A plasma is a quasineutral gas of charged and

neutral particles which exhibits

collective behavior.

Consider the forces acting on a molecule of, say, ordinary air. Since the
molecule is neutral, there is no net electromagnetic force on it, and the
force of gravity is negligible. The molecule moves undisturbed until it
makes a collision with another molecule, and these collisions control the
particle’s motion. A macroscopic force applied to a neutral gas, such as
from a loudspeaker generating sound waves, is transmitted to the
individual atoms by collisions. The situation is totally different in a
plasma, which has charged particles. As these charges move around,
they can generate local concentrations of positive or negative charge,
which give rise to electric fields. Motion of charges also generates
currents, and hence magnetic fields. These fields affect the motion of
other charged particles far away.
By “collective behavior” we mean motions that
depend not only on local conditions but on the
state of the plasma in remote regions as well.

The word “plasma” seems to be a misnomer. It

comes from the Greek πλάσμα-ατoς, τo, which
means something molded or fabricated.
Because of collective behavior, a plasma does
not tend to conform to external influences;
rather, it often behaves as if it had a mind of its
own.
The plasma is “quasineutral”; that is, neutral enough so that one can
take , where n is a common density called the plasma
density.

The Plasma Parameter:

The number ND of particles in a “Debye sphere”:

Criteria for Plasmas
If the dimensions L of a system are much larger than λD, then whenever local concentrations of
charge arise or external potentials are introduced into the system, these are shielded out in a
distance short compared with L, leaving the bulk of the plasma free of large electric potentials
or fields.

The picture of Debye shielding that we have given above is valid only if there are enough
particles in the charge cloud. Clearly, if there are only one or two particles in the sheath
region, Debye shielding would not be a statistically valid concept. So, the number ND of
particles in a “Debye sphere” must be greater than unity.

The weakly ionized gas in an airplane’s jet exhaust, for example, does not qualify as a plasma
because the charged particles collide so frequently with neutral atoms that their motion is
controlled by ordinary hydrodynamic forces rather than by electromagnetic forces. If ω is the
frequency of typical plasma oscillations and τ is the mean time between collisions with neutral
atoms, we require ωτ>1 for the gas to behave like a plasma rather than a neutral gas.
To examine the mechanism by which the plasma strives to shield its interior from a disturbing
electric field, consider a plasma whose equilibrium state is perturbed by an electric field due
to an external charged particle. For that matter, this electric field may also be considered to
be due to one of the charged particles inside the plasma, isolated for observation. For
definiteness, we assume this test particle to have a positive charge +Q, and choose a
spherical coordinate system whose origin coincides with the position of the test particle.

We are interested in determining the electrostatic potential φ(r) that is established near the
test charge Q, due to the combined effects of the test charge and the distribution of charged
particles surrounding it. Since the positive test charge Q attracts the negatively charged
particles and repels the positively charged ones, the number densities of the electrons ne( r)
and of the ions ni( r) will be slightly different near the origin (test particle), whereas at large
distances from the origin the electrostatic potential vanishes, so that ne( ∞) = ni ( ∞) = n0

Since this is a steady-state problem under the action of a conservative electric field, we have
A gas in thermal equilibrium has particles of all velocities, and the most probable distribution
of these velocities is known as the Maxwellian distribution.
For simplicity, consider a gas in which the particles can move only in one dimension. (This is not
entirely frivolous; a strong magnetic field, for instance, can constrain electrons to move only
along the field lines.) The one-dimensional Maxwellian distribution is given by
The width of the distribution is characterized by the constant T, which we call
the temperature.
We have assumed that the electrons and ions (of charge e) have the same temperature T.
ne( ∞) = ni ( ∞) = n0

The total electric charge density p(r), including the test charge Q, can be expressed as:
which allows the evaluation of the electrostatic potential φ(r).
In order to proceed analytically, we assume now that the perturbing electrostatic potential is
weak so that the electrostatic potential energy is much less than the mean thermal energy,
that is,
Under this condition we can use the approximation (making a series expansion)
Since the problem has spherical symmetry, the electrostatic potential
depends only on the radial distance r measured from the position of
the test particle, being independent of the spatial orientation of r.
Thus, using spherical coordinates, below equation can be written (for r
≠ 0) as

spherical coordinates
In order to solve this equation we note initially that for an
isolated particle of charge +Q, in free space, the electric field
is directed radially outward and is given by

So that the electrostatic coulomb potential φc(r) due

to this isolated charged particle in free space is
In the very close proximity of the test particle the
electrostatic potential should be the same as that for
an isolated particle in free space.

