Plasma (physics)
Encyclopedia
In physics
and chemistry
, plasma is a state of matter
similar to gas
in which a certain portion of the particles are ion
ized. Heating a gas may ionize
its molecules or atoms (reduce or increase the number of electrons in them), thus turning it into a plasma, which contains charge
d particles: positive ions and negative electrons or ions. Ionization can be induced by other means, such as strong electromagnetic field applied with a laser
or microwave
generator, and is accompanied by the dissociation of molecular bonds, if present.
The presence of a non-negligible number of charge carrier
s makes the plasma electrically conductive so that it responds strongly to electromagnetic field
s. Plasma, therefore, has properties quite unlike those of solid
s, liquid
s, or gas
es and is considered a distinct state of matter
. Like gas, plasma does not have a definite shape or a definite volume unless enclosed in a container; unlike gas, under the influence of a magnetic field, it may form structures such as filaments, beams and double layer
. Some common plasmas are star
s and neon sign
s. In the universe
, plasma is the most common state of matter
for ordinary matter, most of which is in the rarefied intergalactic plasma (particularly intracluster medium
) and in stars.
in the universe, both by mass and by volume. All the star
s are made of plasma, and even the space between the stars is filled with a plasma, albeit a very sparse one. In our solar system, the planet Jupiter
accounts for most of the non-plasma, only about 0.1% of the mass and 10−15% of the volume within the orbit of Pluto
. Very small grains within a gaseous plasma will also pick up a net negative charge, so that they in turn may act like a very heavy negative ion component of the plasma (see dusty plasma
s).
). The following chart considers only conventional atomic plasmas and not exotic phenomena like quark gluon plasmas:
is necessary. The term "plasma density" by itself usually refers to the "electron density", that is, the number of free electrons per unit volume. The degree of ionization
of a plasma is the proportion of atoms that have lost (or gained) electrons, and is controlled mostly by the temperature. Even a partially ionized gas in which as little as 1% of the particles are ionized can have the characteristics of a plasma (i.e., response to magnetic fields and high electrical conductivity). The degree of ionization, α is defined as α = ni/(ni + na) where ni is the number density of ions and na is the number density of neutral atoms. The electron density is related to this by the average charge state of the ions through ne = ni where ne is the number density of electrons.
s or electronvolt
s and is, informally, a measure of the thermal kinetic energy per particle. Very high temperatures are usually needed to sustain ionization, which is a defining feature of a plasma. The degree of plasma ionization is determined by the "electron temperature" relative to the ionization energy
, (and more weakly by the density), in a relationship called the Saha equation. At low temperatures, ions and electrons tend to recombine into bound states—atoms, and the plasma will eventually become a gas.
In most cases the electrons are close enough to thermal equilibrium
that their temperature is relatively well-defined, even when there is a significant deviation from a Maxwellian energy distribution function
, for example, due to UV radiation, energetic particles, or strong electric fields. Because of the large difference in mass, the electrons come to thermodynamic equilibrium amongst themselves much faster than they come into equilibrium with the ions or neutral atoms. For this reason, the "ion temperature" may be very different from (usually lower than) the "electron temperature
". This is especially common in weakly ionized technological plasmas, where the ions are often near the ambient temperature.
Based on the relative temperatures of the electrons, ions and neutrals, plasmas are classified as "thermal" or "non-thermal". Thermal plasmas have electrons and the heavy particles at the same temperature, i.e., they are in thermal equilibrium with each other. Non-thermal plasmas on the other hand have the ions and neutrals at a much lower temperature (normally room temperature), whereas electrons are much "hotter".
A plasma is sometimes referred to as being "hot" if it is nearly fully ionized, or "cold" if only a small fraction (for example 1%) of the gas molecules are ionized, but other definitions of the terms "hot plasma" and "cold plasma" are common. Even in a "cold" plasma, the electron temperature is still typically several thousand degrees Celsius. Plasmas utilized in "plasma technology" ("technological plasmas") are usually cold in this sense.
The potential as it exists on average in the space between charged particles, independent of the question of how it can be measured, is called the "plasma potential", or the "space potential". If an electrode is inserted into a plasma, its potential will generally lie considerably below the plasma potential due to what is termed a Debye sheath
. The good electrical conductivity of plasmas makes their electric fields very small. This results in the important concept of "quasineutrality", which says the density of negative charges is approximately equal to the density of positive charges over large volumes of the plasma (ne =ni), but on the scale of the Debye length there can be charge imbalance. In the special case that double layers
are formed, the charge separation can extend some tens of Debye lengths.
The magnitude of the potentials and electric fields must be determined by means other than simply finding the net charge density
. A common example is to assume that the electrons satisfy the "Boltzmann relation
":.
Differentiating this relation provides a means to calculate the electric field from the density:.
It is possible to produce a plasma that is not quasineutral. An electron beam, for example, has only negative charges. The density of a non-neutral plasma must generally be very low, or it must be very small, otherwise it will be dissipated by the repulsive electrostatic force.
In astrophysical plasmas, Debye screening
prevents electric field
s from directly affecting the plasma over large distances, i.e., greater than the Debye length
. However, the existence of charged particles causes the plasma to generate and can be affected by magnetic field
s. This can and does cause extremely complex behavior, such as the generation of plasma double layers, an object that separates charge over a few tens of Debye length
s. The dynamics of plasmas interacting with external and self-generated magnetic field
s are studied in the academic discipline
of magnetohydrodynamics
.
, liquid
, and gas
. Although it is closely related to the gas phase in that it also has no definite form or volume, it differs in a number of ways, including the following:
. Such systems lie in some sense on the boundary between ordered and disordered behavior and cannot typically be described either by simple, smooth, mathematical functions, or by pure randomness. The spontaneous formation of interesting spatial features on a wide range of length scales is one manifestation of plasma complexity. The features are interesting, for example, because they are very sharp, spatially intermittent (the distance between features is much larger than the features themselves), or have a fractal
form. Many of these features were first studied in the laboratory, and have subsequently been recognized throughout the universe. Examples of complexity and complex structures in plasmas include:
, lightning
, electric arc
s, solar flares, and supernova remnant
s. They are sometimes associated with larger current densities, and the interaction with the magnetic field can form a magnetic rope structure. High power microwave breakdown at atmospheric pressure also leads to the formation of filamentary structures. (See also Plasma pinch)
Filamentation also refers to the self-focusing of a high power laser pulse. At high powers, the nonlinear part of the index of refraction becomes important and causes a higher index of refraction in the center of the laser beam, where the laser is brighter than at the edges, causing a feedback that focuses the laser even more. The tighter focused laser has a higher peak brightness (irradiance) that forms a plasma. The plasma has an index of refraction lower than one, and causes a defocusing of the laser beam. The interplay of the focusing index of refraction, and the defocusing plasma makes the formation of a long filament of plasma that can be micrometers to kilometers in length. (See also Filament propagation
)
s) across a two-dimensional sheet in the presence of a (moving) shock or (stationary) double layer
. Double layers involve localized charge separation, which causes a large potential difference across the layer, but does not generate an electric field outside the layer. Double layers separate adjacent plasma regions with different physical characteristics, and are often found in current carrying plasmas. They accelerate both ions and electrons.
and possess a resistance
and inductance
. These circuits must generally be treated as a strongly coupled system, with the behavior in each plasma region dependent on the entire circuit. It is this strong coupling between system elements, together with nonlinearity, which may lead to complex behavior. Electrical circuits in plasmas store inductive (magnetic) energy, and should the circuit be disrupted, for example, by a plasma instability, the inductive energy will be released as plasma heating and acceleration. This is a common explanation for the heating that takes place in the solar corona. Electric currents, and in particular, magnetic-field-aligned electric currents (which are sometimes generically referred to as "Birkeland current
s"), are also observed in the Earth's aurora, and in plasma filaments.
, heliosphere
, and heliospheric current sheet
. Hannes Alfvén wrote: "From the cosmological point of view, the most important new space research discovery is probably the cellular structure of space. As has been seen in every region of space accessible to in situ measurements, there are a number of 'cell walls', sheets of electric currents, which divide space into compartments with different magnetization, temperature, density, etc."
is the relative velocity between an ionized plasma and a neutral gas, above which a runaway ionization process takes place. The critical ionization process is a quite general mechanism for the conversion of the kinetic energy of a rapidly streaming gas into ionization and plasma thermal energy. Critical phenomena in general are typical of complex systems, and may lead to sharp spatial or temporal features.
(MOT) by trapping and cooling neutral atoms, to temperatures of 1 mK or lower, and then using another laser
to ionize the atoms by giving each of the outermost electrons just enough energy to escape the electrical attraction of its parent ion.
