Richard L. Freeman

Richard L. “Dick” Freeman, an experimental plasma physicist, died on 29 December 2018 at his home in Del Mar, California.

Richard Leslie Freeman was born 24 January 1942 in Wichita Falls, Texas. Richard grew up in La Marque, Texas, and graduated valedictorian at La Marque High School in 1960. Richard entered the University of Texas at Austin and earned a BS in physics at UT in 1964. In 1966, Richard married Patricia Ann DeVries in Tarrant County, Texas. He received his PhD in physics in 1968 for his study of RF resonance loading in a DC discharge. He next accepted a two-year postdoctoral position at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory. In 1970 he took a position at Culham Laboratory in Abington, UK, at the Culham Center for Fusion Energy. At Culham, Richard and E. M. Jones published in 1974 a much-cited Culham Report, “Analytic expressions for selected cross-sections and Maxwellian rate coefficients.” These expressions were obtained for atomic and molecular hydrogen, the alkali metals, the rare gases, calcium, and magnesium. They were used widely in modeling a variety of plasma devices.

In 1974 Richard moved to General Atomic in San Diego. At General Atomic, he contributed to the design of and participated in many experiments on multiple generations of tokamaks, including ultimately DIII-D, one of the premier US fusion research machines. At the same time, he held a number of General Atomic management positions. Much of his research was in the areas of RF plasma heating and current drive employing electron cyclotron, lower hybrid, and ion cyclotron waves.

In 1998, Richard, with Tihiro Ohkawa and other colleagues, left General Atomic to found Archimedes Technology. Richard served as its chief technology officer. The company’s mission was to develop a plasma mass filter to mitigate the problem of nuclear waste storage by isolating highly radioactive/low-volume components of the waste. The company was granted a variety of patents associated with the technology. A demo device was constructed and operated. The company ceased operation in 2006. More recently, a Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory proposal has renewed interest in the fundamental idea.

Throughout his career, Richard remained devoted to the University of Texas physics department, serving a number of terms on the department’s advisory committee.

Richard started his happy retirement in 2006. His hobbies included golf, tennis, and a great love of poker. Throughout his years of scientific life, Richard’s bright, friendly, unflappable personality made him a colleague cherished by all. He is survived by his wife Pat; their son, Mark, and his wife, Shari; their daughter, Karen, and her husband Tom: and grandsons, Nathan and Nolan.