So, solution of above equation is of the form:

With condition that:

Substitute this in
Its solution:

The condition that φ(r) vanishes for large values of

r requires A= 0.
Also, the condition that F(r) tends to one when r
tends to zero requires B = 1.
 Solution of above equation is

This result is commonly known as the Debye potential, since this nonrigorous derivation was
first presented by Debye and Huckel in their theory of electrolytes.

It shows that φ(r) becomes much less than the ordinary coulomb potential once r exceeds the
distance λD, called the Debye length. Hence, we can say in a crude way that a charged particle
in a plasma interacts effectively only with particles situated at distances less than one Debye
length away, and it has a negligible influence on particles lying at distances greater than one
Debye length.
The charge Q of the test particle is neutralized by the charge
distribution surrounding the test particle. The charge density

Substituting φ(r) by the Debye potential, we obtain

To obtain the total charge qt we integrate above equation over

all space,

Since the first integral gives -Q, whereas the second one is equal to +Q, we find qt = 0.
The principal contribution to the first integral in above equation comes
from the plasma particles lying in the very close neighbourhood of the
test particle, since the integrand falls off exponentially with increasing
values of r. Thus, the neutralization of the test particle takes place
effectively on account of the charged particles inside the Debye sphere.

we see that in the neighbourhood of the test particle the electron

number density is larger than the ion number density, on account of the
fact that the positive test particle attracts the electrons and repels the
ions. Therefore, in the close proximity of the test particle there is an
imbalance of charge and, consequently, an electric field.
We have seen that the shielding of this electric field is
effectively completed over a distance of the order of λD.
Thus, for macroscopic neutrality, it is necessary that the
plasma typical characteristic dimension L be much greater
than λD.
For r→ 0, the Debye potential becomes very large and the
assumption eφ(r) « kT is unlikely to be fulfilled.

where ND is the number of electrons inside a Debye sphere. Since ND is

very large for virtually all plasmas, it is evident that the ratio given in
above equation is much less than one, except when r is less than
λD / ND. Therefore, the Debye potential is consistent with the
approximation eφ(r) « kT used to derive it, if we restrict attention to
distances from the test particle greater than λD / ND.
 As a final point, we note that in the derivation of the Debye
potential that appears extensively in the literature, it is usual to
ignore ion motion and to assume a constant ion number density
equal to the unperturbed electron number density. In this case
the factor of 2 disappears, and the expression for the Debye
potential becomes

Prob:
ELECTRON PLASMA OSCILLATIONS

One of the fundamental properties of a plasma is its tendency to maintain electric

