The current Department of Low Temperature Plasma Physics has its origins in the development of the low temperature plasma physics research group acting in the frame of Plasma and Optics Department from the former Institute of Physics and Technology of Radiation Devices, which was qualified from 1997 as national institute under the name of National Institute of Laser, Plasma and Radiation Physics ( NILPR). NILPR located in the urban area of Bucharest, in the Magurele district  is a member of the network of   institutes of Institute of Atomic Physics.

Along the time this group enlarged due to the increasing importance of the appropriately chosen research directions. Following the efforts of the group leader dr. Geavit Musa, it was established, under its leadership, beginning with 1991, as a distinct department.
 
The activity of the department covers both basic researches concerning low temperature plasma physics as well applied researches concerning plasma technologies and small-scale production of plasma devices.

The permanent personnel of the department is 57, 37 of whom having university studies.  There are two Ph.D. supervisors in the department, one member of the Romanian Academy of Scinces 13 Doctors in Sciences and 19 Ph.D. candidates. The scientific degrees of higher education graduates is as follows: 5 senior scientists I, 5 senior scientist II, 8 senior scientist III, 7 researchers and 12 research assistants. Also, annually 5-10 students from the Faculty of Physics, University of Bucharest prepare their graduation works in our department.
Two workshops are manufacturing glass and mechanical components.

The Department is asociated with the other Romanian groups working in the fields of gas discharges  and plasma physics, mainly from Faculty of Physics, University of Bucharest   and Faculty of Physics, University of Jassy . Also, there are strong relationships with well known universities and institutions from Germany (Essen, Munchen, Dortmund), France (LPGP-Paris,GREMI- Orleans, CPAT- Toulouse), the Netherlands (TUE-Eindhoven), Portugal (Lisbon), Japan (Hokkaido, Nagoya), United States (University of Texas at  Dallas).