Plasma II

PHYS-424

Media

2025

10.03.2025, 18:15

Recordings of the 2025 course

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

10.03.2025, 18:18

The energy landscape

1, PHYS-424 \ Week 1: The Basics of Fusion Energy - Part 2

10.03.2025, 18:30

Nuclear fusion energy

1, PHYS-424 \ Week 1: The Basics of Fusion Energy - Part 3

10.03.2025, 18:32

Power balance in a fusion reactor

2, PHYS-424 \ Week 2: The MHD description of a plasma - Part 1

11.03.2025, 08:32

MHD equations

2, PHYS-424 \ Week 2: The MHD description of a plasma - Part 2

11.03.2025, 08:32

General properties and formulation of ideal MHD equilibrium
1D equilibrium configurations

3, PHYS-424 \ Week 3: MHD equilibrium configurations - Part 1

11.03.2025, 09:03

Linear configurations
Toroidally symmetric configurations

3, PHYS-424 \ Week 3: MHD equilibrium configurations - Part 2

11.03.2025, 09:03

The tokamak concept
The stellarator concept

4, PHYS-424 \ Week 4: MHD stability - Part 1

24.03.2025, 14:28

Conceptual examples of instabilities

4, PHYS-424 \ Week 4: MHD stability - Part 2

24.03.2025, 14:30

  • Linear stability analysis
  • Operational limits in tokamaks

5, PHYS-424 \ Week 5: Transport - Part 1

24.03.2025, 15:05

  • General principle of diffusice transport
  • Charge neutrality
  • Classical diffusion and transport

5, PHYS-424 \ Week 5: Transport - Part 2

24.03.2025, 15:07

  • Neo-classical transport

5, PHYS-424 \ Week 5: Transport - Part 3

24.03.2025, 15:08

  • Neo-classical transport (cont.)
  • Anomalous transport

6, PHYS-424 \ Week 6: Heating - Part 1

09.04.2025, 19:05

Plasma heating
  • Need for (auxiliary) heating
  • Neutral beam heating


6, PHYS-424 \ Week 6: Heating - Part 2

09.04.2025, 19:07

Plasma heating
  • Wave heating
ITER as the first burning plasma
  • Alpha-particle heating
Towards a fusion power plant




7, PHYS-424 \ Week 7: Industrial plasmas 1

09.04.2025, 19:11

Introduction to basic industrial plasmas
  • Plasma medicine
Breakdown and Paschen’s law
  • Communication satellite


8, PHYS-424 \ Week 8: Industrial plasmas 2

01.05.2025, 08:18

  • Sheath and plasma etching
  • Plasma with insulating electrodes

9, PHYS-424 \ Week 9: Introduction into solar physics - Part 1

20.05.2025, 08:34

The sun's nuclear energy source

9, PHYS-424 \ Week 9: Introduction into solar physics - Part 2

20.05.2025, 08:34

Transport processes

10, PHYS-424 \ Week 10: Solar dynamo - Part 1

20.05.2025, 08:47

The structure of the sun's magnetic field

10, PHYS-424 \ Week 10: Solar dynamo - Part 2

20.05.2025, 08:48

The solar dynamo

11, PHYS-424 \ Week 11: Magnetic reconnection and solar wind - Part 1

05.06.2025, 14:16

  • Magnetic reconnection

11, PHYS-424 \ Week 11: Magnetic reconnection and solar wind - Part 2

05.06.2025, 14:18

  • Solar wind

12, PHYS-424 \ Week 12: Diagnostics 1 - Part 1

05.06.2025, 14:22

  • Introduction
  • Examples of passive plasma diagnostics

12, PHYS-424 \ Week 12: Diagnostics 1 - Part 2

05.06.2025, 14:24

  • More passive diagnostics

13, PHYS-424 \ Week 13: Diagnostics 2 - Part 1

05.06.2025, 14:51

  • Passive diagnostics
    • Bolometers
    • Magnetic sensors

13, PHYS-424 \ Week 13: Diagnostics 2 - Part 2

05.06.2025, 14:52

Active diagnostics

2025

10.03.2025, 18:15

Recordings of the 2025 course

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: 16.2.-29.5.2026
  • 2 hours of ex cathedra lecture, Friday afternoon from 13h15 to 15h00 in CE1 105
  • 2 hours of assisted problem solving, Friday afternoon from 15h15 to 17h00 in CE1 105

Examination
  • 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 (even in electronic format).
  • 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.
  • Recordings of last year's Plasma II course are available on the course's mediaspace channel.
  • You can also refer to the Plasma Physics MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses):
  • No single textbook is mandatory. The following books are suggested for further reading. The most important references are highlighted in bold.

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 20.2.:  Introduction & The basics of fusion energy

L2 on 27.2.:  The Magnetohydrodynamic description of the plasma

L3 on 6.3.: Magnetohydrodynamic equilibrium configurations

L4 on 13.3.: MHD stability - exceptionally in MA A1 12 (Artiphys)

L5 on 20.3.: Diffusion and transport in tokamak plasmas

L6 on 27.3.: Heating, burning plasmas, ITER and route to a fusion power plant

3.4.: Jour férié - no lecture

10.4.: Vacances de Pâques - no lecture

L7 on 17.4.: Industrial plasmas 1 - Breakdown

L8 on 24.4.: Industrial plasmas 2 - Sheath and Etching

L9 on 1.5.: Astrophysics 1

L10 on 8.5.: Astrophysics 2

L11 on 15.5.: Astrophysics 3

L12 on 22.5.: Diagnostics 1

L13 on 29.5.: Diagnostics 2