charge neutrality on a macroscopic scale under equilibrium conditions. When this
macroscopic charge neutrality is disturbed, such as to temporarily produce a
significant imbalance of charge, large coulomb forces come into play, which tend to
restore the macroscopic charge neutrality. Since these coulomb forces cannot be
naturally sustained in the plasma, it breaks into high-frequency electron plasma
oscillations, which enable the plasma to maintain on the average its electrical
neutrality.
 Electron Plasma Oscillations
As a simple example, consider a small spherical
region inside a plasma and suppose that a
perturbation in the form of an excess of negative
charge is introduced in this small region.
Because of spherical symmetry, the
corresponding electric field is radial and points
towards the centre (see Fig.), forcing the
electrons to move radially outward. After a small
time interval, since the electrons gain kinetic
energy in the course of their motion, more
electrons leave the spherical plasma region (due
to their inertia) than is necessary to resume the
state of electrical neutrality.
An excess of positive charge results, therefore, inside this region and the reversed (outward,
now) electric field causes the electrons to move inward. This sequence of outward and inward
electron movement in the spherical plasma region continues periodically, resulting in electron
plasma oscillations. In this way the plasma maintains its macroscopic neutrality on the
average, since the total charge inside the spherical region, averaged over one period of these
oscillations, is zero. The frequency of these oscillations is usually very high, and since the ions
(in view of their much higher mass) are unable to follow the rapidity of the electron
oscillations, their motion is often neglected.
To study the characteristics of the electron plasma
oscillations we can use the cold plasma model, in which
the particle thermal motion and the pressure gradient
force are not taken into account.
If the electrons in a plasma are displaced from a uniform
background of ions, electric fields will be built up in such a direction
as to restore the neutrality of the plasma by pulling the electrons
back to their original positions. Because of their inertia, the
electrons will overshoot and oscillate around their equilibrium
positions with a characteristic frequency known as the plasma
frequency. This oscillation is so fast that the massive ions do not
have time to respond to the oscillating field and may be considered
as fixed.
The open rectangles represent
typical elements of the ion fluid, and
the darkened rectangles the
alternately displaced elements of
the electron fluid. The resulting
charge bunching causes a spatially
periodic E field, which tends to
restore the electrons to their neutral
positions

We shall derive an expression for the plasma frequency ωp in the simplest case, making
the following assumptions:
(1) There is no magnetic field.
(2) There are no thermal motions (KT = 0).
(3) The ions are fixed in space in a uniform distribution.
(4) The plasma is infinite in extent; and
(5) The electron motions occur only in the x - direction.
 The electron motions occur only in the x -direction

There is, therefore, no fluctuating magnetic field; this is an electrostatic oscillation

 The electron equation of motion

The equation of continuity

The only Maxwell equation we shall need is the one that does not involve B: Poisson’s
equation.
This is a high-frequency oscillation; electron inertia is important, and the deviation from
neutrality is the main effect in this particular case.
Consequently, we write
 THREE EQUATIONS:

The electron equation of motion

The equation of continuity

Poisson’s equation

These Equations can easily be solved by the procedure of linearization.

By this we mean that the amplitude of oscillation is small, and terms containing higher powers
of amplitude factors can be neglected. We first separate the dependent variables into two
parts: an “equilibrium” part indicated by a subscript 0, and a “perturbation” part indicated by a
subscript 1:
 equilibrium part perturbation part

The equilibrium quantities express the state of the plasma in the absence of the oscillation.

Since we have assumed a uniform neutral plasma at rest before the electrons are displaced,
we have
The term (v1 · ∇)v1 is seen to be quadratic in an amplitude
quantity, and we shall linearize by neglecting it. The linear
theory is valid as long as |v1| is small enough that such
quadratic terms are indeed negligible.
In Poisson’s equation, we note that ni0 = ne0 in equilibrium and that ni1= 0 by the assumption
of fixed ions, so we have

The oscillating quantities are assumed to behave sinusoidally

The Pme derivaPve ∂/∂t can therefore be replaced by -iω, and the gradient ∇ by
ikx^ :
∂/∂t -iω
∇
 Eliminating n1 and E1 in

If v1 does not vanish, we must have

 The plasma frequency is therefore

Numerically, one can use the approximate formula

This frequency, depending only on the plasma density, is one of the fundamental
parameters of a plasma. Because of the smallness of m, the plasma frequency is
usually very high.
 For instance, in a plasma of density n = 1018 m-3, we have

Radiation at fp normally lies in the microwave range. We can compare this with
another electron frequency: ωce. A useful numerical formula is

Thus if B = 0.32 T and n = 1018 m-3, the cyclotron frequency is approximately equal to the
plasma frequency for electrons.

tells us that if a plasma oscillation is to occur at all, it must have a frequency depending
only on n. In particular, ω does not depend on k, so the group velocity dω/dk is zero. The
disturbance does not propagate.
There is another effect that can cause plasma oscillations to propagate, and that is
thermal motion. Electrons streaming into adjacent layers of plasma with their
thermal velocities will carry information about what is happening in the oscillating
region. The plasma oscillation can then properly be called a plasma wave.