One advantage of ultracold plasmas are their well characterized and tunable initial conditions, including their size and electron temperature. By adjusting the wavelength of the ionizing laser, the kinetic energy of the liberated electrons can be tuned as low as 0.1 K, a limit set by the frequency bandwidth of the laser pulse. The ions inherit the millikelvin temperatures of the neutral atoms, but are quickly heated through a process known as disorder induced heating (DIH). This type of non-equilibrium ultracold plasma evolves rapidly, and displays many other interesting phenomena.
One of the metastable states of a strongly nonideal plasma is Rydberg matter
, which forms upon condensation of excited atoms.
s, an electron cloud in a Penning trap
and positron plasmas.
contains tiny charged particles of dust (typically found in space), which also behave like a plasma. A plasma that contains larger particles is called grain plasma.
To completely describe the state of a plasma, we would need to write down all the
particle locations and velocities and describe the electromagnetic field in the plasma region.
However, it is generally not practical or necessary to keep track of all the particles in a plasma.
Therefore, plasma physicists commonly use less detailed descriptions, of which
there are two main types:
). One simple fluid model, magnetohydrodynamics
, treats the plasma as a single fluid governed by a combination of Maxwell's equations
and the Navier–Stokes equations. A more general description is the two-fluid plasma picture, where the ions and electrons are described separately. Fluid models are often accurate when collisionality is sufficiently high to keep the plasma velocity distribution close to a Maxwell–Boltzmann distribution. Because fluid models usually describe the plasma in terms of a single flow at a certain temperature at each spatial location, they can neither capture velocity space structures like beams or double layer
s, nor resolve wave-particle effects.
(PIC) technique, includes kinetic information by following the trajectories of a large number of individual particles. Kinetic models are generally more computationally intensive than fluid models. The Vlasov equation
may be used to describe the dynamics of a system of charged particles interacting with an electromagnetic field.
In magnetized plasmas, a gyrokinetic
approach can substantially reduce the computational expense of a fully kinetic simulation.
is applied across a dielectric gas
or fluid (an electrically non-conducting
material) as can be seen in the image below, which shows a discharge tube as a simple example (DC
used for simplicity).
The potential difference and subsequent electric field
pull the bound electrons (negative) toward the anode
(positive electrode) while the cathode
(negative electrode) pulls the nucleus. As the voltage
increases, the current stresses the material (by electric polarization) beyond its dielectric limit
(termed strength) into a stage of electrical breakdown
, marked by an electric spark
, where the material transforms from being an insulator into a conductor
(as it becomes increasingly ionized). This is a stage of avalanching ionization, where collisions between electrons and neutral gas atoms create more ions and electrons (as can be seen in the figure on the right). The first impact of an electron on an atom results in one ion and two electrons. Therefore, the number of charged particles increases rapidly (in the millions) only “after about 20 successive sets of collisions”, mainly due to a small mean free path (average distance travelled between collisions).
With ample current density and ionization, this forms a luminous electric arc
(essentially lightning
) between the electrodes. Electrical resistance
along the continuous electric arc creates heat
, which ionizes more gas molecules (where degree of ionization is determined by temperature), and as per the sequence: solid
-liquid
-gas
-plasma, the gas is gradually turned into a thermal plasma. A thermal plasma is in thermal equilibrium
, which is to say that the temperature is relatively homogeneous throughout the heavy particles (i.e. atoms, molecules and ions) and electrons. This is so because when thermal plasmas are generated, electrical energy is given to electrons, which, due to their great mobility and large numbers, are able to disperse it rapidly and by elastic collision
(without energy loss) to the heavy particles.Note that non-thermal, or non-equilibrium plasmas are not as ionized and have lower energy densities, and thus the temperature is not dispersed evenly among the particles, where some heavy ones remain ‘cold’.
, surface treatments such as thermal spraying
(coating), etching
in microelectronics, metal cutting and welding
; as well as in everyday vehicle exhaust cleanup and fluorescent
/luminescent
lamps, while even playing a part in supersonic combustion engines
for aerospace engineering
.
, and so described by Sir William Crookes in 1879 (he called it "radiant matter"). The nature of the Crookes tube "cathode ray
" matter was subsequently identified by British physicist Sir J.J. Thomson
in 1897. The term "plasma" was coined by Irving Langmuir
in 1928, perhaps because the glowing discharge molds itself to the shape of the Crooks tube (Gr.
πλάσμα – "to mold"). Langmuir described his observations as:
Physics
Physics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...
and chemistry
Chemistry
Chemistry is the science of matter, especially its chemical reactions, but also its composition, structure and properties. Chemistry is concerned with atoms and their interactions with other atoms, and particularly with the properties of chemical bonds....
, plasma is a state of matter
State of matter
States of matter are the distinct forms that different phases of matter take on. Solid, liquid and gas are the most common states of matter on Earth. However, much of the baryonic matter of the universe is in the form of hot plasma, both as rarefied interstellar medium and as dense...
similar to gas
Gas
Gas is one of the three classical states of matter . Near absolute zero, a substance exists as a solid. As heat is added to this substance it melts into a liquid at its melting point , boils into a gas at its boiling point, and if heated high enough would enter a plasma state in which the electrons...
in which a certain portion of the particles are ion
Ion
An ion is an atom or molecule in which the total number of electrons is not equal to the total number of protons, giving it a net positive or negative electrical charge. The name was given by physicist Michael Faraday for the substances that allow a current to pass between electrodes in a...
ized. Heating a gas may ionize
Ionization
Ionization is the process of converting an atom or molecule into an ion by adding or removing charged particles such as electrons or other ions. This is often confused with dissociation. A substance may dissociate without necessarily producing ions. As an example, the molecules of table sugar...
its molecules or atoms (reduce or increase the number of electrons in them), thus turning it into a plasma, which contains charge
Charge (physics)
In physics, a charge may refer to one of many different quantities, such as the electric charge in electromagnetism or the color charge in quantum chromodynamics. Charges are associated with conserved quantum numbers.-Formal definition:...
d particles: positive ions and negative electrons or ions. Ionization can be induced by other means, such as strong electromagnetic field applied with a laser
Laser
A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of photons. The term "laser" originated as an acronym for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation...
or microwave
Microwave
Microwaves, a subset of radio waves, have wavelengths ranging from as long as one meter to as short as one millimeter, or equivalently, with frequencies between 300 MHz and 300 GHz. This broad definition includes both UHF and EHF , and various sources use different boundaries...
generator, and is accompanied by the dissociation of molecular bonds, if present.
The presence of a non-negligible number of charge carrier
Charge carrier
In physics, a charge carrier is a free particle carrying an electric charge, especially the particles that carry electric currents in electrical conductors. Examples are electrons and ions...
s makes the plasma electrically conductive so that it responds strongly to electromagnetic field
Electromagnetic field
An electromagnetic field is a physical field produced by moving electrically charged objects. It affects the behavior of charged objects in the vicinity of the field. The electromagnetic field extends indefinitely throughout space and describes the electromagnetic interaction...
s. Plasma, therefore, has properties quite unlike those of solid
Solid
Solid is one of the three classical states of matter . It is characterized by structural rigidity and resistance to changes of shape or volume. Unlike a liquid, a solid object does not flow to take on the shape of its container, nor does it expand to fill the entire volume available to it like a...
s, liquid
Liquid
Liquid is one of the three classical states of matter . Like a gas, a liquid is able to flow and take the shape of a container. Some liquids resist compression, while others can be compressed. Unlike a gas, a liquid does not disperse to fill every space of a container, and maintains a fairly...
s, or gas
Gas
Gas is one of the three classical states of matter . Near absolute zero, a substance exists as a solid. As heat is added to this substance it melts into a liquid at its melting point , boils into a gas at its boiling point, and if heated high enough would enter a plasma state in which the electrons...
es and is considered a distinct state of matter
State of matter
States of matter are the distinct forms that different phases of matter take on. Solid, liquid and gas are the most common states of matter on Earth. However, much of the baryonic matter of the universe is in the form of hot plasma, both as rarefied interstellar medium and as dense...
. Like gas, plasma does not have a definite shape or a definite volume unless enclosed in a container; unlike gas, under the influence of a magnetic field, it may form structures such as filaments, beams and double layer
Double layer (plasma)
A double layer is a structure in a plasma and consists of two parallel layers with opposite electrical charge. The sheets of charge cause a strong electric field and a correspondingly sharp change in voltage across the double layer. Ions and electrons which enter the double layer are accelerated,...
. Some common plasmas are star
Star
A star is a massive, luminous sphere of plasma held together by gravity. At the end of its lifetime, a star can also contain a proportion of degenerate matter. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun, which is the source of most of the energy on Earth...
s and neon sign
Neon sign
Neon signs are made using electrified, luminous tube lights that contain rarefied neon or other gases. They are the most common use for neon lighting, which was first demonstrated in a modern form in December, 1910 by Georges Claude at the Paris Motor Show. While they are used worldwide, neon signs...
s. In the universe
Universe
The Universe is commonly defined as the totality of everything that exists, including all matter and energy, the planets, stars, galaxies, and the contents of intergalactic space. Definitions and usage vary and similar terms include the cosmos, the world and nature...
