Plasma Physics - Piel, Alexander

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Résumé :
This book is an outgrowth of courses in plasma physics which I have taught at Kiel University for many years. During this time I have tried to convince my students that plasmas as different as gas dicharges, fusion plasmas and space plasmas can be described in a uni ed way by simple models. The challenge in teaching plasma physics is its apparent complexity. The wealth of plasma phenomena found in so diverse elds makes it quite different from atomic physics, where atomic structure, spectral lines and chemical binding can all be derived from a single equation?the Schr?dinger equation. I positively accept the variety of plasmas and refrain from subdividing plasma physics into the traditional, but arti cially separated elds, of hot, cold and space plasmas. This is why I like to confront my students, and the readers of this book, with examples from so many elds. By this approach, I believe, they will be able to become discoverers who can see the commonality between a falling apple and planetary motion. As an experimentalist, I am convinced that plasma physics can be best understood from a bottom-up approach with many illustrating examples that give the students con dence in their understanding of plasma processes. The theoretical framework of plasma physics can then be introduced in several steps of re nement. In the end, the student (or reader) will see that there is something like the Schr?dinger equation, namely the Vlasov-Maxwell model of plasmas, from which nearly all phenomena in collisionless plasmas can be derived.

Biographie:
Prof. Dr. Alexander Piel obtained his PhD in plasma physics from Ruhr-Universit?t Bochum in 1977 and habilitated in 1986. Since 1989 he is full professor of atomic and plasma physics at Kiel University. The author is a fellow of the American Physical Society and served as chair of the plasma physics division of Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft (German Physical Society). He has published more than 200 peer-reviewed articles in international journals and several book chapters....

Sommaire:
Definition of the Plasma State.- Single Particle Motion in Electric and Magnetic Fields.- Stochastic Processes in a Plasma.- Fluid Models.- Plasma Waves.- Plasma Boundaries.- Instabilities.- Kinetic Description of Plasmas.- Dusty Plasmas.- Plasma Generation.