Plasma Physics for Nuclear Fusion Book

This book focuses on the properties of gaseous plasmas needed to attain controlled fusion reactions. Designed as a text for graduated and senior undergraduate students beginning the study of plasma physics as it relates to controlled nuclear fusion, the book should play a significant role in preparing a new generation of scientists and engineers to enter the important field of nuclear fusion research. It will also serve as a basic and exhaustive reference for professionals already involved in the field. The book consists of sixteen chapters, grouped into four major subject areas. The first five chapters develop the fundamentals of plasma physics and present the conditions of nuclear fusion reactions. The next four provide a magnetohydrodynamic description of plasmas, followed by four chapters that provide an explanation of wave phenomena and instabilities by means of a kinetic model. The three final chapters take up the problems of heating, diagnostics, and confinement. Some of the specific topics introduced are the Lawson condition, Boltzmann and Vlasov equations; plasma equilibrium; magnetohydrodynamic instabilities; waves in cold and hot plasmas; microinstabilities; fast neutral beam injection and wave heating; diagnostics employing microwaves, lasers, and energy analyzers. Plasma confinement in tokamaks and stellerators, multipole fields, mirrors, and cusps, as well as inertial confinement, are reviewed. References follow each chapter. There are four appendixes and an index.Read More