PH-501 Plasma Physics   

1. Introduction to plasmas, how plasmas are produced, Debye length, plasma frequency, number of electrons in a Debye sphere, the de-Broglie wavelength and quantum effects, representative plasma parameters.
2. Motion of a charged particle in a static uniform magnetic filed and in the presence of perpendicular electric and magnetic fields, gravitational drift, gradient and curvature drifts.
3. Motion in a magnetic mirror field, drift-motion in a time varying electric and magnetic fields, adiabatic invariants, conservation of J in time independent fields, the Hamiltonian method and chaotic orbits.
4. Fluid equations for a plasma, continuity equation, momentum balance equation, equation of state, and two-fluid equations.
5. Waves in cold plasma, Fourier representation of waves, plasma oscillations, electron and ion waves, sound waves, electrostatic ion waves perpendicular to magnetic field, lower-hybrid frequency.
6. Electromagnetic waves for unmagnetized and magnetized plasmas, Alfven waves, magnetosonic waves, and ray paths in inhomogeneous plasmas.
7. Introduction to controlled fusion: Basic nuclear fusion reactions, reaction rates and power rates and power density, radiation losses from plasmas, operational conditions.

Recommended texts:

• Introduction to Plasma Physics, by Robert J. Goldston and Paul H. Rutherford, publisher: Institute of Physics Publishing, Bristol and Philadelphia; 1st Edition, (1995).
• Introduction to Plasma Physics: with Space and Laboratory Applications, by D. A. Gurnett and A. Bhattacharjee, publisher: Cambridge University Press; 1st Edition, (2005).
• Introduction to Plasma Physics, by F. F. Chen, 1983 (Plenum).