Physics of Collisional Plasmas Introduction to High-Frequency Discharges

This text is an introduction to the physics of collisional plasmas, as opposed to plasmas in space. It is intended for graduate students in physics and engineering . The first chapter introduces with progressively increasing detail, the fundamental concepts of plasma physic. The motion of individual charged particles in various configurations of electric and magnetic fields is detailed in the second chapter while the third chapter considers the collective motion of the plasma particles described according to a hydrodynamic model. The fourth chapter is most original in that it introduces a general approach to energy balance, valid for all types of discharges comprising direct current(DC) and high frequency (HF) discharges, including an applied static magnetic field. The basic concepts required in this fourth chapter have been progressively introduced in the previous chapters.

The text is enriched with approx. 100 figures, and alphabetical index and 45 fully resolved problems. Mathematical and physical appendices provide complementary information or allow to go deeper in a given subject.

Foreword.- Acknowledgments.- List of symbols.- List of constants.- 1 The Plasma State: Definition and Orders of Magnitude of Principle Quantities.- 1.1 Definition and essential nature of plasma.- 1.2 Areas of research and applications (examples).- 1.3 Different types of laboratory discharges.- 1.4 Electron density and temperature of a plasma.- 1.5 natural oscillation frequency of electrons in a plasma.- 1.6 Debye length: effect of screening in the plasma.- 1.7 Collisional phenomena in plasmas.- 1.8 Mechanisms for creation and loss of charged particles in a plasma and their conservation equation.- 2 Individual Motion of a Charged Particle in Electric and Magnetic Fields.- 2.1 The general equation of motion of a charged particle in E and B fields, and properties of that equation.- 2.2 Analysis of particular cases of E and B.- 3 Hydrodynamic Description of a Plasma.- 3.1 Fundamental aspects of the Boltzmann equation.- 3.2 Velocity distribution function and the notion of correlation between particles.- 3.3 Distribution functions and hydrodynamic quantities.- 3.4 Kinetic and hydrodynamic conductivity of electrons in a plasma in the presence of a HF electromagnetic field.- 3.5 Transport equations.- 3.6 Closure of the transport equations.- 3.7 The Lorentz electron plasma model.- 3.8 Diffusion and mobility of charged particles.- 3.9 Normal modes of diffusion and spatial density distribution of charged particles.- 3.10 The ambipolar diffusion regime.- 3.11 Ambipolar diffusion in a static magnetic field.- 3.12 Diffusion regime or free fall regime.- 3.13 Electron temperature of a long plasma column governed by ambipolar diffusion: scaling law T_e(pR).- 3.14 Formation and nature of sheaths at the plasma-wall.- 4 Introduction to the Physics of HF Discharges.- 4.1 Foreword.- 4.2 Power transfer from the electric field to the discharge.- 4.3 Influence of the frequency of the HF field on some plasma properties and on particular processes.- 4.4 High-pressure HF sustained plasmas.- Appendix I. Properties of the Maxwell-Boltzmann velocity distribution.- Appendix II The complete Saha equation.- Appendix III Partial local thermodynamic equilibrium.- Appendix IV Representation of binary collisions in the center of mass and laboratory frames.- Appendix V Limiting the range of the Coulomb collisional interactions: the Coulomb logarithm.- Appendix VI Step-wise ionisation.- Appendix VII Basic notions of tensors.- Appendix VIII Operations on tensors.- Appendix IX Orientation of w in the reference triad with Cartesian axes.- Appendix X Force acting on a charged particle in the direction of a magnetic field weakly non-uniform axially: variant of (2.177).- Appendix XI The magnetic moment.- Appendix XII Drift velocity w of a charged particle subjected to an arbitrary force F in a field B: the magnetic drift.- Appendix XIII Magnetic-field drift velocity in the Frenet frame associated with the lines of force of a magnetic field with weak curvature.- Appendix XIV Spherical harmonics.- Appendix XV Expressions for the terms M and R in the kinetic pressure transport equation.- Appendix XVI Closure of the hydrodynamic transport equation for kinetic pressure in the case of adiabatic compression.- Appendix XVII Complimentary calculations for the T_e(pR) relation.- Appendix XVIII Propagation of an electromagnetic plane wave in a plasma and the skin depth.- Appendix XIX Surface-wave plasmas (SWP).- Appendix XX Useful integrals and expressions for the differential operators in various coordinate systems.- References.- Recommended reading.- Index.