, plasma is the most common state of matter
State of matter
States of matter are the distinct forms that different phases of matter take on. Solid, liquid and gas are the most common states of matter on Earth. However, much of the baryonic matter of the universe is in the form of hot plasma, both as rarefied interstellar medium and as dense...
for ordinary matter, most of which is in the rarefied intergalactic plasma (particularly intracluster medium
Intracluster medium
In astronomy, the intracluster medium is the superheated plasma present at the center of a galaxy cluster. This is gas heated to temperatures of between roughly 10 and 100 megakelvins and consisting mainly of ionised hydrogen and helium, containing most of the baryonic material in the cluster...
) and in stars.
Common plasmas
Plasmas are by far the most common phase of matterPhase (matter)
In the physical sciences, a phase is a region of space , throughout which all physical properties of a material are essentially uniform. Examples of physical properties include density, index of refraction, and chemical composition...
in the universe, both by mass and by volume. All the star
Star
A star is a massive, luminous sphere of plasma held together by gravity. At the end of its lifetime, a star can also contain a proportion of degenerate matter. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun, which is the source of most of the energy on Earth...
s are made of plasma, and even the space between the stars is filled with a plasma, albeit a very sparse one. In our solar system, the planet Jupiter
Jupiter
Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest planet within the Solar System. It is a gas giant with mass one-thousandth that of the Sun but is two and a half times the mass of all the other planets in our Solar System combined. Jupiter is classified as a gas giant along with Saturn,...
accounts for most of the non-plasma, only about 0.1% of the mass and 10−15% of the volume within the orbit of Pluto
Pluto
Pluto, formal designation 134340 Pluto, is the second-most-massive known dwarf planet in the Solar System and the tenth-most-massive body observed directly orbiting the Sun...
. Very small grains within a gaseous plasma will also pick up a net negative charge, so that they in turn may act like a very heavy negative ion component of the plasma (see dusty plasma
Dusty plasma
A dusty plasma is a plasma containing nanometer or micrometer-sized particles suspended in it. Dust particles may be charged and the plasma and particles behave as a plasma, following electromagnetic laws for particles up to about 10 nm...
s).
Artificially produced | Terrestrial Earth Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets... plasmas |
Space and Astrophysical Astrophysics Astrophysics is the branch of astronomy that deals with the physics of the universe, including the physical properties of celestial objects, as well as their interactions and behavior... plasmas |
---|---|---|
|
Lightning Lightning is an atmospheric electrostatic discharge accompanied by thunder, which typically occurs during thunderstorms, and sometimes during volcanic eruptions or dust storms... Ball lightning Ball lightning is an unexplained atmospheric electrical phenomenon. The term refers to reports of luminous, usually spherical objects which vary from pea-sized to several metres in diameter. It is usually associated with thunderstorms, but lasts considerably longer than the split-second flash of a... St. Elmo's fire St. Elmo's fire is a weather phenomenon in which luminous plasma is created by a coronal discharge from a grounded object in an electric field in the atmosphere St. Elmo's fire is named after St. Erasmus of Formiae St. Elmo's fire (also St. Elmo's light) is a weather phenomenon in which luminous... Upper-atmospheric lightning Upper-atmospheric lightning or upper-atmospheric discharge are terms sometimes used by researchers to refer to a family of short-lived electrical-breakdown phenomena that occur well above the altitudes of normal lightning and storm clouds. Upper-atmospheric lightning is believed to be electrically... Ionosphere The ionosphere is a part of the upper atmosphere, comprising portions of the mesosphere, thermosphere and exosphere, distinguished because it is ionized by solar radiation. It plays an important part in atmospheric electricity and forms the inner edge of the magnetosphere... Aurora (astronomy) An aurora is a natural light display in the sky particularly in the high latitude regions, caused by the collision of energetic charged particles with atoms in the high altitude atmosphere... Flame A flame is the visible , gaseous part of a fire. It is caused by a highly exothermic reaction taking place in a thin zone... s |
Sun The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is almost perfectly spherical and consists of hot plasma interwoven with magnetic fields... and other star Star A star is a massive, luminous sphere of plasma held together by gravity. At the end of its lifetime, a star can also contain a proportion of degenerate matter. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun, which is the source of most of the energy on Earth... s (plasmas heated by nuclear fusion Nuclear fusion Nuclear fusion is the process by which two or more atomic nuclei join together, or "fuse", to form a single heavier nucleus. This is usually accompanied by the release or absorption of large quantities of energy... ) Solar wind The solar wind is a stream of charged particles ejected from the upper atmosphere of the Sun. It mostly consists of electrons and protons with energies usually between 1.5 and 10 keV. The stream of particles varies in temperature and speed over time... Interplanetary medium The interplanetary medium is the material which fills the solar system and through which all the larger solar system bodies such as planets, asteroids and comets move.-Composition and physical characteristics:... (space between planets) Interstellar medium In astronomy, the interstellar medium is the matter that exists in the space between the star systems in a galaxy. This matter includes gas in ionic, atomic, and molecular form, dust, and cosmic rays. It fills interstellar space and blends smoothly into the surrounding intergalactic space... (space between star systems) (space between galaxies) Io (moon) Io ) is the innermost of the four Galilean moons of the planet Jupiter and, with a diameter of , the fourth-largest moon in the Solar System. It was named after the mythological character of Io, a priestess of Hera who became one of the lovers of Zeus.... -Jupiter Jupiter Jupiter is the fifth planet from the Sun and the largest planet within the Solar System. It is a gas giant with mass one-thousandth that of the Sun but is two and a half times the mass of all the other planets in our Solar System combined. Jupiter is classified as a gas giant along with Saturn,... flux tube Flux tube A flux tube is a generally tube-like region of space containing a magnetic field, such that the field at the side surfaces is parallel to those surfaces... Accretion disc An accretion disc is a structure formed by diffuse material in orbital motion around a central body. The central body is typically a star. Gravity causes material in the disc to spiral inward towards the central body. Gravitational forces compress the material causing the emission of... s Nebula A nebula is an interstellar cloud of dust, hydrogen gas, helium gas and other ionized gases... e |
Plasma properties and parameters
Definition of a plasma
Plasma is loosely described as an electrically neutral medium of positive and negative particles (i.e. the overall charge of a plasma is roughly zero). It is important to note that although they are unbound, these particles are not ‘free’. When the charges move they generate electrical currents with magnetic fields, and as a result, they are affected by each other’s fields. This governs their collective behavior with many degrees of freedom. A definition can have three criteria:- The plasma approximation: Charged particles must be close enough together that each particle influences many nearby charged particles, rather than just interacting with the closest particle (these collective effects are a distinguishing feature of a plasma). The plasma approximation is valid when the number of charge carriers within the sphere of influence (called the Debye sphere whose radius is the Debye screening lengthDebye lengthIn plasma physics, the Debye length , named after the Dutch physicist and physical chemist Peter Debye, is the scale over which mobile charge carriers screen out electric fields in plasmas and other conductors. In other words, the Debye length is the distance over which significant charge...
) of a particular particle is higher than unity to provide collective behavior of the charged particles. The average number of particles in the Debye sphere is given by the plasma parameterPlasma parameterThe plasma parameter is a dimensionless number, denoted by capital Lambda, Λ. The plasma parameter is usually interpreted to be the argument of the Coulomb logarithm, which is the ratio of the maximum impact parameter to the classical distance of closest approach in Coulomb scattering...
, "Λ" (the GreekGreek alphabetThe Greek alphabet is the script that has been used to write the Greek language since at least 730 BC . The alphabet in its classical and modern form consists of 24 letters ordered in sequence from alpha to omega...
letter LambdaLambdaLambda is the 11th letter of the Greek alphabet. In the system of Greek numerals lambda has a value of 30. Lambda is related to the Phoenician letter Lamed . Letters in other alphabets that stemmed from lambda include the Roman L and the Cyrillic letter El...
). - Bulk interactions: 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. When this criterion is satisfied, the plasma is quasineutral.
- Plasma frequency: The electron plasma frequency (measuring plasma oscillationPlasma oscillationPlasma oscillations, also known as "Langmuir waves" , are rapid oscillations of the electron density in conducting media such as plasmas or metals. The oscillations can be described as an instability in the dielectric function of a free electron gas. The frequency only depends weakly on the...
s of the electrons) is large compared to the electron-neutral collision frequency (measuring frequency of collisions between electrons and neutral particles). When this condition is valid, electrostatic interactions dominate over the processes of ordinary gas kinetics.
Ranges of plasma parameters
Plasma parameters can take on values varying by many orders of magnitude, but the properties of plasmas with apparently disparate parameters may be very similar (see plasma scalingPlasma scaling
The parameters of plasmas, including their spatial and temporal extent, vary by many orders of magnitude. Nevertheless, there are significant similarities in the behaviors of apparently disparate plasmas. Understanding the scaling of plasma behavior is of more than theoretical value...
