Description
Plasma is a hot ionized gas containing nearly equal numbers of positively charged ions and negatively charged electrons. The characteristics of plasmas are significantly different from those of ordinary neutral gases so that plasmas are considered a distinct “fourth state of matter. The plasmas of interest to space physicists are extremely tenuous, with densities dramatically lower than those achieved in laboratory vacuums.
This book ‘Fundamentals of Ionized Gases’ is intended to present a consistent and integrated treatment of the fundamentals of plasma physics including all aspects of the physics of hot, highly ionized plasmas. To clarify the behavior of the plasma flow in the perpendicular magnetic field, numerical simulations based on an electromagnetic hybrid particle-in-cell (PIC) method have been carried out. This also deals with results of current experimental and theoretical research on all aspects of the physics of high-temperature plasmas and of controlled nuclear fusion, as well as the basic phenomena in highly-ionized gases in the laboratory, in the ionosphere and in space, in magnetic-confinement and inertial-confinement fusion along with associated diagnostic techniques.
This serves as a valuable information resource to a comprehensive study of plasmas, ranging from low temperature and ideal plasmas and covering to radiation and particle transport phenomena, the response of plasmas to external fields, and treatment of plasma waves, plasma instabilities, nonlinear phenomena in plasmas, and the study of plasma relations with surfaces. Generally, the prominence is on a vibrant and integrated understanding of the physics that causes all plasma phenomena.