We can easily treat this effect by adding a term ∇pe to the equation of motion

The linearized equation of motion is

Note that in linearizing we have neglected the terms n1 ∂v1/∂t and n1E1 as well
as the (v1 · ∇)v1 term.
The frequency now depends on k, and the group velocity is finite:

That vg is always less than c can easily be seen from a

graph of Eq.

At any point P on this curve, the slope of a line drawn from

the origin gives the phase velocity ω/k.
 Dispersion relation for electron plasma waves (Bohm–Gross waves)

The slope of the curve at P gives the group velocity. This is clearly always less than (3/2)1/2 vth,
which, in our non-relativistic theory, is much less than c.
Note that at large k (small λ), information travels essentially at the thermal velocity.
At small k (large λ), information travels more slowly than vth even though vϕ is greater than vth.
This is because the density gradient is small at large λ, and thermal motions carry very little
net momentum into adjacent layers.
Now we consider a
magnetic field which is
pointed primarily in
the z direction and
whose magnitude
varies in the z
direction.
Let the field be
axisymmetric, with
Bθ = 0 and ∂/∂θ = 0.
Since the lines of force
converge and diverge,
there is necessarily a
component Br
(adjoining figure).
We wish to show that
this gives rise to a force
which can trap a
particle in a magnetic
field.
The components of the Lorentz force are

Two terms vanish if Bθ = 0, and terms 1 and 2 give rise to the usual
Larmor gyration. Term 3 vanishes on the axis; when it does not
vanish, this azimuthal force causes a drift in the radial direction.
This drift merely makes the guiding centers follow the lines of
force. Term 4 is the one we are interested in.
The direction of the gyration is always such that the magnetic field generated
by the charged particle is opposite to the externally imposed field. Plasma
particles, therefore, tend to reduce the magnetic field, and plasmas are
diamagnetic. In Fig., the right-hand rule with the thumb pointed in the B
direction would give ions a clockwise gyration. Ions gyrate counter-clockwise
to generate an opposing B, thus lowering the energy of the system.
Both definition of magnetic moment is same

As the particle moves into regions of stronger or weaker B, its Larmor radius changes, but μ
remains invariant. To prove this, consider the component of the equation of motion along B:
As the particle moves into regions of stronger or weaker B, its Larmor radius changes, but μ
remains invariant. To prove this, consider the component of the equation of motion along B:
 The magnetic moment

The invariance of μ is the basis for one of the primary schemes for plasma confinement: the
magnetic mirror. As a particle moves from a weak-field region to a strong-field region in the
course of its thermal motion, it sees an increasing B, and therefore its v⊥ must increase in
order to keep μ constant. Since its total energy must remain constant, v|| must necessarily
decrease. If B is high enough in the “throat” of the mirror, v|| eventually becomes zero; and
the particle is “reflected” back to the weak-field region. It is, of course, the force F|| which
causes the reflection.
The non-uniform field of a
simple pair of coils forms two
magnetic mirrors between
which a plasma can be trapped
(adjoining figure). This effect
works on both ions and
electrons.
 Conservation of energy requires

where θ is the pitch angle of

the orbit in the weak-field
region. Particles with smaller θ
will mirror in regions of higher The angle between B and the direction
B. If θ is too small, B0 exceeds of motion of the particle is called the
Bm; and the particle does not pitch angle and is given by
mirror at all.

where v is the total speed of the

particle
 Replacing B’ by Bm in above Eq. , we see that the
smallest θ of a confined particle is given by

where Rm is the mirror ratio. Equation defines the boundary of a region in

velocity space in the shape of a cone, called a loss cone.
Particles lying within the loss cone are not
confined. Consequently, a mirror-confined plasma
is never isotropic. Note that the loss cone is
independent of q or m. Without collisions, both
ions and electrons are equally well confined. When
collisions occur, particles are lost when they
change their pitch angle in a collision and are
scattered into the loss cone. Generally, electrons
are lost more easily because they have a higher
collision frequency. The magnetic mirror was first
Loss cone
proposed by Enrico Fermi as a mechanism for the
acceleration of cosmic rays.
 ADIABATIC INVARIANTS
It is well known in classical mechanics that whenever a system has a periodic
motion,
the action integral taken over a period is a constant of the motion.

