Plasma II

PHYS-424

Media

PHYS-424 Plasma physics III

13, PHYS-424 \ Week 13: Diagnostics

04.06.2021, 16:17

12, PHYS-424 \ Week 12: Astrophysics 3

29.05.2021, 07:25

11, PHYS-424 \ Week 11: Astrophysics 2

21.05.2021, 17:10

10, PHYS-424 \ Week 10: Astrophysics 1

14.05.2021, 16:30

9, PHYS-424 \ Week 9: Industrial plasmas 2

07.05.2021, 16:16

8, PHYS-424 \ Week 8: Industrial plasmas 1

30.04.2021, 17:10

7, PHYS-424 \ Week 7: Heating, burning plasmas, ITER and route to a fusion power plant

24.04.2021, 09:10

6, PHYS-424 \ Week 6: Diffusion and transport in tokamak plasmas

16.04.2021, 19:10

5, PHYS-424 \ Week 5: MHD stability and operational limits

26.03.2021, 17:11

4, PHYS-424 \ Week 4: MHD equilibrium configurations

19.03.2021, 17:02

3, PHYS-424 \ Week 3: MHD

13.03.2021, 08:03

2, PHYS-424 \ Week 2: Approaches to fusion energy

05.03.2021, 17:39

1, PHYS-424 \ Week 1: The Basics of Fusion Energy

26.02.2021, 19:25


Media

PHYS-424 Plasma physics III

13, PHYS-424 \ Week 13: Diagnostics

04.06.2021, 16:17

12, PHYS-424 \ Week 12: Astrophysics 3

29.05.2021, 07:25

11, PHYS-424 \ Week 11: Astrophysics 2

21.05.2021, 17:10

10, PHYS-424 \ Week 10: Astrophysics 1

14.05.2021, 16:30

9, PHYS-424 \ Week 9: Industrial plasmas 2

07.05.2021, 16:16

8, PHYS-424 \ Week 8: Industrial plasmas 1

30.04.2021, 17:10

7, PHYS-424 \ Week 7: Heating, burning plasmas, ITER and route to a fusion power plant

24.04.2021, 09:10

6, PHYS-424 \ Week 6: Diffusion and transport in tokamak plasmas

16.04.2021, 19:10

5, PHYS-424 \ Week 5: MHD stability and operational limits

26.03.2021, 17:11

4, PHYS-424 \ Week 4: MHD equilibrium configurations

19.03.2021, 17:02

3, PHYS-424 \ Week 3: MHD

13.03.2021, 08:03

2, PHYS-424 \ Week 2: Approaches to fusion energy

05.03.2021, 17:39

1, PHYS-424 \ Week 1: The Basics of Fusion Energy

26.02.2021, 19:25


This file is part of the content downloaded from Plasma II.
Course summary

Plasma II (PHYS-424)

This course completes the knowledge in plasma physics that students have acquired in Introduction to plasma physics (PHYS-325) and Plasma I (PHYS-423), with a discussion of different applications, in the fields of controlled fusion and magnetic confinement, industrial applications and astrophysical and space plasmas. The course ends with an overview of plasma-specific diagnostics.

Lecture: Dr. Holger Reimerdes, PPB 123, holger.reimerdes@epfl.ch

Exercise session: Dr. Elena Tonello, PPB 121, elena.tonello@epfl.ch


Lecture schedule

  • Spring semester: 17.2.-30.5.2025
  • 2 hours of ex cathedra lecture, Friday afternoon from 13h15 to 15h00 in CE1105
  • 2 hours of assisted problem solving, Friday afternoon from 15h15 to 17h00 in CE1105


Examination

  • An individual oral exam will take place in the spring exam session.
  • The exam covers the content of the lectures and the exercises.
  • The exam consists of two parts: half an hour of preparation and half an hour of oral examination.
  • Upon arriving, the student will receive 6 questions, 2 from each of the 3 question groups.
  • The student will then select 1 out of the 2 questions given per group, for a total of 3 questions.
  • During the first part the student may use his lecture notes and books.
  • During the second part the student is not allowed to consult anything else than the list of exam questions (some questions include formulas) and the NRL plasma formulary.

Bibliography
  • Lecture notes will be provided as the course progresses.
  • No single textbook is mandatory. The following books are suggested for further reading. The most important references are highlighted in bold.
  • Recordings of the former Plasma Physics III course are available on a switchtube channel (please note that lectures have been re-arranged and the scope adjusted).
  • You can also refer to the Plasma Physics MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses):

Lecture note of other courses

General plasma physics
  • F. F. Chen, Introduction to Plasma Physics, 2nd edition, Plenum Press, 1984.
  • T. J. M. Boyd and J.J.Sanderson, The physics of Plasmas, Cambridge University Press, 2003.

Fusion physics
  • J. Freidberg, Plasma Physics and Fusion Energy, Cambridge University Press, 2007.
  • J. Wesson, Tokamaks - Third Edition, Clarendon Press - Oxford, 2004.
  • J. Freidberg, Ideal Magnetohydrodynamics, Plenum Press, 1987.                                 
  • Fusion Physics (edited by M. Kikuchi, K. Lackner and M. Q. Tran), IAEA, 2012.    

Industrial applications
  • M. A. Lieberman and A. J. Lichtenberg, Principles of Plasma Discharges and Materials Processing, Second Edition, 2005.
  • Y. P. Raizer, Gas Discharge Physics.

Astrophysics
  • E. Priest and T. Forbes, Magnetic reconnection: MHD theory and applications,  Cambridge University Press, 2000.
  • N. Myer-Vernet, Basics of the Solar Wind, Cambridge Atmospheric and Space Science Series, 2012.
  • Peter V. Foukal, Wiley, Solar Astrophysics, June 14, 1990.
  • P.A. Davidson, An introduction to magnetohydrodynamics, Cambridge University Press 2001.
  • D.H. Hathaway, The solar cycle, Living Rev. Solar Phys. 7 (2010), 1.

Plasma diagnostics
  • I. H. Hutchinson, Principles of Plasma Diagnostics, Cambridge University Press, 1987.            

L1 on 21.2.:  Introduction & The basics of fusion energy

L2 on 28.2.:  The Magnetohydrodynamic description of the plasma

L3 on 7.3.: Magnetohydrodynamic equilibrium configurations

L4 on 14.3.: MHD stability

L5 on 21.3.: Diffusion and transport in tokamak plasmas

L6 on 28.3.: Heating, burning plasmas, ITER and route to a fusion power plant

L7 on 4.4.: Industrial plasmas 1 - Breakdown

L8 on 11.4.: Industrial plasmas 2 - Sheath and Etching

18.4.: Jour férié - no lecture

25.4.: Vacances de Pâques - no lecture

L9 on 2.5.: Astrophysics 1

L10 on 9.5.: Astrophysics 2

L11 on 16.5.: Astrophysics 3

L12 on 23.5.: Diagnostics 1

L13 on 30.5.: Diagnostics 2