PLASMAS Hara, K. 2018; 25 (12)

    View details for DOI 10.1063/1.5055750

    View details for Web of Science ID 000454905100069

  • Test cases for grid-based direct kinetic modeling of plasma flows PLASMA SOURCES SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY Hara, K., Hanquist, K. 2018; 27 (6)

    View details for DOI 10.1088/1361-6595/aac6b9

    View details for Web of Science ID 000435580100001

  • Amplification due to two-stream instability of self-electric and magnetic fields of an ion beam propagating in background plasma Tokluoglu, E. K., Kaganovich, I. D., Carlsson, J. A., Hara, K., Startsev, E. A. AMER INST PHYSICS. 2018

    View details for DOI 10.1063/1.5038878

    View details for Web of Science ID 000433961800024

  • Numerical analysis of azimuthal rotating spokes in a crossed-field discharge plasma PLASMA SOURCES SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY Kawashima, R., Hara, K., Komurasaki, K. 2018; 27 (3)

    View details for DOI 10.1088/1361-6595/aab39c

    View details for Web of Science ID 000428498700001

  • On limitations of laser-induced fluorescence diagnostics for xenon ion velocity distribution function measurements in Hall thrusters PHYSICS OF PLASMAS Romadanov, I., Raitses, Y., Diallo, A., Hara, K., Kaganovich, I. D., Smolyakov, A. 2018; 25 (3)

    View details for DOI 10.1063/1.5020749

    View details for Web of Science ID 000428987800077

  • Generation of forerunner electron beam during interaction of ion beam pulse with plasma Hara, K., Kaganovich, I. D., Startsev, E. A. AMER INST PHYSICS. 2018

    View details for DOI 10.1063/1.5002688

    View details for Web of Science ID 000424021700015

  • Kinetic simulations of ladder climbing by electron plasma waves PHYSICAL REVIEW E Hara, K., Barth, I., Kaminski, E., Dodin, I. Y., Fisch, N. J. 2017; 95 (5): 053212

    Abstract

    The energy of plasma waves can be moved up and down the spectrum using chirped modulations of plasma parameters, which can be driven by external fields. Depending on whether the wave spectrum is discrete (bounded plasma) or continuous (boundless plasma), this phenomenon is called ladder climbing (LC) or autoresonant acceleration of plasmons. It was first proposed by Barth et al. [Phys. Rev. Lett. 115, 075001 (2015)PRLTAO0031-900710.1103/PhysRevLett.115.075001] based on a linear fluid model. In this paper, LC of electron plasma waves is investigated using fully nonlinear Vlasov-Poisson simulations of collisionless bounded plasma. It is shown that, in agreement with the basic theory, plasmons survive substantial transformations of the spectrum and are destroyed only when their wave numbers become large enough to trigger Landau damping. Since nonlinear effects decrease the damping rate, LC is even more efficient when practiced on structures like quasiperiodic Bernstein-Greene-Kruskal (BGK) waves rather than on Langmuir waves per se.

    View details for DOI 10.1103/PhysRevE.95.053212

    View details for Web of Science ID 000402019600015

    View details for PubMedID 28618641

  • Detailed modeling of electron emission for transpiration cooling of hypersonic vehicles JOURNAL OF APPLIED PHYSICS Hanquist, K. M., Hara, K., Boyd, I. D. 2017; 121 (5)

    View details for DOI 10.1063/1.4974961

    View details for Web of Science ID 000394345700008

  • AMPLIFICATION DUE TO THE TWO-STREAM INSTABILITY OF SELF-ELECTRIC AND MAGNETIC FIELDS OF AN ION OR ELECTRON BEAM PROPAGATING IN BACKGROUND PLASMA Tokluoglu, E. K., Kaganovich, I. D., Carlsson, J. A., Hara, K., Powis, A., IEEE IEEE. 2017

    View details for Web of Science ID 000450253400221

  • NUMERICAL MODELING OF ROTATING SPOKES IN HALL THRUSTER DISCHARGE PLASMA Kawashima, R., Hara, K., IEEE IEEE. 2017

    View details for Web of Science ID 000450253400168

  • Electron acceleration due to the interaction between a neutralized ion beam and background plasma Hara, K., Kaganovich, I. D., IEEE IEEE. 2017

    View details for Web of Science ID 000450253400342

  • ADVANCED MAGNETO-GAS-KINETIC SCHEME FOR MHD: ANALYSIS AND COMPARISON TO EXISTING MODELS Anderson, S. E., Hara, K., Girimaji, S. S., IEEE IEEE. 2017

    View details for Web of Science ID 000450253400063

  • Quantitative study of the trapped particle bunching instability in Langmuir waves PHYSICS OF PLASMAS Hara, K., Chapman, T., Banks, J. W., Brunner, S., Joseph, I., Berger, R. L., Boyd, I. D. 2015; 22 (2)

    View details for DOI 10.1063/1.4906884

    View details for Web of Science ID 000350552000021

  • Perturbation analysis of ionization oscillations in Hall effect thrusters PHYSICS OF PLASMAS Hara, K., Sekerak, M. J., Boyd, I. D., Gallimore, A. D. 2014; 21 (12)

    View details for DOI 10.1063/1.4903843

    View details for Web of Science ID 000347162700007

  • Mode transition of a Hall thruster discharge plasma JOURNAL OF APPLIED PHYSICS Hara, K., Sekerak, M. J., Boyd, I. D., Gallimore, A. D. 2014; 115 (20)

    View details for DOI 10.1063/1.4879896

    View details for Web of Science ID 000337143500016

  • One-dimensional hybrid-direct kinetic simulation of the discharge plasma in a Hall thruster PHYSICS OF PLASMAS Hara, K., Boyd, I. D., Kolobov, V. I. 2012; 19 (11)

    View details for DOI 10.1063/1.4768430

    View details for Web of Science ID 000312033700072