Program in Plasma Physics

Director of Program and Graduate Studies

Nathaniel J. Fisch

Professor

Ronald C. Davidson

Nathaniel J. Fisch

Robert J. Goldston

Lecturer with Rank of Professor

Samuel A. Cohen

Gregory W. Hammett

Stephen C. Jardin

John A. Krommes

Cynthia K. Phillips

Allan H. Reiman

William M. Tang

Roscoe B. White

Lecturer

Philip C. Efthimion

Richard P. Majeski

Jonathan E. Menard

Hong Qin

Michael C. Zarnstorff

Associated Faculty

Edgar Y. Choueiri, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Szymon Suckewer, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

 

See the Department of Astrophysical Sciences for information regarding graduate study in the Program in Plasma Physics.

Courses

AST 551 General Plasma Physics I (also MAE 525)

Nathaniel J. Fisch, Gregory W. Hammett

An introductory course to plasma physics, with sample applications in fusion, space and astrophysics, semiconductor etching, microwave generation, plasma propulsion, high-power laser propagation in plasma; characterization of the plasma state, Debye shielding, plasma and cyclotron frequencies, collision rates and mean-free paths, atomic processes, adiabatic invariance, orbit theory, magnetic confinement of single-charged particles, two-fluid description, magnetohydrodynamic waves and instabilities, heat flow, diffusion, kinetic description, and Landau damping. May be taken by undergraduates with permission of the instructor.

AST 552 General Plasma Physics II

Hong Qin, William M. Tang

Introduction to plasma physics at the graduate level. Principles and applications of magnetohydro-dynamic (MHD) and kinetic theory. These principles are fundamental to plasma science, and the illustrative applications are relevant to current magnetic fusion research. Topical areas include MHD equations and their properties; MHD equilibrium and stability; the energy principle; resistive instabilities, including tearing modes; the drift-kinetic equation with collisions; classical and neoclassical transport; drift waves, shear-Alfven waves, and associated low-frequency instabilities; high-frequency microinstabilities; and an introduction to quasilinear theory.

AST 553 Plasma Waves and Instabilities

Jonathan E. Menard, Cynthia K. Phillips

Wave phenomena in a cold magnetized plasma, including resonances, cut-offs, mode conversion, drift waves, weak collisions, energy transport, and finite-temperature effects over a wide range of frequencies. Development of the full hot-plasma model for waves in locally homogeneous plasmas, including collisionless damping mechanisms such as Landau, cyclotron, and TTMP damping; velocity-space instabilities and Nyquist analysis; hot-plasma mode conversion; and Bernstein waves. Applications to plasma diagnostics, radiofrequency plasma heating and noninductive current drive, and magnetospheric propagation.

AST 554 Irreversible Processes in Plasmas

John A. Krommes

Introduction to the theory of fluctuations and transport in plasma. Origins of irreversibility. Random walks, Brownian motion, and diffusion; Langevin and Fokker-Planck theory. Fluctuation-dissipation theorem; test-particle superposition principle. Statistical closure problem. Derivation of kinetic equations from BBGKY hierarchy and Klimontovich formalism; properties of plasma collision operators. Classical transport coefficients in magnetized plasmas; Onsager symmetry. Introduction to plasma turbulence, including quasilinear theory. Applications to current problems in plasma research.

AST 555 Fusion Plasmas and Plasma Diagnostics

Philip C. Efthimion, Richard P. Majeski, Michael C. Zarnstorff

Introduction to experimental plasma physics, with emphasis on high-temperature plasmas for fusion. Requirements for fusion, magnetic, and inertial confinement plasmas: confinement, beta, power, and particle exhaust. Discussion of tokamak fusion and alternative systems. Status of experimental understanding: what we know and how we know it. Key plasma diagnostic techniques: magnetic measurements, Langmuir probes, microwave techniques, spectroscopic techniques, electron cyclotron emission, Thomson scattering.

AST 556 Advanced Plasma Dynamics

Roscoe B. White

An analysis of plasma equilibrium, particle orbits, and those ideal and resistive magnetohydrodynamic instabilities that dominate the behavior of a toroidal fusion plasma, including kink, ballooning, and tearing modes. General magnetic coordinates. Chaos through the destruction of magnetic surfaces. The Hamiltonian formulation of guiding center motion. Symmetry-breaking perturbations such as toroidal field ripple and induced stochastic particle loss. The interaction of a high-energy particle component with a background magnetohydrodynamic plasma, including the TAE and fishbone instabilities.