). The following chart considers only conventional atomic plasmas and not exotic phenomena like quark gluon plasmas:
Characteristic | Terrestrial plasmas | Cosmic plasmas |
---|---|---|
Size in meters |
10−6 m (lab plasmas) to 102 m (lightning) (~8 OOM Order of magnitude An order of magnitude is the class of scale or magnitude of any amount, where each class contains values of a fixed ratio to the class preceding it. In its most common usage, the amount being scaled is 10 and the scale is the exponent being applied to this amount... ) |
10−6 m (spacecraft sheath) to 1025 m (intergalactic nebula) (~31 OOM) |
Lifetime in seconds |
10−12 s (laser-produced plasma) to 107 s (fluorescent lights) (~19 OOM) |
101 s (solar flares) to 1017 s (intergalactic plasma) (~16 OOM) |
Density in particles per cubic meter |
107 m−3 to 1032 m−3 (inertial confinement plasma) |
1 m−3 (intergalactic medium) to 1030 m−3 (stellar core) |
Temperature in kelvins |
~0 K (crystalline non-neutral plasma) to 108 K (magnetic fusion plasma) |
102 K (aurora) to 107 K (solar core) |
Magnetic fields in teslas |
10−4 T (lab plasma) to 103 T (pulsed-power plasma) |
10−12 T (intergalactic medium) to 1011 T (near neutron stars) |
Degree of ionization
For plasma to exist, ionizationIonization
Ionization is the process of converting an atom or molecule into an ion by adding or removing charged particles such as electrons or other ions. This is often confused with dissociation. A substance may dissociate without necessarily producing ions. As an example, the molecules of table sugar...
is necessary. The term "plasma density" by itself usually refers to the "electron density", that is, the number of free electrons per unit volume. The degree of ionization
Degree of ionization
The degree of ionization refers to the proportion of neutral particles, such as those in a gas or aqueous solution, that are ionized into charged particles...
of a plasma is the proportion of atoms that have lost (or gained) electrons, and is controlled mostly by the temperature. Even a partially ionized gas in which as little as 1% of the particles are ionized can have the characteristics of a plasma (i.e., response to magnetic fields and high electrical conductivity). The degree of ionization, α is defined as α = ni/(ni + na) where ni is the number density of ions and na is the number density of neutral atoms. The electron density is related to this by the average charge state
Temperatures
Plasma temperature is commonly measured in kelvinKelvin
The kelvin is a unit of measurement for temperature. It is one of the seven base units in the International System of Units and is assigned the unit symbol K. The Kelvin scale is an absolute, thermodynamic temperature scale using as its null point absolute zero, the temperature at which all...
s or electronvolt
Electronvolt
In physics, the electron volt is a unit of energy equal to approximately joule . By definition, it is equal to the amount of kinetic energy gained by a single unbound electron when it accelerates through an electric potential difference of one volt...
s and is, informally, a measure of the thermal kinetic energy per particle. Very high temperatures are usually needed to sustain ionization, which is a defining feature of a plasma. The degree of plasma ionization is determined by the "electron temperature" relative to the ionization energy
Ionization energy
The ionization energy of a chemical species, i.e. an atom or molecule, is the energy required to remove an electron from the species to a practically infinite distance. Large atoms or molecules have a low ionization energy, while small molecules tend to have higher ionization energies.The property...
, (and more weakly by the density), in a relationship called the Saha equation. At low temperatures, ions and electrons tend to recombine into bound states—atoms, and the plasma will eventually become a gas.
In most cases the electrons are close enough to thermal equilibrium
Thermal equilibrium
Thermal equilibrium is a theoretical physical concept, used especially in theoretical texts, that means that all temperatures of interest are unchanging in time and uniform in space...
that their temperature is relatively well-defined, even when there is a significant deviation from a Maxwellian energy distribution function
Distribution function
In molecular kinetic theory in physics, a particle's distribution function is a function of seven variables, f, which gives the number of particles per unit volume in phase space. It is the number of particles per unit volume having approximately the velocity near the place and time...
, for example, due to UV radiation, energetic particles, or strong electric fields. Because of the large difference in mass, the electrons come to thermodynamic equilibrium amongst themselves much faster than they come into equilibrium with the ions or neutral atoms. For this reason, the "ion temperature" may be very different from (usually lower than) the "electron temperature
Electron temperature
If the velocities of a group of electrons, e.g., in a plasma, follow a Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution, then the electron temperature is well-defined as the temperature of that distribution...
". This is especially common in weakly ionized technological plasmas, where the ions are often near the ambient temperature.
Based on the relative temperatures of the electrons, ions and neutrals, plasmas are classified as "thermal" or "non-thermal". Thermal plasmas have electrons and the heavy particles at the same temperature, i.e., they are in thermal equilibrium with each other. Non-thermal plasmas on the other hand have the ions and neutrals at a much lower temperature (normally room temperature), whereas electrons are much "hotter".
A plasma is sometimes referred to as being "hot" if it is nearly fully ionized, or "cold" if only a small fraction (for example 1%) of the gas molecules are ionized, but other definitions of the terms "hot plasma" and "cold plasma" are common. Even in a "cold" plasma, the electron temperature is still typically several thousand degrees Celsius. Plasmas utilized in "plasma technology" ("technological plasmas") are usually cold in this sense.
Potentials
Since plasmas are very good conductors, electric potentials play an important role.The potential as it exists on average in the space between charged particles, independent of the question of how it can be measured, is called the "plasma potential", or the "space potential". If an electrode is inserted into a plasma, its potential will generally lie considerably below the plasma potential due to what is termed a Debye sheath
Debye sheath
The Debye sheath is a layer in a plasma which has a greater density of positive ions, and hence an overall excess positive charge, that balances an opposite negative charge on the surface of a material with which it is in contact...
. The good electrical conductivity of plasmas makes their electric fields very small. This results in the important concept of "quasineutrality", which says the density of negative charges is approximately equal to the density of positive charges over large volumes of the plasma (ne =
Double layer (plasma)
A double layer is a structure in a plasma and consists of two parallel layers with opposite electrical charge. The sheets of charge cause a strong electric field and a correspondingly sharp change in voltage across the double layer. Ions and electrons which enter the double layer are accelerated,...
are formed, the charge separation can extend some tens of Debye lengths.
The magnitude of the potentials and electric fields must be determined by means other than simply finding the net charge density
Charge density
The linear, surface, or volume charge density is the amount of electric charge in a line, surface, or volume, respectively. It is measured in coulombs per meter , square meter , or cubic meter , respectively, and represented by the lowercase Greek letter Rho . Since there are positive as well as...
. A common example is to assume that the electrons satisfy the "Boltzmann relation
Boltzmann relation
In a plasma, the Boltzmann relation describes the number density of an isothermal charged particle fluid when the thermal and the electrostatic forces acting on the fluid have reached equilibrium...
":.
Differentiating this relation provides a means to calculate the electric field from the density:.
It is possible to produce a plasma that is not quasineutral. An electron beam, for example, has only negative charges. The density of a non-neutral plasma must generally be very low, or it must be very small, otherwise it will be dissipated by the repulsive electrostatic force.
In astrophysical plasmas, Debye screening
Electric field screening
Screening is the damping of electric fields caused by the presence of mobile charge carriers. It is an important part of the behavior of charge-carrying fluids, such as ionized gases and conduction electrons in semiconductors and metals....
prevents electric field
Electric field
In physics, an electric field surrounds electrically charged particles and time-varying magnetic fields. The electric field depicts the force exerted on other electrically charged objects by the electrically charged particle the field is surrounding...
s from directly affecting the plasma over large distances, i.e., greater than the Debye length
Debye length
In plasma physics, the Debye length , named after the Dutch physicist and physical chemist Peter Debye, is the scale over which mobile charge carriers screen out electric fields in plasmas and other conductors. In other words, the Debye length is the distance over which significant charge...
. However, the existence of charged particles causes the plasma to generate and can be affected by magnetic field
Magnetic field
A magnetic field is a mathematical description of the magnetic influence of electric currents and magnetic materials. The magnetic field at any given point is specified by both a direction and a magnitude ; as such it is a vector field.Technically, a magnetic field is a pseudo vector;...
s. This can and does cause extremely complex behavior, such as the generation of plasma double layers, an object that separates charge over a few tens of Debye length
Debye length
In plasma physics, the Debye length , named after the Dutch physicist and physical chemist Peter Debye, is the scale over which mobile charge carriers screen out electric fields in plasmas and other conductors. In other words, the Debye length is the distance over which significant charge...
s. The dynamics of plasmas interacting with external and self-generated magnetic field
Magnetic field
A magnetic field is a mathematical description of the magnetic influence of electric currents and magnetic materials. The magnetic field at any given point is specified by both a direction and a magnitude ; as such it is a vector field.Technically, a magnetic field is a pseudo vector;...
s are studied in the academic discipline
Academic discipline
An academic discipline, or field of study, is a branch of knowledge that is taught and researched at the college or university level. Disciplines are defined , and recognized by the academic journals in which research is published, and the learned societies and academic departments or faculties to...
of magnetohydrodynamics
Magnetohydrodynamics
Magnetohydrodynamics is an academic discipline which studies the dynamics of electrically conducting fluids. Examples of such fluids include plasmas, liquid metals, and salt water or electrolytes...
