This three-volume series presents the ideas, models and approaches essential to understanding plasma dynamics and self-organization for researchers and graduate students in plasma physics, controlled fusion and related fields such as plasma astrophysics. Volume I develops the physical kinetics of plasma turbulence through a focus on quasi-particle models and dynamics. It discusses the essential physics concepts and theoretical methods for describing weak and strong fluid and phase space turbulence in plasma systems far from equilibrium. The book connects the traditionally 'plasma' topic of weak or wave turbulence theory to more familiar fluid turbulence theory, and extends both to the realm of collisionless phase space turbulence. This gives readers a deeper understanding of these related fields, and builds a foundation for future applications to multi-scale processes of self-organization in tokamaks and other confined plasmas. This book emphasizes the conceptual foundations and physical intuition underpinnings of plasma turbulence theory.

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

Plasma engineering is a rapidly expanding area of science and technology with increasing numbers of engineers using plasma processes over a wide range of applications. An essential tool for understanding this dynamic field, Plasma Physics and Engineering provides a clear, fundamental introduction to virtually all aspects of modern plasma science and technology, including plasma chemistry and engineering, combustion, chemical physics, lasers, electronics, methods of material treatment, fuel conversion, and environmental control. The book contains an extensive database on plasma kinetics and thermodynamics, many helpful numerical formulas for practical calculations, and an array of problems and concept questions.

There has been an increase in interest worldwide in fusion research over the last decade and a half due to the recognition that a large number of new, environmentally attractive, sustainable energy sources will be needed to meet ever increasing demand for electrical energy. Based on a series of course notes from graduate courses in plasma physics and fusion energy at MIT, the text begins with an overview of world energy needs, current methods of energy generation, and the potential role that fusion may play in the future. It covers energy issues such as the production of fusion power, power balance, the design of a simple fusion reactor and the basic plasma physics issues faced by the developers of fusion power. This book is suitable for graduate students and researchers working in applied physics and nuclear engineering. A large number of problems accumulated over two decades of teaching are included to aid understanding.

A nonlinearity is one of the most important notions in modern physics. A plasma is rich in nonlinearities and provides a variety of behaviors inherent to instabilities, coherent wave structures and turbulence. The book covers the basic concepts and mathematical methods, necessary to comprehend nonlinear problems widely encountered in contemporary plasmas, but also in other fields of physics and current research on self-organized structures and magnetized plasma turbulence. The analyses make use of strongly nonlinear models solved by analytical techniques backed by extensive simulations and available experiments. The text is written for senior undergraduates, graduate students, lecturers and researchers in laboratory, space and fusion plasmas.

Introduction to Plasma Physics is the standard text for an introductory lecture course on plasma physics. The text's six sections lead readers systematically and comprehensively through the fundamentals of modern plasma physics. Sections on single-particle motion, plasmas as fluids, and collisional processes in plasmas lay the groundwork for a thorough understanding of the subject. The authors take care to place the material in its historical context for a rich understanding of the ideas presented. They also emphasize the importance of medical imaging in radiotherapy, providing a logical link to more advanced works in the area. The text includes problems, tables, and illustrations as well as a thorough index and a complete list of references.

This book is an introduction to the field of modern plasma physics theory. The topics have been carefully chosen by the authors after many years teaching a graduate course in this subject. The book contains a comprehensive description of three widely used models in plasma physics: one-particle, hydro-dynamic and kinetic. The original results concerning fluctuation theory, nonlinear wave interaction and plasma turbulence have been obtained within the framework of the kinetic approach. This volume will be of particular interest to graduate students and researchers studying plasma physics as well as statistical physics and magnetohydrodynamics. It will also be of use to students and researchers in physical astronomy, particularly in other space plasma physics such as solar physics and stellar structure. The elements of the kinetic theory of gases.

"Kip Thorne and Roger Blandford's monumental Modern Classical Physics is now available in five stand-alone volumes that make ideal textbooks for individual graduate or advanced undergraduate courses on statistical physics; optics; elasticity and fluid dynamics; plasma physics; and relativity and cosmology. Each volume teaches the fundamental concepts, emphasizes modern, real-world applications, and gives students a physical and intuitive understanding of the subject. Relativity and Cosmology is an essential introduction to the subject, including remarkable recent advances. Written by award-winning physicists who have made fundamental contributions to the field and taught it for decades, the book differs from most others on the subject in important ways. It highlights recent transformations in our understanding of black holes, gravitational waves, and the cosmos; it emphasizes the physical interpretation of general relativity in terms of measurements made by observers; it explains the physics of the Riemann tensor in terms of tidal forces, differential frame dragging, and associated field lines; it presents an astrophysically oriented description of spinning black holes; it gives a detailed analysis of an incoming gravitational wave's interaction with a detector such as LIGO; and it provides a comprehensive, in-depth account of the universe's evolution, from its earliest moments to the present. While the book is designed to be used for a one-quarter or full-semester course, it goes deep enough to provide a foundation for understanding and participating in some areas of cutting-edge research. Includes many exercise problems Features color figures, suggestions for further reading, extensive cross-references, and a detailed index Optional "Track 2" sections make this an ideal book for a one-quarter or one-semester course An online illustration package is available to professors The five volumes, which are available individually as paperbacks and ebooks, are Statistical Physics; Optics; Elasticity and Fluid Dynamics; Plasma Physics; and Relativity and Cosmology." --

TO THE SECOND EDITION In the nine years since this book was first written, rapid progress has been made scientifically in nuclear fusion, space physics, and nonlinear plasma theory. At the same time, the energy shortage on the one hand and the exploration of Jupiter and Saturn on the other have increased the national awareness of the important applications of plasma physics to energy production and to the understanding of our space environment. In magnetic confinement fusion, this period has seen the attainment 13 of a Lawson number nTE of 2 x 10 cm -3 sec in the Alcator tokamaks at MIT; neutral-beam heating of the PL T tokamak at Princeton to KTi = 6. 5 keV; increase of average ß to 3%-5% in tokamaks at Oak Ridge and General Atomic; and the stabilization of mirror-confined plasmas at Livermore, together with injection of ion current to near field-reversal conditions in the 2XIIß device. Invention of the tandem mirror has given magnetic confinement a new and exciting dimension. New ideas have emerged, such as the compact torus, surface-field devices, and the EßT mirror-torus hybrid, and some old ideas, such as the stellarator and the reversed-field pinch, have been revived. Radiofrequency heat ing has become a new star with its promise of dc current drive. Perhaps most importantly, great progress has been made in the understanding of the MHD behavior of toroidal plasmas: tearing modes, magnetic Vll Vlll islands, and disruptions.

This edited collection of papers by pioneering experts was a standard text throughout the 1960s and 70s. A timeless introduction to foundations of plasma physics and a valuable source of historic context. 1961 edition.