An Introduction to the Atomic and Radiation Physics of Plasmas

Contents
Preface
1 Plasma and Atomic Physics
	1.1 Plasma Physics
	1.2 Free Electron Speed and Energy Distributions
	1.3 The Density of Quantum States for Free Electrons
	1.4 The Degree of Ionisation
	1.5 The Bohr Energy Level Model for Atoms and Ions
	Exercises
2 The Propagation of Light
	2.1 Electromagnetic Waves in Plasmas
	2.2 Electromagnetic Waves in a Magnetised Plasma
	2.3 Absorption of Light
	2.4 Focused Laser Light in Plasmas
	2.5 Radiation and Charge Acceleration
	Exercises
3 Scattering
	3.1 Scattering by a Free Electron
	3.2 Scattering by Bound Electrons
	3.3 Scattering by a Multi-Electron Atom
	3.4 Refractive Index Values
	3.5 Coherent and Incoherent Thomson Scattering by Free Electrons
	3.6 Scattering of Unpolarised Light and Compton Scattering
	Exercises
4 Radiation Emission in Plasmas
	4.1 The Planck Radiation Law
	4.2 The Einstein A and B Coefficients
	4.3 Emission and Absorption
	4.4 Introducing the Equation of Radiative Transfer
	Exercises
5 Radiation Emission Involving Free Electrons
	5.1 Cyclotron Radiation
	5.2 Bremsstrahlung
	5.3 Inverse Bremsstrahlung Absorption
	5.4 Radiative Recombination
	5.5 Photo-Ionisation
	5.6 Generalised Expressions for Radiative Processes Involving Free Electrons
	Exercises
6 Opacity
	6.1 The Equation of Radiative Transfer
	6.2 Intensities in an Optically Thick Planar Geometry
	6.3 Radiation Pressure in a Planar Geometry
	6.4 Radiation Diffusion in a Planar Geometry
	6.5 The Rosseland Mean Opacity
	6.6 Intensities Absorbed in a Thin Layer
	6.7 Relationships between the Frequency-Averaged Opacities
	Exercises
7 Discrete Bound Quantum States: Hydrogen and Hydrogen-Like Ions
	7.1 A Quantum Mechanical Treatment of Atoms and Ions
	7.2 The Hydrogen Atom
	7.3 Magnetic Moment, Electron Spin and Degeneracy
	7.4 Hydrogen Fine Structure
	7.5 Spectroscopic Notation
	7.6 Hyperfine Structure: The Effect of Nuclear Spin
	7.7 Summary for Hydrogen and Hydrogen-Like Ions
	Exercises
8 Discrete Bound States: Many-Electron Atoms and Ions
	8.1 Exchange Parity and the Pauli Exclusion Principle
	8.2 The Central Field Approximation
	8.3 The Coulomb and Spin–Orbit Interactions
	8.4 Summary for Multi-Electron Atoms and Ions
	Exercises
9 Discrete Bound States: Molecules
	9.1 The Hydrogen Molecule Ion H2+
	9.2 Covalent and Ionic Molecular Bonds
	9.3 Molecular Vibrational and Rotational States
	Exercises
10 Radiative Transitions between Discrete Quantum States
	10.1 Quantum Theory of the Atom–Radiation Interaction
	10.2 Selection Rules
	10.3 Lineshapes
	10.4 Transitions between States Affected by Zeeman and Stark effects
	Exercises
11 Collisions
	11.1 Collisions in Plasmas
	11.2 A Consequence of the Conservation of Angular Momentum in Collisions
	11.3 The Evaluation of Collisional Cross-Sections
	11.4 The Evaluation of Inelastic Collisional Cross-Sections
	11.5 Scaling of Inelastic Cross-Sections
	11.6 Collisional Excitation for Forbidden Transitions
	11.7 Inelastic Atomic and Ionic Collisions
	11.8 Collisional Ionisation
	11.9 Charge Exchange Recombination
	11.10 Dissociative Recombination
	Exercises
12 Collisional-Radiative Models
	12.1 Collisional Excitation and De-Excitation
	12.2 Collisional Ionisation and Three-Body Recombination
	12.3 Collisional and Radiative Processes
	12.4 The Escape Factor Approximation for the Effects of Radiation
	12.5 Coronal Equilibrium
	12.6 Dielectronic Recombination and Auto-Ionisation
	12.7 Criteria for LTE
	12.8 Spectral Line Intensity Ratios
	12.9 The Average Ionisation
	Exercises
13 High-Density Plasmas
	13.1 Examples of High-Density Plasmas
	13.2 The Ion–Ion Plasma Coupling Constant
	13.3 The Fermi Energy and Pressure of Free Electrons
	13.4 The Saha–Boltzmann Equation at High Density
	13.5 The Thomas–Fermi Model
	13.6 The Average Atom Model
	13.7 Continuum Lowering
	13.8 Collisional Rates at High Density
	13.9 Radiative Rates at High Density
	Exercises
Appendix Vectors, Maxwell’s Equations, the Harmonic Oscillator and a Sum Rule
	A.1 Vector Analysis
	A.2 Maxwell’s Equations
	A.3 The Harmonic Oscillator
	A.4 The Thomas–Reiche–Kuhn Sum Rule
References
Index