School of Physics

Senior Physics Lecture Module

Plasma Physics
Semester 1, 2014

MODULE DESCRIPTION

THE DETAILS

Credit points 2
Offered Semester 1
Prerequisites MATH2061 or MATH2961 or MATH2067 and Intermediate
Electromagnetism
Classes 19 hours of lectures
Assessment 2 assignments and a final exam
Lecturer J oe Khachan, School of Physics, Room 219B,
Phone: 9351 42713, email: j.khachan@physics.usyd.edu.au
Course website: http://www.physics.usyd.edu.au/~khachan/plasma

GENERAL AIMS
The aim of the course is to provide an understanding of fundamental phenomena in plasmas and to
familiarise students with the basic methods of theoretical and experimental plasma physics.

LEARNING COMMITMENTS
There will be 19 lectures starting on Friday 16 April and ending Friday 6 J une.

Physics Lecture Theatre 5 Tuesday 1pm, Wednesday 9am and Friday 12pm

The week-by-week timetable can be found on the Senior Physics website:
http://sydney.edu.au/science/physics/current/sphys/timetable_weekly_1.shtml

TEXTBOOK
The main reference book for this course is Introduction to plasma physics and controlled fusion,
volume 1 by Francis Chen Plenum Press, New York, 1984. It is available in the University Lirbrary.

There are other suitable books on plasma physics such as the following, which are all available in the
library:
Fundamentals of Plasma Physics by Paul Bellan, Cambridge University Press, 2006.
Introduction to plasma physics: with space and laboratory applications by Donald A. Gurnett,
Amitava Bhattacharjee
Fundamentals of plasma physics, by J .A. Bittencourt, Pergamon Press, 1986.

ASSESSMENT
Assessment will be based on a final examination and two assignments. The assignments will be
available from the eLearning site and can be submitted to the Physics Office, Room 210, by 5pm on
the due date.

Assignments submitted late without permission will incur an immediate 20% late penalty, with a
further 20% penalty accumulating each week until the assignment is submitted. This policy applies by
default, unless your lecturer advises you differently.
Assessment task Percentage Mark Due Date
Assignment 1 12.5% Friday 23 May
Assignment 2 12.5% Friday 6 J une
Final Examination 75% Exam Period


2

COURSE CONTENT

Introduction. Definition of a plasma. Concept of temperature. Debye shielding. Applications of
plasma physics.
Single-particle motions. Uniform E and B fields. Non-uniform E and B fields. Time varying E and B
fields. Adiabatic invariants.

Plasmas as fluids. The fluid equation of motion. Fluid drifts perpendicular to B. Fluid drifts parallel to
B.
Waves in Plasmas. EM waves with B=0. Electrostatic waves with B=0. EM waves with finite B.
Propagation parallel and perpendicular to B. Resonances and cutoffs.
Gaseous electronics. Mean free path. Diffusion. Ionization. Recombination. Resistivity. Paschens
law. The sheath. The Child-Langmuir law. Plasma potential. Langmuir probes.
Magnetohydrodynamics. Equilibrium. Magnetic pressure and tension. MHD stability.
Kinetic theory. Distribution function. Vlasov equation. Boltzmann equation. Landau damping.