.
Magnetization
Plasma with a magnetic field strong enough to influence the motion of the charged particles is said to be magnetized. A common quantitative criterion is that a particle on average completes at least one gyration around the magnetic field before making a collision, i.e., ωce/νcoll > 1, where ωce is the "electron gyrofrequency" and νcoll is the "electron collision rate". It is often the case that the electrons are magnetized while the ions are not. Magnetized plasmas are anisotropic, meaning that their properties in the direction parallel to the magnetic field are different from those perpendicular to it. While electric fields in plasmas are usually small due to the high conductivity, the electric field associated with a plasma moving in a magnetic field is given by E = −v × B (where E is the electric field, v is the velocity, and B is the magnetic field), and is not affected by Debye shielding.Comparison of plasma and gas phases
Plasma is often called the fourth state of matter. It is distinct from other lower-energy states of matter; most commonly solidSolid
Solid is one of the three classical states of matter . It is characterized by structural rigidity and resistance to changes of shape or volume. Unlike a liquid, a solid object does not flow to take on the shape of its container, nor does it expand to fill the entire volume available to it like a...
, liquid
Liquid
Liquid is one of the three classical states of matter . Like a gas, a liquid is able to flow and take the shape of a container. Some liquids resist compression, while others can be compressed. Unlike a gas, a liquid does not disperse to fill every space of a container, and maintains a fairly...
, and gas
Gas
Gas is one of the three classical states of matter . Near absolute zero, a substance exists as a solid. As heat is added to this substance it melts into a liquid at its melting point , boils into a gas at its boiling point, and if heated high enough would enter a plasma state in which the electrons...
. Although it is closely related to the gas phase in that it also has no definite form or volume, it differs in a number of ways, including the following:
Property | Gas | Plasma |
---|---|---|
Electrical conductivity Electrical resistivity and conductivity Electrical resistivity is a measure of how strongly a material opposes the flow of electric current. A low resistivity indicates a material that readily allows the movement of electric charge. The SI unit of electrical resistivity is the ohm metre... |
Very low: Air is an excellent insulator until it breaks down into plasma at electric field strengths above 30 kilovolts per centimeter. | Usually very high: For many purposes, the conductivity of a plasma may be treated as infinite. |
Independently acting species | One: All gas particles behave in a similar way, influenced by gravity and by collision Collision A collision is an isolated event which two or more moving bodies exert forces on each other for a relatively short time.Although the most common colloquial use of the word "collision" refers to accidents in which two or more objects collide, the scientific use of the word "collision" implies... s with one another. |
Two or three: Electron Electron The electron is a subatomic particle with a negative elementary electric charge. It has no known components or substructure; in other words, it is generally thought to be an elementary particle. An electron has a mass that is approximately 1/1836 that of the proton... s, ion Ion An ion is an atom or molecule in which the total number of electrons is not equal to the total number of protons, giving it a net positive or negative electrical charge. The name was given by physicist Michael Faraday for the substances that allow a current to pass between electrodes in a... s, proton Proton The proton is a subatomic particle with the symbol or and a positive electric charge of 1 elementary charge. One or more protons are present in the nucleus of each atom, along with neutrons. The number of protons in each atom is its atomic number.... s and neutron Neutron The neutron is a subatomic hadron particle which has the symbol or , no net electric charge and a mass slightly larger than that of a proton. With the exception of hydrogen, nuclei of atoms consist of protons and neutrons, which are therefore collectively referred to as nucleons. The number of... s can be distinguished by the sign and value of their charge Electric charge Electric charge is a physical property of matter that causes it to experience a force when near other electrically charged matter. Electric charge comes in two types, called positive and negative. Two positively charged substances, or objects, experience a mutual repulsive force, as do two... so that they behave independently in many circumstances, with different bulk velocities and temperatures, allowing phenomena such as new types of waves and instabilities Instability In numerous fields of study, the component of instability within a system is generally characterized by some of the outputs or internal states growing without bounds... . |
Velocity distribution | Maxwellian: Collisions usually lead to a Maxwellian velocity distribution of all gas particles, with very few relatively fast particles. | Often non-Maxwellian: Collisional interactions are often weak in hot plasmas and external forcing can drive the plasma far from local equilibrium and lead to a significant population of unusually fast particles. |
Interactions | Binary: Two-particle collisions are the rule, three-body collisions extremely rare. | Collective: Waves, or organized motion of plasma, are very important because the particles can interact at long ranges through the electric and magnetic forces. |
Complex plasma phenomena
Although the underlying equations governing plasmas are relatively simple, plasma behavior is extraordinarily varied and subtle: the emergence of unexpected behavior from a simple model is a typical feature of a complex systemComplex system
A complex system is a system composed of interconnected parts that as a whole exhibit one or more properties not obvious from the properties of the individual parts....
. Such systems lie in some sense on the boundary between ordered and disordered behavior and cannot typically be described either by simple, smooth, mathematical functions, or by pure randomness. The spontaneous formation of interesting spatial features on a wide range of length scales is one manifestation of plasma complexity. The features are interesting, for example, because they are very sharp, spatially intermittent (the distance between features is much larger than the features themselves), or have a fractal
Fractal
A fractal has been defined as "a rough or fragmented geometric shape that can be split into parts, each of which is a reduced-size copy of the whole," a property called self-similarity...
form. Many of these features were first studied in the laboratory, and have subsequently been recognized throughout the universe. Examples of complexity and complex structures in plasmas include:
Filamentation
Striations or string-like structures are seen in many plasmas, like the plasma ball, the auroraAurora (astronomy)
An aurora is a natural light display in the sky particularly in the high latitude regions, caused by the collision of energetic charged particles with atoms in the high altitude atmosphere...
, lightning
Lightning
Lightning is an atmospheric electrostatic discharge accompanied by thunder, which typically occurs during thunderstorms, and sometimes during volcanic eruptions or dust storms...
, electric arc
Electric arc
An electric arc is an electrical breakdown of a gas which produces an ongoing plasma discharge, resulting from a current flowing through normally nonconductive media such as air. A synonym is arc discharge. An arc discharge is characterized by a lower voltage than a glow discharge, and relies on...
s, solar flares, and supernova remnant
Supernova remnant
A supernova remnant is the structure resulting from the explosion of a star in a supernova. The supernova remnant is bounded by an expanding shock wave, and consists of ejected material expanding from the explosion, and the interstellar material it sweeps up and shocks along the way.There are two...
s. They are sometimes associated with larger current densities, and the interaction with the magnetic field can form a magnetic rope structure. High power microwave breakdown at atmospheric pressure also leads to the formation of filamentary structures. (See also Plasma pinch)
Filamentation also refers to the self-focusing of a high power laser pulse. At high powers, the nonlinear part of the index of refraction becomes important and causes a higher index of refraction in the center of the laser beam, where the laser is brighter than at the edges, causing a feedback that focuses the laser even more. The tighter focused laser has a higher peak brightness (irradiance) that forms a plasma. The plasma has an index of refraction lower than one, and causes a defocusing of the laser beam. The interplay of the focusing index of refraction, and the defocusing plasma makes the formation of a long filament of plasma that can be micrometers to kilometers in length. (See also Filament propagation
Filament propagation
In nonlinear optics, filament propagation is propagation of a beam of light through a medium without diffraction. This is possible because the Kerr effect causes an index of refraction change in the medium, resulting in self-focusing of the beam....
)
Shocks or double layers
Plasma properties change rapidly (within a few Debye lengthDebye length
In plasma physics, the Debye length , named after the Dutch physicist and physical chemist Peter Debye, is the scale over which mobile charge carriers screen out electric fields in plasmas and other conductors. In other words, the Debye length is the distance over which significant charge...
s) across a two-dimensional sheet in the presence of a (moving) shock or (stationary) double layer
Double layer (plasma)
A double layer is a structure in a plasma and consists of two parallel layers with opposite electrical charge. The sheets of charge cause a strong electric field and a correspondingly sharp change in voltage across the double layer. Ions and electrons which enter the double layer are accelerated,...
. Double layers involve localized charge separation, which causes a large potential difference across the layer, but does not generate an electric field outside the layer. Double layers separate adjacent plasma regions with different physical characteristics, and are often found in current carrying plasmas. They accelerate both ions and electrons.
