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BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO PLASMA

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BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO PLASMA

TEZPUR UNIVERSITY

DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICS

Supervised By:
Dr. Pralay Kumar Karmakar
Department of Physics, Tezpur University

Submitted By:
Souvik Das
M.Sc. 2nd Sem
Roll No. – PHM18027
Department of Physics, Tezpur University
 ABSTRACT

Plasma is the fourth state of matter. It is essentially very hot, ionized gas. It is what makes up the Sun and most of the
Universe. Plasma is so hot (millions of Kelvin) that it cannot be contained by physically. Instead magnetic
confinement is frequently used. Because so much of the universe is made of plasma, its behavior and properties are of
intense interest to scientists in many disciplines. There are so many applications of Plasmas. It is used for making
computer chips, rocket propulsion, cleaning the environment, destroying biological hazards, healing wounds and other
exciting applications. The most important application of Plasma is in Fusion Test Reactor (FTR). Scientists have
developed modern Plasma theory to achieve the demand of Fusion energy for humankind.

PROJECT REPORT

 Introduction to Plasma (Plasma as the 4th state of matter) :

As far as we know, matter generally exists in three states in nature. These are: (𝑖) 𝑆𝑜𝑙𝑖𝑑 (𝑖𝑖) 𝐿𝑖𝑞𝑢𝑖𝑑 and
(𝑖𝑖𝑖) 𝐺𝑎𝑠. Now when a solid is heated sufficiently that the thermal motion of the atoms break the crystal lattice
structure apart, usually a liquid is formed. When a liquid is heated enough that atoms vaporize off the surface
faster than they recondense, a gas is formed. Now what happens to a matter just after that gaseous state? When a
gas is heated enough ( 𝑇 > 100,000℃ ) that the atoms collide wih each other and knock their electrons off in the
process, a plasma is formed: The so-called “fourth state of matter”. The important point is that an ionized gas has
unique properties. The word “plasma” comes from the Greek and means “moldable substance” or “jelly”. It is
used to describe a wide variety of macroscopically neutral substances containing many interacting free electrons
and ionized atoms or molecules.

 History of Plasma :
Plasma was first identified by Sir William Crookes in a Crookes tube in 1879 and he called it “radiant matter”.
Later in 1927 Irving Langmuir, the Nobel laureate who pioneered the scientific study of ionized gas, gave this new
state of matter the name “Plasma”.

 Properties and Parameters :

 Properties: (𝑖) Plasma is a state of matter in which an ionized gaseous substance becomes highly electrically
conductive to the point that long-range electric and magnetic fields dominate the behaviour of the matter.
(𝑖𝑖) The plasma state can be contrasted with the other states: solid, liquid, and gas.
(𝑖𝑖𝑖) Plasma is an electrically neutral medium of unbound positive and negative particles (i.e. the overall charge of
a plasma is roughly zero).
(𝑖𝑣) Moving charged particles generate an electric current within a magnetic field, and any movement of a
charged plasma particle affects and is affected by the fields created by the other charges. In turn this governs
collective behaviour with many degrees of variation.
 Parameters: Four factors define a plasma. These are:
(𝑖) The Plasma approximation : The plasma approximation is valid when the number of electrons within the
sphere of influence (called the Debye sphere whose radius is the Debye (screening) length) of a particular
particle is large. The average number of particles in the Debye sphere is given by the plasma parameter, Λ.
(𝑖𝑖) Bulk interaction: The Debye screening length (defined above) is short compared to the physical size of
the plasma. This criterion means that interactions in the bulk of the plasma are more important than those at its
edges, where boundary effects may take place.
 (𝑖𝑖𝑖) Plasma frequency: The electron plasma frequency (measuring plasma oscillations of the electrons) is
large compared to the electron-neutral collision frequency (measuring frequency of collisions between
electrons and neutral particles).
(𝑖𝑣) Degree of ionization: The degree of ionization of a plasma is the proportion of atoms that have lost or
gained electrons, and is controlled by the electron and ion temperatures and electron-ion Vs. electron-neutral
collision frequencies. The degree of ionization 𝛼 is defined as, 𝛼 = where, 𝑛 is the number density of
ions and 𝑛 is the number density of neutral atoms.