AST 557 Analytical Techniques in Differential Equations (also APC 503)

Roscoe B. White

The use of asymptotic methods in the solution of ordinary differential equations: initial and boundary-value problems, Wronskian, Green’s functions, the use of complex variables. The approximate solution of differential equations by series expansions. The use of asymptotic expansions. Evaluation of integrals by stationary phase, saddle points. WKB Theory: Stokes constants, the derivation of Heading’s rules, bound states and barrier transmission. Perturbation theory, singular perturbations, Integral representations. The asymptotic evaluation of integrals, Laplace’s method, Stirling approximation, the Gamma function, and the Riemann zeta function. Boundary-layer problems, multiple-scale analysis.

AST 558 Seminar in Plasma Physics

Ronald C. Davidson, Nathaniel J. Fisch, Allan H. Reiman

Advances in experimental and theoretical studies of laboratory and naturally occurring high-temperature plasmas, including stability and transport, nonlinear dynamics and turbulence, magnetic reconnection, selfheating of “burning” plasmas, and innovative concepts for advanced fusion systems. Advances in plasma applications, including laser-plasma interactions, nonneutral plasmas, high-intensity accelerators, plasma propulsion, plasma processing, and coherent electromagnetic wave generation.

AST 559 Nonlinear Processes in Fluids and Plasmas (also APC 539)

John A. Krommes

A comprehensive introduction to the theory of nonlinear phenomena in fluids and plasmas, with an emphasis on turbulence and transport. Experimental phenomenology; fundamental equations, including Navier-Stokes, Vlasov, and gyrokinetic; numerical simulation techniques, including pseudo-spectral and particle-in-cell methods; coherent structures; transition to turbulence; statistical closures, including the wave kinetic equation and direct-interaction approximation; PDF methods and intermittency; variational techniques. Applications from neutral fluids, fusion plasmas, and astrophysics.

AST 560 Computational Methods in Plasma Physics

Stephen C. Jardin

Analysis of methods for the numerical solution of the partial differential equations of plasma physics, including those of elliptic, parabolic, hyperbolic, and eigenvalue type. Topics include finite-difference, finite-element, spectral, particle-in-cell, Monte Carlo, moving-grid, and multiple-time-scale techniques, applied to the problems of plasma equilibrium, transport, and stability. Basic parallel programming concepts are discussed.

AST 561 Special Topics in Plasma Physics

Staff

The first half of the course, Introduction to Space Plasma Physics, focuses on plasmas in the earth’s magnetosphere and in the solar wind; interaction between the solar wind and the earth’s dipole magnetic field, formation of the magnetosphere and the magnetopause boundary layer, and geomagnetic tail and its stability; and geomagnetic substorms and auroras. The second half, Inertial Confinement Fusion, focuses on laser-matter interaction; transport, atomic physics, and X-ray conversion; ion-beam interaction; ablation and deflagration fronts; Marshak waves; Rayleigh-Taylor instability; ignition, target gain; and ICF and X-ray lasers.

AST 562 Laboratory in Plasma Physics

Samuel A. Cohen

Develops skills, knowledge, and understanding of basic and advanced laboratory techniques used to measure and control the properties and behavior of plasmas. Creativity and original research are encouraged. Representative experiments are: cold-cathode plasma formation; ambipolar diffusion and plasma recombination in afterglow plasmas; Langmuir probe measurements of electron temperature and plasma density; fluctuations and transitions to chaos in a glow discharge column; microwave interferometry and cavity resonances for plasma density determination; and momentum generated by a plasma thruster. Three laboratory reports are required.

AST 564 Applications of Quantum Mechanics to Spectroscopy and Lasers (see MAE 522)

AST 565 Physics of Nonneutral Plasmas

Ronald C. Davidson

A comprehensive introduction to the physics of nonneutral plasmas and charged particle beam systems with intense self fields. The subject matter is developed systematically from first principles, based on fluid, Vlasov, or Klimontovich-Maxwell statistical descriptions, as appropriate. Topics include the development of nonlinear stability and confinement theorems; experimental and theoretical investigations of collective waves and instabilities; phase transitions in strongly coupled nonneutral plasmas; coherent electromagnetic radiation generation by free-electron lasers, cyclotron masers, and magnetrons; nonlinear processes and chaotic particle dynamics in high-intensity periodic-focusing accelerators; and nonlinear processes related to compact plasma-based accelerator concepts.