Electric fields and circuits
Quasineutrality of a plasma requires that plasma currents close on themselves in electric circuits. Such circuits follow Kirchhoff's circuit lawsKirchhoff's circuit laws
Kirchhoff's circuit laws are two equalities that deal with the conservation of charge and energy in electrical circuits, and were first described in 1845 by Gustav Kirchhoff...
and possess a resistance
Electrical resistance
The electrical resistance of an electrical element is the opposition to the passage of an electric current through that element; the inverse quantity is electrical conductance, the ease at which an electric current passes. Electrical resistance shares some conceptual parallels with the mechanical...
and inductance
Inductance
In electromagnetism and electronics, inductance is the ability of an inductor to store energy in a magnetic field. Inductors generate an opposing voltage proportional to the rate of change in current in a circuit...
. These circuits must generally be treated as a strongly coupled system, with the behavior in each plasma region dependent on the entire circuit. It is this strong coupling between system elements, together with nonlinearity, which may lead to complex behavior. Electrical circuits in plasmas store inductive (magnetic) energy, and should the circuit be disrupted, for example, by a plasma instability, the inductive energy will be released as plasma heating and acceleration. This is a common explanation for the heating that takes place in the solar corona. Electric currents, and in particular, magnetic-field-aligned electric currents (which are sometimes generically referred to as "Birkeland current
Birkeland current
A Birkeland current is a set of currents which flow along geomagnetic field line connecting the Earth’s magnetosphere to the Earth's high latitude ionosphere. They are a specific class of magnetic field-aligned currents. Lately, the term Birkeland currents has been expanded by some authors to...
s"), are also observed in the Earth's aurora, and in plasma filaments.
Cellular structure
Narrow sheets with sharp gradients may separate regions with different properties such as magnetization, density and temperature, resulting in cell-like regions. Examples include the magnetosphereMagnetosphere
A magnetosphere is formed when a stream of charged particles, such as the solar wind, interacts with and is deflected by the intrinsic magnetic field of a planet or similar body. Earth is surrounded by a magnetosphere, as are the other planets with intrinsic magnetic fields: Mercury, Jupiter,...
, heliosphere
Heliosphere
The heliosphere is a bubble in space "blown" into the interstellar medium by the solar wind. Although electrically neutral atoms from interstellar volume can penetrate this bubble, virtually all of the material in the heliosphere emanates from the Sun itself...
, and heliospheric current sheet
Heliospheric current sheet
The heliospheric current sheet is the surface within the Solar System where the polarity of the Sun's magnetic field changes from north to south. This field extends throughout the Sun's equatorial plane in the heliosphere. The shape of the current sheet results from the influence of the Sun's...
. Hannes Alfvén wrote: "From the cosmological point of view, the most important new space research discovery is probably the cellular structure of space. As has been seen in every region of space accessible to in situ measurements, there are a number of 'cell walls', sheets of electric currents, which divide space into compartments with different magnetization, temperature, density, etc."
Critical ionization velocity
The critical ionization velocityCritical ionization velocity
Critical ionization velocity is the relative velocity between a neutral gas and plasma , at which the neutral gas will start to ionize...
is the relative velocity between an ionized plasma and a neutral gas, above which a runaway ionization process takes place. The critical ionization process is a quite general mechanism for the conversion of the kinetic energy of a rapidly streaming gas into ionization and plasma thermal energy. Critical phenomena in general are typical of complex systems, and may lead to sharp spatial or temporal features.
Ultracold plasma
Ultracold plasmas are created in a magneto-optical trapMagneto-optical trap
A magneto-optical trap is a device that uses both laser cooling with magneto-optical trapping in order to produce samples of cold, trapped, neutral atoms at temperatures as low as several microkelvins, two or three times the recoil limit.By combining the small momentum of a single photon with a...
(MOT) by trapping and cooling neutral atoms, to temperatures of 1 mK or lower, and then using another laser
Laser
A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of photons. The term "laser" originated as an acronym for Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation...
to ionize the atoms by giving each of the outermost electrons just enough energy to escape the electrical attraction of its parent ion.
One advantage of ultracold plasmas are their well characterized and tunable initial conditions, including their size and electron temperature. By adjusting the wavelength of the ionizing laser, the kinetic energy of the liberated electrons can be tuned as low as 0.1 K, a limit set by the frequency bandwidth of the laser pulse. The ions inherit the millikelvin temperatures of the neutral atoms, but are quickly heated through a process known as disorder induced heating (DIH). This type of non-equilibrium ultracold plasma evolves rapidly, and displays many other interesting phenomena.
One of the metastable states of a strongly nonideal plasma is Rydberg matter
Rydberg matter
Rydberg matter is a phase of matter formed by Rydberg atoms; it was predicted around 1980 by É. A. Manykin, M. I. Ozhovan and P. P. Poluéktov. It has been formed from various elements like caesium, potassium, hydrogen and nitrogen; studies have been conducted on theoretical possibilities like...
, which forms upon condensation of excited atoms.
Non-neutral plasma
The strength and range of the electric force and the good conductivity of plasmas usually ensure that the densities of positive and negative charges in any sizeable region are equal ("quasineutrality"). A plasma with a significant excess of charge density, or, in the extreme case, is composed of a single species, is called a non-neutral plasma. In such a plasma, electric fields play a dominant role. Examples are charged particle beamParticle beam
A particle beam is a stream of charged or neutral particles which may be directed by magnets and focused by electrostatic lenses, although they may also be self-focusing ....
s, an electron cloud in a Penning trap
Penning trap
Penning traps are devices for the storage of charged particles using a homogeneous static magnetic field and a spatially inhomogeneous static electric field. This kind of trap is particularly well suited to precision measurements of properties of ions and stable subatomic particles which have...
and positron plasmas.
Dusty plasma and grain plasma
A dusty plasmaDusty plasma
A dusty plasma is a plasma containing nanometer or micrometer-sized particles suspended in it. Dust particles may be charged and the plasma and particles behave as a plasma, following electromagnetic laws for particles up to about 10 nm...
contains tiny charged particles of dust (typically found in space), which also behave like a plasma. A plasma that contains larger particles is called grain plasma.
Mathematical descriptions
To completely describe the state of a plasma, we would need to write down all the
particle locations and velocities and describe the electromagnetic field in the plasma region.
However, it is generally not practical or necessary to keep track of all the particles in a plasma.
Therefore, plasma physicists commonly use less detailed descriptions, of which
there are two main types:
Fluid model
Fluid models describe plasmas in terms of smoothed quantities, like density and averaged velocity around each position (see Plasma parametersPlasma parameters
Plasma parameters define various characteristics of a plasma, an electrically conductive collection of charged particles that responds collectively to electromagnetic forces. Plasma typically takes the form of neutral gas-like clouds or charged ion beams, but may also include dust and grains. The...
). One simple fluid model, magnetohydrodynamics
Magnetohydrodynamics
Magnetohydrodynamics is an academic discipline which studies the dynamics of electrically conducting fluids. Examples of such fluids include plasmas, liquid metals, and salt water or electrolytes...
, treats the plasma as a single fluid governed by a combination of Maxwell's equations
Maxwell's equations
Maxwell's equations are a set of partial differential equations that, together with the Lorentz force law, form the foundation of classical electrodynamics, classical optics, and electric circuits. These fields in turn underlie modern electrical and communications technologies.Maxwell's equations...
and the Navier–Stokes equations. A more general description is the two-fluid plasma picture, where the ions and electrons are described separately. Fluid models are often accurate when collisionality is sufficiently high to keep the plasma velocity distribution close to a Maxwell–Boltzmann distribution. Because fluid models usually describe the plasma in terms of a single flow at a certain temperature at each spatial location, they can neither capture velocity space structures like beams or double layer
Double layer (plasma)
A double layer is a structure in a plasma and consists of two parallel layers with opposite electrical charge. The sheets of charge cause a strong electric field and a correspondingly sharp change in voltage across the double layer. Ions and electrons which enter the double layer are accelerated,...
s, nor resolve wave-particle effects.
Kinetic model
Kinetic models describe the particle velocity distribution function at each point in the plasma and therefore do not need to assume a Maxwell–Boltzmann distribution. A kinetic description is often necessary for collisionless plasmas. There are two common approaches to kinetic description of a plasma. One is based on representing the smoothed distribution function on a grid in velocity and position. The other, known as the particle-in-cellParticle-in-cell
The Particle-in-Cell method refers to a technique used to solve a certain class of partial differential equations. In this method, individual particles in a Lagrangian frame are tracked in continuous phase space, whereas moments of the distribution such as densities and currents are computed...
(PIC) technique, includes kinetic information by following the trajectories of a large number of individual particles. Kinetic models are generally more computationally intensive than fluid models. The Vlasov equation
Vlasov equation
The Vlasov equation is a differential equation describing time evolution of the distribution function of plasma consisting of charged particles with long-range interaction...
may be used to describe the dynamics of a system of charged particles interacting with an electromagnetic field.
