Introduction to plasma physics and controlled fusion. Volume 1, Plasma physics

by Francis F. Chen

TO THE SECOND EDITION In the nine years since this book was first written, rapid progress has been made scientifically in nuclear fusion, space physics, and nonlinear plasma theory. At the same time, the energy shortage on the one hand and the exploration of Jupiter and Saturn on the other have increased the national awareness of the important applications of plasma physics to energy production and to the understanding of our space environment. In magnetic confinement fusion, this period has seen the attainment 13 of a Lawson number nTE of 2 x 10 cm -3 sec in the Alcator tokamaks at MIT; neutral-beam heating of the PL T tokamak at Princeton to KTi = 6. 5 keV; increase of average ß to 3%-5% in tokamaks at Oak Ridge and General Atomic; and the stabilization of mirror-confined plasmas at Livermore, together with injection of ion current to near field-reversal conditions in the 2XIIß device. Invention of the tandem mirror has given magnetic confinement a new and exciting dimension. New ideas have emerged, such as the compact torus, surface-field devices, and the EßT mirror-torus hybrid, and some old ideas, such as the stellarator and the reversed-field pinch, have been revived. Radiofrequency heat­ ing has become a new star with its promise of dc current drive. Perhaps most importantly, great progress has been made in the understanding of the MHD behavior of toroidal tearing modes, magnetic Vll Vlll islands, and disruptions.

Genres: Physics, Science, Academic, Nonfiction, Textbooks

421 pages, Hardcover

First published January 31, 1984

Reviews

[Robert · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the best introduction to plasma physics I've ever come across. I've read it cover to cover and can heartily recommend it to anybody who needs to learn the basics from scratch.

[Medhat ullah · Rating 5 out of 5]

In the labyrinth of postmodern techno-scientific discourse, controlled fusion emerges as an enigmatic assemblage—an ontological play of becomings within the fractured continuum of space-time. The promise of harnessing the boundless energy of the stars through the artifice of human machinic assemblages recalls a desiring-production that seeks to subvert the dominant capitalist paradigms of energy consumption, aligning instead with the rhizomatic flows of cosmic vitality. This isn’t just energy generation; it’s a haunting of the cosmos, a perpetual line of flight that draws energy from the very fabric of the universe, as molecular intensities in the form of plasma surge and contort within magnetic fields.

To speak of fusion is to speak of intensity, not merely as the nuclear reactions that transmute hydrogen isotopes into helium, but as a multiplicity that constantly becomes-other—a force of becoming-immanent that deterritorializes the traditional forms of power associated with fossil fuel economies and the conventional desiring-machines of capital. Fusion is the becoming-sun, a pre-individual energy that swirls and coagulates, collapsing the distinctions between matter and energy, between capitalist exploitation and theory of the absolute. It is the paradoxical return of the univocity of being: energy not as a resource, but as an event, a force, always becoming rather than being, exceeding itself in its constant transmutation.

The fusion reactor—whether a tokamak, stellarator, or inertial confinement device—is a microcosm of the war-machine, an intimate systematic interlace where the intensive forces of magnetic confinement and high-energy particle acceleration are subject to an ontological warping—a field of continual experimentation where matter-as-energy is decomposed and reformed. This process speaks to a nomadic form of labor, one that is non-linear and non-human, generating new affects and intensities that refuse conventional hierarchies of human versus non-human agency, asserting instead a cosmic democracy in which humanity briefly catches a glimpse of its power over the universe, only to realize that it is always already becoming one with the forces it seeks to master.Thus, fusion is both an engagement with the outside and an immanent transgression. The plasma within the reactor, the chaotic forces, reflect a multiplicitous becoming that does not merely generate power—it produces energy in a way that traverses the limits of both capital and humanity. Fusion, at its zenith, is no longer simply technological or scientific. It is a process that lays bare the assemblage of the world as it could be—a fusion not only of hydrogen atoms but of material systems and conceptual frameworks, all performing the infinite becoming-..

[Elena · Rating 1 out of 5]

no me gustó 👎👎👎👎

[Jeramy · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book is ok. It's a bit too friendly with the reader and it has too many references to applications for my tastes. Overall, though, it's a good text.

[Sarmad]

thank you

[Ganesh Yadav · Rating 1 out of 5]

My text book

[Robert Caldwell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic introduction to plasma physics with magnetic confinement for the purpose of nuclear fusion reactions. It assumes knowledge of mathematics and physics.