16.55 | Fall 2014 | Graduate

Ionized Gases

Course Description

This course highlights the properties and behavior of low-temperature plasmas in relation to energy conversion, plasma propulsion, and gas lasers. The course includes material on the equilibrium (energy states, statistical mechanics, and relationship to thermodynamics) and kinetic theory of ionized gases (motion of …
This course highlights the properties and behavior of low-temperature plasmas in relation to energy conversion, plasma propulsion, and gas lasers. The course includes material on the equilibrium (energy states, statistical mechanics, and relationship to thermodynamics) and kinetic theory of ionized gases (motion of charged particles, distribution function, collisions, characteristic lengths and times, cross sections, and transport properties). In addition, the course discusses gas surface interactions (thermionic emission, sheaths, and probe theory) and radiation in plasmas and diagnostics.
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An artist's illustration of the Deep Space 1 spacecraft from behind that shows the blue plasma tail from the ion propulsion system that moves the craft toward a distant galaxy.
Artist’s conception of the New Millennium Deep Space 1 spacecraft. (Courtesy of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory of NASA. Image is in the public domain.)