Frontiers In Modern Plasma Physics

The main focus of the workshop was on tokamak physics and magnetic confinement fusion, plasma turbulence, dusty plasmas, intense laser-plasma interactions, plasma based particle acceleration, and quantum plasmas including quantum electrodynamic effects. The aim of the workshop was also to provide training for young scientists from all over the world, mainly from third world countries, and to give them the opportunity to interact with the senior scientists in an informal manner. A selected number of papers by the invited speakers appears in this book.

This book provides an excellent introduction to the fundamental physics of plasmas, which comprise most of the matter in the universe. It is based on lectures that were used for an introductory plasma course at the graduate level.

Plasma Physics: Confinement, Transport and Collective Effects provides an overview of modern plasma research with special focus on confinement and related issues. Beginning with a broad introduction, the book leads graduate students and researchers – also those from related fields - to an understanding of the state-of-the-art in modern plasma physics. Furthermore, it presents a methodological cross section ranging from plasma applications and plasma diagnostics to numerical simulations, the latter providing an increasingly important link between theory and experiment. Effective references guide the reader from introductory texts through to contemporary research. Some related exercises in computational plasma physics are supplied on a special web site

This book reviews recent progress in our understanding of tokamak physics related to steady state operation, and addresses the scientific feasibility of a steady state tokamak fusion power system. It covers the physical principles behind continuous tokamak operation and details the challenges remaining and new lines of research towards the realization of such a system. Following a short introduction to tokamak physics and the fundamentals of steady state operation, later chapters cover parallel and perpendicular transport in tokamaks, MHD instabilities in advanced tokamak regimes, control issues, and SOL and divertor plasmas. A final chapter reviews key enabling technologies for steady state reactors, including negative ion source and NBI systems, Gyrotron and ECRF systems, superconductor and magnet systems, and structural materials for reactors. The tokamak has demonstrated an excellent plasma confinement capability with its symmetry, but has an intrinsic drawback with its pulsed operation with inductive operation. Efforts have been made over the last 20 years to realize steady state operation, most promisingly utilizing bootstrap current. Frontiers in Fusion Research II: Introduction to Modern Tokamak Physics will be of interest to graduate students and researchers involved in all aspects of tokamak science and technology.

Frontiers in Fusion Research provides a systematic overview of the latest physical principles of fusion and plasma confinement. It is primarily devoted to the principle of magnetic plasma confinement, that has been systematized through 50 years of fusion research. Frontiers in Fusion Research begins with an introduction to the study of plasma, discussing the astronomical birth of hydrogen energy and the beginnings of human attempts to harness the Sun’s energy for use on Earth. It moves on to chapters that cover a variety of topics such as: • charged particle motion, • plasma kinetic theory, • wave dynamics, • force equilibrium, and • plasma turbulence. The final part of the book describes the characteristics of fusion as a source of energy and examines the current status of this particular field of research. Anyone with a grasp of basic quantum and analytical mechanics, especially physicists and researchers from a range of different backgrounds, may find Frontiers in Fusion Research an interesting and informative guide to the physics of magnetic confinement.

Recent scientific and technical advances have made it possible to create matter in the laboratory under conditions relevant to astrophysical systems such as supernovae and black holes. These advances will also benefit inertial confinement fusion research and the nation's nuclear weapon's program. The report describes the major research facilities on which such high energy density conditions can be achieved and lists a number of key scientific questions about high energy density physics that can be addressed by this research. Several recommendations are presented that would facilitate the development of a comprehensive strategy for realizing these research opportunities.

The physics of plasmas is an extremely rich and complex subject as the variety of topics addressed in this book demonstrates. This richness and complexity demands new and powerful techniques for investigating plasma physics. An outgrowth from his graduate course teaching, now with corrections, Tajima's text provides not only a lucid introduction to computational plasma physics, but also offers the reader many examples of the way numerical modeling, properly handled, can provide valuable physical understanding of the nonlinear aspects so often encountered in both laboratory and astrophysical plasmas. Included here are computational methods for modern nonlinear physics as applied to hydrodynamic turbulence, solitons, fast reconnection of magnetic fields, anomalous transports, dynamics of the sun, and more. The text contains examples of problems now solved using computational techniques including those concerning finite-size particles, spectral techniques, implicit differencing, gyrokinetic approaches, and particle simulation.