The 2026 Winter Conference on Plasma Spectrochemistry was held in Tucson, Az from January 11-17, 2026.

The continued growth in popularity of plasma sources for atomization and excitation in atomic spectroscopy and ionization in mass spectrometry and the need to discuss recent developments of these discharges in spectrochemical analysis stimulated the organization of this meeting.  The conference brought together international scientists experienced in applications, instrumentation, and theory in an informal setting to examine recent progress in the field. Approximately 400 participants were in attendance for the 2026 WCPS.

Information on the program can be found below. A special thanks to our sponsors for allowing this conference to proceed.

WCPS 2026 included a special session in honor of Dr. Ramon Barnes, creator and long time organizer of the WCPS. The session was chaired by  

Ken Marcus (Clemson Unviersity) and included the speakers below. Recordings of the presentations can be found at the links below.

• Gerhard Meyer, Promerus LLC: https://youtu.be/PMU0b8970zE
• Gary Hieftje, Indiana University: https://youtu.be/Srg6di5VKeg
• Norbert Jakubowski, Spetec GmbH: https://youtu.be/Algn12KsucU
• Chuck Schneider, Agilent Technologies: https://youtu.be/VpGlhbYM4C4 
• Maria Montes-Bayón, University of Oviedo: https://youtu.be/QKOonZBaZL4
• John Olesik, The Ohio State University: https://youtu.be/Vtapoxqk3Zc 
• Detlef Günther, ETH Zürich: https://youtu.be/-0IOuP-T1-A