In magnetized plasmas, a gyrokinetic
Gyrokinetics
Gyrokinetics is a branch of plasma physics derived from kinetics and electromagnetism used to describe the low-frequency phenomena in a plasma. The trajectory of charged particles in a magnetic field is a helix that winds around the field line...
approach can substantially reduce the computational expense of a fully kinetic simulation.
Artificial plasmas
Most artificial plasmas are generated by the application of electric and/or magnetic fields. Plasma generated in a laboratory setting and for industrial use can be generally categorized by:- The type of power source used to generate the plasma—DC, RF and microwave
- The pressure they operate at—vacuum pressure (< 10 mTorr or 1 Pa), moderate pressure (~ 1 Torr or 100 Pa), atmospheric pressure (760 Torr or 100 kPa)
- The degree of ionization within the plasma—fully, partially, or weakly ionized
- The temperature relationships within the plasma—thermal plasma (Te = Tion = Tgas), non-thermal or "cold" plasma (Te >> Tion = Tgas)
- The electrode configuration used to generate the plasma
- The magnetization of the particles within the plasma—magnetized (both ion and electrons are trapped in Larmor orbits by the magnetic field), partially magnetized (the electrons but not the ions are trapped by the magnetic field), non-magnetized (the magnetic field is too weak to trap the particles in orbits but may generate Lorentz forceLorentz forceIn physics, the Lorentz force is the force on a point charge due to electromagnetic fields. It is given by the following equation in terms of the electric and magnetic fields:...
s) - The application
Generation of artificial plasma
Just like the many uses of plasma, there are several means for its generation, however, one principle is common to all of them: there must be energy input to produce and sustain it. For this case, plasma is generated when an electrical currentElectric current
Electric current is a flow of electric charge through a medium.This charge is typically carried by moving electrons in a conductor such as wire...
is applied across a dielectric gas
Dielectric gas
A dielectric gas, or insulating gas, is a dielectric material in gaseous state. Its main purpose is to prevent or rapidly quench electric discharges. Dielectric gases are used as electrical insulators in high voltage applications, e.g...
or fluid (an electrically non-conducting
Electrical conductor
In physics and electrical engineering, a conductor is a material which contains movable electric charges. In metallic conductors such as copper or aluminum, the movable charged particles are electrons...
material) as can be seen in the image below, which shows a discharge tube as a simple example (DC
Direct current
Direct current is the unidirectional flow of electric charge. Direct current is produced by such sources as batteries, thermocouples, solar cells, and commutator-type electric machines of the dynamo type. Direct current may flow in a conductor such as a wire, but can also flow through...
used for simplicity).
The potential difference and subsequent electric field
Electric field
In physics, an electric field surrounds electrically charged particles and time-varying magnetic fields. The electric field depicts the force exerted on other electrically charged objects by the electrically charged particle the field is surrounding...
pull the bound electrons (negative) toward the anode
Anode
An anode is an electrode through which electric current flows into a polarized electrical device. Mnemonic: ACID ....
(positive electrode) while the cathode
Cathode
A cathode is an electrode through which electric current flows out of a polarized electrical device. Mnemonic: CCD .Cathode polarity is not always negative...
(negative electrode) pulls the nucleus. As the voltage
Voltage
Voltage, otherwise known as electrical potential difference or electric tension is the difference in electric potential between two points — or the difference in electric potential energy per unit charge between two points...
increases, the current stresses the material (by electric polarization) beyond its dielectric limit
Dielectric strength
In physics, the term dielectric strength has the following meanings:*Of an insulating material, the maximum electric field strength that it can withstand intrinsically without breaking down, i.e., without experiencing failure of its insulating properties....
(termed strength) into a stage of electrical breakdown
Electrical breakdown
The term electrical breakdown or electric breakdown has several similar but distinctly different meanings. For example, the term can apply to the failure of an electric circuit....
, marked by an electric spark
Electric spark
An electric spark is a type of electrostatic discharge that occurs when an electric field creates an ionized electrically conductive channel in air producing a brief emission of light and sound. A spark is formed when the electric field strength exceeds the dielectric field strength of air...
, where the material transforms from being an insulator into a conductor
Electrical conductor
In physics and electrical engineering, a conductor is a material which contains movable electric charges. In metallic conductors such as copper or aluminum, the movable charged particles are electrons...
(as it becomes increasingly ionized). This is a stage of avalanching ionization, where collisions between electrons and neutral gas atoms create more ions and electrons (as can be seen in the figure on the right). The first impact of an electron on an atom results in one ion and two electrons. Therefore, the number of charged particles increases rapidly (in the millions) only “after about 20 successive sets of collisions”, mainly due to a small mean free path (average distance travelled between collisions).
With ample current density and ionization, this forms a luminous electric arc
Electric arc
An electric arc is an electrical breakdown of a gas which produces an ongoing plasma discharge, resulting from a current flowing through normally nonconductive media such as air. A synonym is arc discharge. An arc discharge is characterized by a lower voltage than a glow discharge, and relies on...
(essentially lightning
Lightning
Lightning is an atmospheric electrostatic discharge accompanied by thunder, which typically occurs during thunderstorms, and sometimes during volcanic eruptions or dust storms...
) between the electrodes. Electrical resistance
Electrical resistance
The electrical resistance of an electrical element is the opposition to the passage of an electric current through that element; the inverse quantity is electrical conductance, the ease at which an electric current passes. Electrical resistance shares some conceptual parallels with the mechanical...
along the continuous electric arc creates heat
Heat
In physics and thermodynamics, heat is energy transferred from one body, region, or thermodynamic system to another due to thermal contact or thermal radiation when the systems are at different temperatures. It is often described as one of the fundamental processes of energy transfer between...
, which ionizes more gas molecules (where degree of ionization is determined by temperature), and as per the sequence: solid
Solid
Solid is one of the three classical states of matter . It is characterized by structural rigidity and resistance to changes of shape or volume. Unlike a liquid, a solid object does not flow to take on the shape of its container, nor does it expand to fill the entire volume available to it like a...
-liquid
Liquid
Liquid is one of the three classical states of matter . Like a gas, a liquid is able to flow and take the shape of a container. Some liquids resist compression, while others can be compressed. Unlike a gas, a liquid does not disperse to fill every space of a container, and maintains a fairly...
-gas
Gas
Gas is one of the three classical states of matter . Near absolute zero, a substance exists as a solid. As heat is added to this substance it melts into a liquid at its melting point , boils into a gas at its boiling point, and if heated high enough would enter a plasma state in which the electrons...
-plasma, the gas is gradually turned into a thermal plasma. A thermal plasma is in thermal equilibrium
Thermal equilibrium
Thermal equilibrium is a theoretical physical concept, used especially in theoretical texts, that means that all temperatures of interest are unchanging in time and uniform in space...
, which is to say that the temperature is relatively homogeneous throughout the heavy particles (i.e. atoms, molecules and ions) and electrons. This is so because when thermal plasmas are generated, electrical energy is given to electrons, which, due to their great mobility and large numbers, are able to disperse it rapidly and by elastic collision
Elastic collision
An elastic collision is an encounter between two bodies in which the total kinetic energy of the two bodies after the encounter is equal to their total kinetic energy before the encounter...
(without energy loss) to the heavy particles.Note that non-thermal, or non-equilibrium plasmas are not as ionized and have lower energy densities, and thus the temperature is not dispersed evenly among the particles, where some heavy ones remain ‘cold’.
Examples of industrial/commercial plasma
Because of their sizable temperature and density ranges, plasmas find applications in many fields of research, technology and industry. For example, in: industrial and extractive metallurgyMetallurgy
Metallurgy is a domain of materials science that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements, their intermetallic compounds, and their mixtures, which are called alloys. It is also the technology of metals: the way in which science is applied to their practical use...
, surface treatments such as thermal spraying
Thermal spraying
Thermal spraying techniques are coating processes in which melted materials are sprayed onto a surface. The "feedstock" is heated by electrical or chemical means ....
(coating), etching
Etching
Etching is the process of using strong acid or mordant to cut into the unprotected parts of a metal surface to create a design in intaglio in the metal...
in microelectronics, metal cutting and welding
Welding
Welding is a fabrication or sculptural process that joins materials, usually metals or thermoplastics, by causing coalescence. This is often done by melting the workpieces and adding a filler material to form a pool of molten material that cools to become a strong joint, with pressure sometimes...
; as well as in everyday vehicle exhaust cleanup and fluorescent
Fluorescent lamp
A fluorescent lamp or fluorescent tube is a gas-discharge lamp that uses electricity to excite mercury vapor. The excited mercury atoms produce short-wave ultraviolet light that then causes a phosphor to fluoresce, producing visible light. A fluorescent lamp converts electrical power into useful...
