Plasma: The Fourth State of Matter

Production of a Plasma.- Plasma Diagnostics.- Quasi Neutrality and Charge Separation.- Polarization of a Plasma.- Gas Discharges.- Plasma Thermodynamics.- Elementary Processes.- Plasmas and Radiation.- Equilibrium and the Stationary Ionization States.- Plasmas as Conducting Fluids.- Field Diffusion and Plasma Diffusion.- Applications of the Conducting-Fluid Model.- Toroidal Plasma Traps.- Electromagnetic Pumping and Plasma Acceleration.- Magnetohydrodynamic Flow.- The Two-Fluid Model.- Plasma Conductivity in a Magnetic Field.- Plasma as an Ensemble of Independent Particles.- Drift Motion.- Electric Drift.- Conservation of Magnetic Moment.- The Adiabatic Traps.- Drift in an Inhomogeneous Field.- Polarization Drift.- Rotating Plasmas.- The Magnetization Current.- The Quasi-hydrodynamic Approximation.- Hydromagnetic Plasma Instabilities.- Pinch Instability.- Stabilization by Frozen-in Magnetic Fields.- Interchange or Flute Instabilities.- Diffusion of Opposed Fields.- Oscillations and Waves in Plasmas.- Electrostatic Plasma Oscillations.- Electrostatic Oscillations with Ions.- Plasma Oscillations in a Magnetic Field.- Dispersion near the Cyclotron Frequency.- Oblique Waves and General Classification of Oscillations.- Propagation of Radio Waves through a Plasma.- Plasma Resonators and Waveguides.- Excitation and Damping of Oscillations.- Shock Waves in Plasmas.- Random Processes.- The Drunkard's Walk.- The Mean Free Path and the Collision Cross Section.- Collisions with Neutral Particles.- Coulomb Collisions.- The Establishment of Thermal Equilibrium.- Transport Processes in a Magnetic Field.- Ambipolar Diffusion.- A Recent Plasma Experiment.