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Lecture 1 Plasma Physics PDF

1) Plasma is the fourth state of matter and exists as a gas that is partially or fully ionized with free electrons and ions. 2) According to the Big Bang theory, in the first moments after the Big Bang, the entire universe was filled with a plasma of protons, electrons, neutrons, and photons. 3) Plasmas exist in many astrophysical contexts like stars, nebulae, and the interstellar medium, and comprise over 99% of the visible universe. However, plasmas do not naturally occur on Earth except at very high temperatures required for significant ionization.

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181 views11 pages

Lecture 1 Plasma Physics PDF

1) Plasma is the fourth state of matter and exists as a gas that is partially or fully ionized with free electrons and ions. 2) According to the Big Bang theory, in the first moments after the Big Bang, the entire universe was filled with a plasma of protons, electrons, neutrons, and photons. 3) Plasmas exist in many astrophysical contexts like stars, nebulae, and the interstellar medium, and comprise over 99% of the visible universe. However, plasmas do not naturally occur on Earth except at very high temperatures required for significant ionization.

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Robiul Islam Robi
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Date: 14.09.

2020
Lecture 1
Plasma Physics (Phys 403)

Books recommended:

Introduction to Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion.

By

Francis F. Chen ; Second edition; Volume 1


Plasma as a fourth state of matter:
The plasma is a fourth state of matter. It is the higher energetic state
than the other three conventional states: solid, liquid and gas.

Fig: 1

When a solid is heated sufficiently, its atoms or molecules acquire more


thermal kinetic energy until they overcome the binding energy and
form a liquid.

Liquids on being further heated form gases, where atoms or molecules


execute random, zigzag, chaotic and to-and-fro motion dominated by
collisions.

If further energy is given to the atomic gas, some or all of the atoms
may lose one or more electrons giving rise to a mixture of ionized gas of
electrons, ions and neutral atoms. This mixture of partially or fully
ionized gas is usually called a plasma.

However, we shall see that all ionized gases are not called plasmas-
they must satisfy certain criteria.

Langmuir and Tong in 1929 first used the word plasma to describe the
oscillations of the electron cloud in a discharge tube consisting of
electrons, ions and neutrals because of its similarity to a blood plasma,
the clear yellowish fluid in which the blood cells are immerged.

Plasmas in the early universe:


According to the Big Bang theory our universe was created about 10-20
billion years ago from a sudden zigantic explosion at some point where
the uniform density and pressure of the matter were infinitely large.

Nobody knows what is the origin of this cosmic egg and what happened
before this explosion.

In the first moments after the Big Bang, the universe was extremely hot
and dense. As the universe cooled, conditions became just right to give
rise to the building blocks of matter – the quarks and electrons (soup
bubbles) of which we are all made (Fig:2). A few millionths of a second
later, quarks aggregated to produce protons and neutrons.

In the first second, the whole expanding universe was filled with a
plasma of protons, electrons, positrons, neutrons, neutrinos,
antineutrinos and photons.

Within minutes, these protons and neutrons combined into nuclei. As


the universe continued to expand and cool, things began to happen more
slowly. It took 380,000 years for electrons to be trapped in orbits around
nuclei, forming the first atoms. These were mainly helium and hydrogen,
which are still by far the most abundant elements in the universe. Present
observations suggest that the first stars formed from clouds of gas
around 150–200 million years after the Big Bang. Heavier atoms such as
carbon, oxygen and iron, have since been continuously produced in the
hearts of stars and catapulted throughout the universe in spectacular
stellar explosions called supernovae.But stars and galaxies do not tell the
whole story (Fig:3). Astronomical and physical calculations suggest that
the visible universe is only a tiny amount (4%) of what the universe is
actually made of. A very large fraction of the universe, in fact 26%, is
made of an unknown type of matter called "dark matter". Unlike stars
and galaxies, dark matter does not emit any light or electromagnetic
radiation of any kind, so that we can detect it only through its
gravitational effects.