/luminescent
Electroluminescence
Electroluminescence is an optical phenomenon and electrical phenomenon in which a material emits light in response to the passage of an electric current or to a strong electric field...
lamps, while even playing a part in supersonic combustion engines
Scramjet
A scramjet is a variant of a ramjet airbreathing jet engine in which combustion takes place in supersonic airflow...
for aerospace engineering
Aerospace engineering
Aerospace engineering is the primary branch of engineering concerned with the design, construction and science of aircraft and spacecraft. It is divided into two major and overlapping branches: aeronautical engineering and astronautical engineering...
.
Low-pressure discharges
- Glow discharge plasmas: non-thermal plasmas generated by the application of DC or low frequency RF (<100 kHz) electric field to the gap between two metal electrodes. Probably the most common plasma; this is the type of plasma generated within fluorescent light tubes.
- Capacitively coupled plasmaCapacitively coupled plasmaA capacitively coupled plasma is one of the most common types of industrial plasma sources. It essentially consists of two metal electrodes separated by a small distance, placed in a reactor. The gas pressure in the reactor can be lower than atmosphere or it can be atmospheric.A typical CCP system...
(CCP): similar to glow discharge plasmas, but generated with high frequency RF electric fields, typically 13.56 MHz. These differ from glow discharges in that the sheaths are much less intense. These are widely used in the microfabrication and integrated circuit manufacturing industries for plasma etching and plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition. - Inductively coupled plasmaInductively coupled plasmaAn inductively coupled plasma is a type of plasma source in which the energy is supplied by electric currents which are produced by electromagnetic induction, that is, by time-varying magnetic fields.-Operation:...
(ICP): similar to a CCP and with similar applications but the electrode consists of a coil wrapped around the discharge volume that inductively excites the plasma. - Wave heated plasma: similar to CCP and ICP in that it is typically RF (or microwave), but is heated by both electrostatic and electromagnetic means. Examples are helicon discharge, electron cyclotron resonanceElectron cyclotron resonanceElectron cyclotron resonance is a phenomenon observed both in plasma physics and condensed matter physics. An electron in a static and uniform magnetic field will move in a circle due to the Lorentz force...
(ECR), and ion cyclotron resonanceIon cyclotron resonanceIon cyclotron resonance is a phenomenon related to the movement of ions in a magnetic field. It is used for accelerating ions in a cyclotron, and for measuring the masses of an ionized analyte in mass spectrometry, particularly with Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometers...
(ICR). These typically require a coaxial magnetic field for wave propagation.
Atmospheric pressure
- Arc discharge: this is a high power thermal discharge of very high temperature (~10,000 K). It can be generated using various power supplies. It is commonly used in metallurgicalMetallurgyMetallurgy is a domain of materials science that studies the physical and chemical behavior of metallic elements, their intermetallic compounds, and their mixtures, which are called alloys. It is also the technology of metals: the way in which science is applied to their practical use...
processes. For example, it is used to melt rocks containing Al2O3 to produce aluminiumAluminiumAluminium or aluminum is a silvery white member of the boron group of chemical elements. It has the symbol Al, and its atomic number is 13. It is not soluble in water under normal circumstances....
. - Corona dischargeCorona dischargeIn electricity, a corona discharge is an electrical discharge brought on by the ionization of a fluid surrounding a conductor that is electrically energized...
: this is a non-thermal discharge generated by the application of high voltage to sharp electrode tips. It is commonly used in ozoneOzoneOzone , or trioxygen, is a triatomic molecule, consisting of three oxygen atoms. It is an allotrope of oxygen that is much less stable than the diatomic allotrope...
generators and particle precipitators. - Dielectric barrier dischargeDielectric barrier dischargeDielectric-barrier discharge is the electrical discharge between two electrodes separated by an insulating dielectric barrier. Originally called silent discharge and also known as ozone production discharge or partial discharge, it was first reported by Ernst Werner von Siemens in 1857.- Process...
(DBD): this is a non-thermal discharge generated by the application of high voltages across small gaps wherein a non-conducting coating prevents the transition of the plasma discharge into an arc. It is often mislabeled 'Corona' discharge in industry and has similar application to corona discharges. It is also widely used in the web treatment of fabrics. The application of the discharge to synthetic fabrics and plastics functionalizes the surface and allows for paints, glues and similar materials to adhere. - Capacitive discharge: this is a nonthermal plasmaNonthermal plasmaA nonthermal plasma is in general any plasma which is not in thermodynamic equilibrium, either because the ion temperature is different from the electron temperature, or because the velocity distribution of one of the species does not follow a Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution.- Applications :In the...
generated by the application of RF power (e.g., 13.56 MHz) to one powered electrode, with a grounded electrode held at a small separation distance on the order of 1 cm. Such discharges are commonly stabilized using a noble gas such as helium or argon.
History
Plasma was first identified in a Crookes tubeCrookes tube
A Crookes tube is an early experimental electrical discharge tube, invented by English physicist William Crookes and others around 1869-1875, in which cathode rays, that is electrons, were discovered....
, and so described by Sir William Crookes in 1879 (he called it "radiant matter"). The nature of the Crookes tube "cathode ray
Cathode ray
Cathode rays are streams of electrons observed in vacuum tubes. If an evacuated glass tube is equipped with two electrodes and a voltage is applied, the glass opposite of the negative electrode is observed to glow, due to electrons emitted from and travelling perpendicular to the cathode Cathode...
" matter was subsequently identified by British physicist Sir J.J. Thomson
J. J. Thomson
Sir Joseph John "J. J." Thomson, OM, FRS was a British physicist and Nobel laureate. He is credited for the discovery of the electron and of isotopes, and the invention of the mass spectrometer...
in 1897. The term "plasma" was coined by Irving Langmuir
Irving Langmuir
Irving Langmuir was an American chemist and physicist. His most noted publication was the famous 1919 article "The Arrangement of Electrons in Atoms and Molecules" in which, building on Gilbert N. Lewis's cubical atom theory and Walther Kossel's chemical bonding theory, he outlined his...
in 1928, perhaps because the glowing discharge molds itself to the shape of the Crooks tube (Gr.
Greek language
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
πλάσμα – "to mold"). Langmuir described his observations as:
Except near the electrodes, where there are sheaths containing very few electrons, the ionized gas contains ions and electrons in about equal numbers so that the resultant space charge is very small. We shall use the name plasma to describe this region containing balanced charges of ions and electrons.
Fields of active research
This is just a partial list of topics. A more complete and organized list can be found on the web site Plasma science and technology.
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See also
- Ambipolar diffusionAmbipolar diffusionAmbipolar diffusion is diffusion of positive and negative particles in a plasma at the same rate due to their interaction via the electric field...
- Hannes Alfvén PrizeHannes Alfvén PrizeThe Hannes Alfvén Prize is a prize awarded annually by the European Physical Society for outstanding work in the field of plasma physics.It is named after the Swedish physicist Hannes Alfvén.-External links:*...
- Plasma channelPlasma channelA plasma channel is a conductive channel of plasma. A plasma channel can be formed in these ways:-*With a high-powered laser that operates at a certain frequency that will provide enough energy for an atmospheric gas to break into its ions, or form a plasma, such as in a Laser-Induced Plasma...
- Plasma parametersPlasma parametersPlasma parameters define various characteristics of a plasma, an electrically conductive collection of charged particles that responds collectively to electromagnetic forces. Plasma typically takes the form of neutral gas-like clouds or charged ion beams, but may also include dust and grains. The...
- Plasma nitriding
- Magnetohydrodynamics (MHD)MagnetohydrodynamicsMagnetohydrodynamics is an academic discipline which studies the dynamics of electrically conducting fluids. Examples of such fluids include plasmas, liquid metals, and salt water or electrolytes...
- Electric field screeningElectric field screeningScreening is the damping of electric fields caused by the presence of mobile charge carriers. It is an important part of the behavior of charge-carrying fluids, such as ionized gases and conduction electrons in semiconductors and metals....
- List of plasma physicists
- List of plasma (physics) applications articles
- Important publications in plasma physics
- IEEE Nuclear and Plasma Sciences SocietyIEEE Nuclear and Plasma Sciences SocietyThe IEEE Nuclear and Plasma Sciences Society is a transnational group of about 3000 professional engineers and scientists. The IEEE-affiliated Society sponsors 5 major annual, and six biennial conferences and symposia...
- Quark-gluon plasma
- Nikola TeslaNikola TeslaNikola Tesla was a Serbian-American inventor, mechanical engineer, and electrical engineer...
External links
- Free plasma physics books and notes
- Plasmas: the Fourth State of Matter
- Plasma Science and Technology
- Plasma on the Internet – a list of plasma related links.
- Introduction to Plasma Physics: Graduate course given by Richard Fitzpatrick|M.I.T. Introduction by I.H.Hutchinson
- Plasma Material Interaction
- How to make a glowing ball of plasma in your microwave with a grape|More (Video)
- How to make plasma in your microwave with only one match (video)
- OpenPIC3D – 3D Hybrid Particle-In-Cell simulation of plasma dynamics
- Plasma Formulary Interactive