Part I: Plasma Fundamentals
The foundation of plasma physics begins with understanding what plasma is, how individual charged particles move in electromagnetic fields, and how collisions affect their behavior.
Part Overview
Plasma is often called the "fourth state of matter"βan ionized gas containing free electrons and ions that exhibits collective behavior due to long-range electromagnetic interactions. Understanding plasma begins with single-particle dynamics and builds to collective phenomena.
Key Concepts
- β’ Debye shielding and the plasma parameter
- β’ Lorentz force and particle orbits in E and B fields
- β’ Guiding center approximation and drift velocities
- β’ Coulomb collisions and collision frequency
- β’ Cyclotron motion and magnetic moment
- β’ Three adiabatic invariants of plasma motion
6 chapters | Foundation for all plasma physics
Chapters
Chapter 1: Basic Properties & Definition
What is plasma? Debye length, plasma frequency, plasma parameter, and the criteria for collective behavior. Understanding when a system behaves as a plasma.
Chapter 2: Single Particle Motion
Lorentz force equation, motion in uniform E and B fields, EΓB drift, cyclotron motion, gyroradius, and the guiding center approximation.
Chapter 3: Collisions & Mean Free Path
Coulomb collisions, impact parameter, Debye shielding in collisions, collision frequency, mean free path, and collision operators.
Chapter 4: Plasma Parameters
Temperature, density, pressure, beta parameter, coupling parameter, and classification of plasmas from weakly to strongly coupled.
Chapter 5: Magnetized Plasmas
Cyclotron frequency, Larmor radius, magnetic moment, drift velocities (grad-B, curvature, polarization), and magnetic mirrors.
Chapter 6: Adiabatic Invariants
First invariant (magnetic moment), second invariant (bounce motion), third invariant (drift motion), and applications to particle confinement.
Learning Objectives
By the end of Part I, you will be able to:
- β’ Define plasma and explain the Debye shielding phenomenon
- β’ Calculate particle trajectories in arbitrary E and B field configurations
- β’ Derive all drift velocities from first principles
- β’ Estimate collision frequencies and transport coefficients
- β’ Apply the guiding center approximation to magnetized plasmas
- β’ Use adiabatic invariants to understand particle confinement
- β’ Classify plasmas based on their fundamental parameters