 Plasma production :
A plasma can be produced by raising the temperature of a substance until a reasonably high fractional
ionization is obtained. Under thermodynamic equilibrium conditions, the degree of ionization and the electron
temperature are closely related. Plasmas can also be generated by ionization processes that raise the degree of
ionization much above its thermal equilibrium value. There are many different methods of creating plasmas in the
laboratory. The most commonly known processes are (𝑖) Photoionization and (𝑖𝑖) Electric discharge in
gases.
(𝑖) Photoionization: In that process, ionization occurs by absorption of incident photons whose energy is equal to
or greater than the ionization potential of the absorbing atom. The excess energy of the photon is transformed into
kinetic energy of the electron-ion pair formed. Ionization can also be produced by x-rays or gamma rays, which
have much smaller wavelengths. The Earth's ionosphere, for example, is a natural photoionized plasma.
(𝑖𝑖) Electric discharge: In a gas discharge, an electric field is applied across the ionized gas, which accelerates the
free electrons to energies sufficiently high to ionize other atoms by collisions.

 Classification of plasmas :
Depending on the degree of ionization (𝛼) of the plasma it is classified as (𝑖) Fully ionized plasma, (𝑖𝑖) Weakly
ionized plasma and (𝑖𝑖𝑖) Partially ionized plasma. In fully ionized plasma assumed to have 100% ionization of the
plasma gas, the Coulomb collisions play an important role over the binary interactions. In weakly ionized plasmas
the binary interactions dominate over the Coulomb collisions. In partially ionized plasma, the binary interactions
and Coulomb interactions are comparable in strength.

 Plasmas in Nature :
Though naturally occurring plasma is rare on earth, it is the most plentiful form of matter in the universe.
 Plasma in space :
 Stars
 Coronas
 Solar wind
 Star nurseries
 Interstellar Nebulae
 In the magnetic fields of many planets
 Interplanetary, Interstellar and Intergalactic mediums
 The accretion disks and accretion disk jets of black holes
 Sun exists in 99.85% plasma state. The Sun is 1.5 million Km ball of plasma heated by Nuclear Fusion.
 Space is not empty vacuum. It is actually filled with plasma that conducts our EM wave signals. Our
Universe is 99.9% Plasma.
 Terrestrial Plasmas :
 Fire (When hotter than 1500℃)
 Lightning
 The magnetosphere
 The ionosphere
 The plasmasphere
 The polar aurorae
 The polar wind
 Upper atmospheric lightning (e.g. Blue jets, Blue starters)
 Sprites
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 Artificial Plasmas :
 Those found in plasma displays, including TV screen
 Inside fluorescent lamps, neon signs
 Rocket exhaust and ion thrusters
 The area in front of a spacecraft’s heat shield during re-entry into the atmosphere
 Inside a corona discharge Ozone generator
 Fusion energy research
 The electric area in an arc lamp, an arc welder or plasma torch
 Plasma ball (Plasma sphere or Plasma globe)
 Arcs produced by Tesla coils
 Plasmas are used in semiconductor device fabrication
 Laser produced plasma
 Static electric sparks
 Capacitively Coupled Plasmas (CCP)
 Dielectric Barrier Discharges (DBD)
 In Fusion Test Reactor (FTR) to produce controlled thermonuclear fusion power

 Plasma Containment :
Because of the extreme heat of most plasmas, conventional materials can not be used to contain plasma. However,
Plasma is an excellent conductor and hence magnetic fields are used to contain high-density, high-temperature
plasmas because such fields exert pressures and tensile forces on the plasma.

 Future of Plasma science :

One of the great challenges of humankind is to create high temperatures in a controlled manner and to harness the
energy of nuclear fusion. This is the great practical goal of Plasma Physics to produce nuclear fusion on the Earth.
Modern Plasma theory has developed to meet the demands of fusion research. Researchers have used the
properties of plasma as a charged gas to confine it with magnetic fields and to heat it to temperatures hotter than
the core of the sun. Thus scientists have used Plasma in Fusion Test Reactor (FTR). Other researchers pursue
plasmas for making computer chips, rocket propulsion, cleaning the environment, destroying biological hazards,
healing wounds and other exciting applications.

References

1. J. A. Bittencourt , ‘ Fundamentals of Plasma Physics ’ , Springer Press.

2. Robert J. Goldston and Paul H. Rutherford , ‘ Introduction to Plasma Physics ’ , Institute of Physics
Publishing Bristol and Philadelphia.
3. P. K. Karmakar , ‘ Plasma: A unique state of matter ’.
4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plasma_(physics)
5. https://www.plasmatreat.com/
6. http://www.psfc.mit.edu/

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