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.
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 GR A3 32
- 2 hours of assisted problem solving, Friday afternoon from 15h15 to 17h00 in GR A3 32
Examination
- New - An individual oral exam will take place on June 18 and June 19 in GR A3 32. Please consult the schedule (updated on May 27 with changes marked in red) for the exact time.
- New - The exam covers the content of the lectures and the exercises. The list of potential questions contains 3 groups.
- 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 the current course are available on the course's mediaspace channel.
- Recordings of the former Plasma Physics III course are also available as a different playlist of the same mediaspace 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):
- 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
- Dr. S. Alberti's Introduction to plasma physics (formerly Plasma Physics I) lecture notes.
- Prof. A. Fasoli's Plasma I (formerly Plasma Physics II) lecture notes.
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
- L1 lecture notes (File)
- L1 annotated lecture notes (File)
- E1 problem set (File)
- S1 solutions (File)
- L1 recording - part 1 (Kaltura Video Resource)
- L1 recording - part 2 (Kaltura Video Resource)
- L1 recording - part 3 (Kaltura Video Resource)
L2 on 28.2.: The Magnetohydrodynamic description of the plasma
- L2 lecture notes (File)
- L2 annotated lecture notes (File)
- E2 problem set (File)
- S2 solutions (File)
- L2 recording - part 1 (Kaltura Video Resource)
- L2 recording - part 2 (Kaltura Video Resource)
L3 on 7.3.: Magnetohydrodynamic equilibrium
configurations
- L3 lecture notes (File)
- L3 annotated lecture notes (File)
- E3 problem set (File)
- S3 solutions (File)
- L3 recording - part 1 (Kaltura Video Resource)
- L3 recording - part 2 (Kaltura Video Resource)
L4 on 14.3.: MHD stability
- L4 lecture notes (File)
- L4 annotated lecture notes (File)
- E4 problem set (File)
- S4 solutions (File)
- L4 recording - part 1 (Kaltura Video Resource)
- L4 recording - part 2 (Kaltura Video Resource)
L5 on 21.3.: Diffusion and transport in tokamak
plasmas
- L5 lecture notes (File)
- L5 annotated lecture notes (File)
- E5 problem set (File)
- S5 solutions (File)
- L5 recording - part 1 (Kaltura Video Resource)
- L5 recording - part 2 (Kaltura Video Resource)
- L5 recording - part 3 (Kaltura Video Resource)
L6 on 28.3.: Heating, burning plasmas, ITER and
route to a fusion power plant
- L6 lecture notes (File)
- L6 annotated lecture notes (File)
- E6 problem set (File)
- S6 solutions (File)
- L6 recording - part 1 (Kaltura Video Resource)
- L6 recording - part 2 (Kaltura Video Resource)
L7 on 4.4.: Industrial plasmas 1 - Breakdown
- L7 lecture notes (File)
- L7 annotated lecture notes (File)
- E7 problem set (File)
- S7 solutions (File)
- L7 recording (Kaltura Video Resource)
L8 on 11.4.: Industrial plasmas 2 - Sheath and Etching
- L8 lecture notes (File)
- L8 annotated lecture notes (File)
- E8 problem set (File)
- S8 solutions (File)
- L8 recording (Kaltura Video Resource)
18.4.: Jour férié - no lecture
25.4.: Vacances de Pâques - no lecture
L9 on 2.5.: Astrophysics 1
- L9 lecture notes (File)
- L9 annotated lecture notes (File)
- L9 erratum (File)
- E9 problem set (File)
- S9 solutions (File)
- L9 recording - part 1 (Kaltura Video Resource)
- L9 recording - part 2 (Kaltura Video Resource)
L10 on 9.5.: Astrophysics 2
- L10 lecture notes (File)
- L10 annotated lecture notes (File)
- E10 problem set (File)
- S10 solutions (File)
- L10 recording - part 1 (Kaltura Video Resource)
- L10 recording - part 2 (Kaltura Video Resource)
L11 on 16.5.: Astrophysics 3
- L11 lecture notes (File)
- L11 annotated lecture notes (File)
- E11 problem set (File)
- S11 solutions (File)
- L11 lecture recording - part 1 (Kaltura Video Resource)
- L11 lecture recording - part 2 (Kaltura Video Resource)
L12 on 23.5.: Diagnostics 1
- L12 lecture notes (File)
- L12 annotated lecture notes (incl. notes discussed on 30.5.2025) (File)
- E12 problem set (File)
- S12 solutions (File)
- L12 lecture recording - part 1 (Kaltura Video Resource)
- L12 lecture recording - part 2 (Kaltura Video Resource)
L13 on 30.5.: Diagnostics 2
- L13 lecture notes (File)
- L13 annotated lecture notes (File)
- E13 problem set (File)
- S13 solutions (File)
- L13 lecture recording - part 1 (Kaltura Video Resource)
- L13 lecture recording - part 2 (Kaltura Video Resource)