Here p and q are the generalized momentum and coordinate which repeat themselves in the
motion. If a slow change is made in the system, so that the motion is not quite periodic, the
constant of the motion does not change and is then called an adiabatic invariant. By slow
here we mean slow compared with the period of

motion, so that the integral is well defined even though it is strictly no longer an
integral over a closed path.

Adiabatic invariants play an important role in plasma physics; they allow us to obtain simple
answers in many instances involving complicated motions. There are three adiabatic
invariants, each corresponding to a different type of periodic motion.
 The First Adiabatic Invariant, μ

We define the magnetic moment of the gyrating particle to be

We define the magnetic moment of the gyrating particle to be

and have proved its invariance in spatially varying B fields. The periodic motion involved, of
course, is the Larmor gyration. If we take p to be angular momentum mv⊥r and dq to be the
coordinate dθ, the action integral becomes
If we take p to be angular momentum mv⊥r and dq to be the coordinate dθ, the action
integral becomes

Thus μ is a constant of the motion as long as q/m is not changed. We have proved the
invariance of μ only with the implicit assumption ω/ωc << 1, where ω is a frequency
characterizing the rate of change of B as seen by the particle.
 The Longitudinal Adiabatic Invariant ( Second adiabatic invariant)

Consider a particle trapped between two magnetic mirrors and bouncing between them.
Suppose that the separation distance between the two mirrors changes very slowly in time
as compared to the bounce period. With the periodic motion of the particle between the
two magnetic mirrors (whose separation varies slowly in time) there is associated an
adiabatic invariant called the longitudinal adiabatic invariant, defined by the integral

taken over one period of oscillation of the particle back and forth between the mirror
points.

Schematic representation of a system of two coaxial magnetic mirrors approaching each other.
For a simple proof of the adiabatic in variance of J , consider the idealized situation illustrated
in below figure, where the existing B field in the z direction is uniform in space, except near
the points M1 and M2 , where the field increases to form the two mirrors separated by a
distance L.

Suppose that the mirror M1 approaches the other one with velocity

the negative sign being due to the fact that L decreases with time. It is assumed that
this velocity is much smaller than the longitudinal component of the particle velocity,
that is, vm « v|| . Thus, the distance moved by the mirror M1 during one period of
oscillation of the particle is small compared to the distance L between the mirrors.
 Further, since B is assumed to be uniform throughout the space between the mirrors (except
near the ends), the longitudinal particle speed v|| may be taken to be constant in the space
between the mirrors. Neglecting the small end effects at the two mirrors, we can take

The time rate of change of J is

where ∆v || denotes the change in the particle speed v|| on reflection from the moving mirror,
and ∆ t = (2L/v|| ) is the period of oscillation between the mirrors.
In order to find ∆v|| it is convenient to transform to a coordinate system moving with the
magnetic mirror M1, at the speed Vm. Let us denote this moving coordinate system by a prime
and the incident and reflected particle speeds by subscripts i and r, respectively.

which gives for the change in the particle speed, in one reflection
which shows that J is an adiabatic invariant. This quantity is also referred to as the second
adiabatic invariant. The parallel kinetic energy of a charged particle trapped between the two
mirrors is (taking J = 2v|| L)

which increases rapidly as L decreases. The Italian physicist Fermi suggested this process as
mechanism for the acceleration of charged particles in order to explain the origin of high
energy cosmic rays. Fermi proposed that two stellar clouds moving towards each other, and
having a magnetic field greater than in the space between them, may trap and accelerate the
cosmic charged particles.