Fig:2 Bubbles in the early universe


Fig:3 Galaxies in the early universe
Occurrence of Plasmas:
It is said that 99.0% of the matter in the universe is in the plasma state.
Different plasmas are characterized by densities and temperatures which
vary by many orders of magnitudes in different places.

The sources of plasmas are given below:

(1) Gas Discharges: Fluorescent Lights, Spark gaps, arcs,


welding, lighting
(2) Controlled Fusion
(3) Ionosphere: Ionized belt surrounding earth
(4) Interplanetary Medium: Magnetospheres of planets and starts.
Solar Wind.
(5) Stellar Astrophysics: Stars. Pulsars. Radiation-processes.
(6) Ion Propulsion: Advanced space drives, etc.
& Space Technology , Interaction of Spacecraft with
environment
(7) Gas Lasers: Plasma discharge pumped lasers: CO2, He, Ne,
HCN.
(8) Materials Processing: Surface treatment for hardening. Crystal
Growing.
(9) Semiconductor Processing: Ion beam doping, plasma etching &
sputtering.
(10) Solid State Plasmas: Behavior of semiconductors.
(11) Stellar interiors and atmospheres.
(12) Gaseous nebulae ( Fuzzy white haze observed in the sky full of
interstellar dust and gas); Interstellar hydrogen.
(13) Van-Allen radiation belts: Belts surrounding the earth-inner
belt 1000-5000 km and outer belt 15000-25000 km thick where
the solar wind is trapped by the earth’s magnetic field (fig: 4).
(14) Earth ionospheres (70-500 km).
(15) Solar wind – a flow of plasma ejected from the sun into the
interplanetary space (Fig: 5).
(16) Sun’s atmospheres ( Chromosphere – the layer of the sun’s
atmosphere immediately above the photosphere).

Fig: 4
Fig: 5

Saha Equation:
Since plasma is the higher energy state of matter it is needed to provide
much energy to the gaseous state of that matter. The fractional ionization
will take placed depending upon the temperature of the gas. The relation
between the degree of ionization and the temperature of a substance is
known as the Saha equation.
The ionization energy usually called the ionization potential is the
energy necessary to dissociate an electron from an atom. This is usually
measured in electron Volt (eV).
An electron needs 11,6000k to acquire a mean energy KBT of 1 eV.
Thus, we note that an electron in an atom needs very high temperature to
possess mean kinetic energy 3KBT/2 which exceeds the ionization
energy.
It would be seem that we live in the 1% of the universe in which plasmas
do not occur naturally. The reason for this can be seen from the Saha
equation, which tells us the amount of ionization to be expected in a gas
in thermal equilibrium.
ni T 3 / 2 U i / K B T
 2.4  10 21 e (1)
nn ni

Here, ni and nn are respectively, the density of ionized atoms and of


neutral atoms. T is the gas temperature in 0k, KB = 1.38×10-23 j/0k is the
Boltzmann constant. And Ui is the ionization energy of the gas.
25
For ordinary air at room temperature, we may take n m-3,
T = 3000k and Ui = 14.5 eV (for nitrogen), where, 1 eV = 1.6×10-19 j.
The fractional ionization ni/(nn +ni) ni/nn predicted by equation (1) is
ridiculously low:
ni
 10 122
nn

So, the plasmas do not exist in our environment.


As the temperature is raised, the degree of ionization remains low until
Ui is only a few times KBT. Then ni/nn rises abruptly, and the gas is in a
plasma state.
Further, increase in temperature makes nn less than ni, and the plasma
eventually becomes fully ionized.
This is the reason plasmas exist in astronomical bodies with
temperatures of millions of degrees, but not on the earth.
Production of plasma:
There are two main processes of plasma production:
(i) Photoionization and
(ii) Electric discharge in gases.
In the photoionization, the ionization occurs by absorbing photons
whose energy may be equal or greater than the ionization energy. The
excess energy appears as the kinetic energy of the electron-ion pair
formed.

Fig: 6

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