Postgraduate Lectures in Plasma Physics
As part of our PhD training program we provide students with a series of lectures that provide a broad introduction to plasma physics. The course is split into 6 modules. Modules 1-4 take place in the first term (October – December), and cover an introduction to plasma physics, waves and transport in plasmas, magnetohydrodynamics and plasma techniques (computational and experimental). The second term (January – March) provides students with introductory/tutorial lectures on a range of research topics in plasma physics and a series of lectures in more advanced plasma theory. There will be problem sheets set (approximately 6) covering the material for modules 1-4.
The course is also open to external students. Imperial College PhD students should attend all of the modules, unless they have arranged with their supervisor to attend alternative classes. External students are free to select from the modular system to suit their own learning objectives. The course is organised by Stuart Mangles - please contact him at stuart.mangles@imperial.ac.uk if you have any questions.
Lecture notes and question sheets are available here for students enrolled on the course.
The list of lectures planned is given below, though due to scheduling constraints there could be minor changes to this list.
Term 1: October - December
Module 1 - Introduction to Plasma Physics
| Lecture | Lecturer |
|---|
| Basic Concepts in Plasmas |
Stuart Mangles |
| Fluid Basics |
Michael Coppins |
| Single particle motion, drift motion, adiabatic invariants |
Jerry Chittenden |
| Distribution Functions and the Vlasov Fokker Planck equation |
Michael Coppins |
| Moments and the MHD equations |
Michael Coppins |
Summary of the table's contents
Module 2 -Waves and Transport in Plasmas
| Lecture | Lecturer |
|---|
| Waves in fluid plasmas |
Zulfikar Najumdin |
| Collisions in Plasmas |
Robert Kingham |
| Transport in Plasmas |
Mark Sherlock |
| Waves in Kinetic Plasmas |
Stuart Mangles |
Summary of the table's contents
Module 3 - MagnetoHydroDynamics
| Lecture | Lecturer |
|---|
| Waves in MHD plasmas |
Chris Ham |
| Ideal MHD, resistive diffusion and equilibria |
Tim Hender |
| MHD stability theory |
Tim Hender |
Module 4 - Plasma techniques
| Lecture | Lecturer |
|---|
| Computational methods in plasma physics I |
Roger Evans |
| Computational methods in plasma physics II |
Roger Evans |
| Experimental Diagnostic Techniques |
Sergey Lebedev |
| High Power Lasers |
Roland Smith |
Term 2: January - March
Module 5 - Introduction to Research Topics in Plasma Physics
| Lecture | Lecturer |
|---|
| Laser Plasma Interactions: |
Peter Norreys |
| Laser Plasma Interactions at Ultra-high Intensities: |
Zulfikar Najmudin |
| Inertial Confinement Fusions |
Peter Roberts |
| Tokamaks |
Chris Ham |
| Dusty and Industrial Plasmas: |
Michael Coppins |
| Ionospheres in the Solar System |
Marina Galand |
| Z Pinches |
Jerry Chittenden |
| Astrophysical plasmas / plasma turbulence |
Steve Cowley |
| Generating x-rays from relativistic charged particle beams |
Stuart Mangles |
| Introduction to Shocks and Equations of State |
Simon Bland |
| Laboratory Astrophysics |
Sergey Lebedev |
Summary of the table's contents
Module 6 - Advanced Plasma Theory
| Lecture | Lecturer |
|---|
| Radiative and atomic processes in plasmas |
Steve Rose |
| Advanced theory of laser plasma interactions |
Roger Evans |
| Advanced theory of inertial confinement fusion |
Roger Evans |
| Advanced Theory of magnetically confined plasmas |
Chris Ham |
| Radiation Hydrodynamics |
Steve Rose |
Summary of the table's contents