Date: 17.09.

2020
Lecture 2
Plasma Physics (Phys 403)
Concept of Temperature:
A gas in thermal equilibrium has particles of all velocities and most
probable distribution of these velocities is known as Maxwellian
distribution.

The width of the distribution is characterized by temperature T. To see

the exact meaning of temperature T we can compute the average
kinetic energy of particles in Maxwellian distribution.

For simplicity, consider a gas in which the particles can move only in
one direction.

The one dimensional Maxwellian distribution is given by

1
f (u)  A exp( mu2 / K BT ) (1)
2

Where,
1
mu 2 = kinetic energy,
2

KB = the Boltzman’s constant,

T = temperature,
1
m
A  n( ) 2 , constant related to the density n.
2K BT
 Fig: 1

The density n, or number of particles per m3 is given by


n   f (u )du (2)


Where, fdu is the number of particles per m3 with velocity between u

and u+du.

Now the average kinetic energy of particles in Maxwellian distribution

is
 1 2

 2
mu f (u )du
Eav  
(3)
 f (u)du


1
2 K BT 2
Define vth  ( ) (4)
m

Thus, from equation (1)

F(u) = Aexp(-u2/vth2)
Let, y = u/vth ; dy = du/vth ; du = vthdy

Then equation (3) becomes

 1 2 2

 2
my vth A exp(u 2 / vth2 )vth dy
Eav  
 A exp(u / vth )vth dy
2 2


1 
mAvth3  [exp( y 2 )] y 2 dy

 2 
Avth  exp( y 2 )dy


The integral in the numerator is integrable by parts:

 1  1 1 
  

y.[exp( y 2
) y ]dy  [  {exp(  y 2
)} y ]    exp(  y 2
) dy  exp( y 2 )dy
2   2 2  

Note:  udv  uv   vdu ;  xe x dx   1 e x

2 2

1 1 
mAvth3  exp( y 2 )dy
2  1 1 1
Now, Eav  2 
 mvth2  (2 K BT )  K BT (5)
Avth  exp( y 2 )dy 4 4 2


Thus, the average kinetic energy is ½ KBT. It is easy to extend this result
to three dimensions.

In three dimensions, Maxwellian distribution is then

F(u, v, w) = A3exp[-1/2m(u2 + v2 +w2)/KBT] (6)

m 3/ 2
Where, A3  n( )
2K BT

The average kinetic energy is

 1 1
 
A3 m(u 2  v 2  w2 ) exp[ m(u 2  v 2  w2 ) / K BT ]dudvdw
2 2
Eav   1
 A3 exp[ 2 m(u  v  w ) / K BT ]dudvdw
2 2 2
We note that this expression is symmetric in u, v, and w since a
Maxwellian distribution is isotropic. Consequently, each of the three
terms in the numerator is the same as the others.

We need only to evaluate the first term and multiply by 3. Thus,

 1 2 1  1
3 A3  mu exp( mu 2 / K BT )du  exp[ m(v 2  w2 ) / K BT ]dvdw
 2 2   2
Eav   
1 2 1
A3  exp( mu / K BT )du  exp[ m(v 2  w2 ) / K BT ]dvdw
 2  2

3
Or, Eav  K BT (7)
2

Thus, the average kinetic energy per degree of freedom is

1
Eav  K BT
2

Since T and Eav are so closely related, we can express T in units of

energy. To avoid confusion on the number of dimensions involved, it is
not Eav but the energy corresponding to KBT that is used to denote the
temperature.

For KBT = 1eV = 1.6×10-19 j

We have T = (1.6×10-19 j) / (1.38×-23 j/0k) = 11,6000k

Thus, the conversion factor is 1 eV = 11,6000k.

By a 2eV plasma we mean KBT = 2 eV.

And in the three dimension for 2 eV, Eav = 3/2 KBT = (3/2)×2 eV = 3 eV.

If the electrons and ions in a plasma are in thermal equilibrium they

have a common temperature. In this case electron-ion collision
frequency is much higher than electron-electron or ion-ion collision
frequencies.

But if the rate of collision among electron-electron and ion-ion are

higher than the electron-ion collision frequency, the plasma maintains
two clear temperatures, Te and Ti for electrons and ions respectively.

Even in a single species plasma, the presence of a strong magnetic field

may create two different temperatures, Tǁ and T in the parallel and
perpendicular directions.

Debye shielding:
A fundamental characteristic of the behavior of plasma is its ability to
shield out potentials that are applied to it is called Debye shielding.

For explaining Debye shielding let we put an electric field inside a

plasma by inserting two charged ball connected to a battery.

Fig: 3
The two balls would attract particles of the opposite charge, and almost
immediately a cloud of ions would surround the negative ball and a
cloud of electrons would surround the positive ball (Fig: 3).

If the plasma was cold and there were no thermal motions, there would
be just as many charges in the cloud as in the ball; the shielding would
be perfect, and no electric field would be present in the body of the
plasma outside of the clouds.

On the other hand, if the temperature is finite, those particles that are
at the edge of the cloud, where the electric field is weak, have enough
thermal energy to escape from the electrostatic potential well. The
edge of the cloud then occurs at the radius where the potential energy
is approximately equal to the thermal energy KBT of the particles and
the shielding is not complete. Potential of the order of K BT/e can leak
into the plasma and cause finite electric fields to exist there.
 Fig: 4

Let us compute the approximate thickness of charged cloud. Imagine

that the potential Ø on the plane x = 0 is held at a value Ø 0 by a
perfectly transparent grid (Fig: 4).

For simplicity we assume that the ion electron mass ratio M/m is
infinite so that the ions do not move but form a uniform background of
positive charge i.e., M/m = .

The Poission’s equation relating the electric potential Ø to the charge

density ρ due to electrons, ions and the test charge is
2  4  4e(ni  ne )  4q (r )

Where,  (r )   ( x) ( y) ( z) is the product of three Dirac delta functions

which is negligible. So,

2  4e(ni  ne ) (1)

In the presence of potential energy qØ, the the electron distribution

function is
1
f (u)  A exp[ mu2  q ) / K BTe (2)
2
Integrating f(u) over u , setting q = -e and noting that ne (Ø→0) = n .

e
We have, ne  n exp( ) (3)
K BTe

If the density of ion is far away, then ni  n . Now equation (1) can be
written as
e
 0 2  e[n  n exp( )]  en (ee / K BTe  1) (4)
K BTe

In the region where (eØ/KBTe) << 1, we can expand the exponential in a

Taylor series, so
e 1 e 2 e 1 e 2
 0 2  en [1   ( )      1]  en [  ( )    ] (5)
K BTe 2 K BTe K BTe 2 K BTe

Keeping only the linear term

e 2 n
 0 2 
K BTe

e 2 n 
Or,  2   2 (6)
 0 K BTe D

 0 K BTe
Where, 2D 
e 2 n

 0 K BTe 1
Or, D  ( ) 2
→ Debye length (7)
e2n

Where, λD is called ‘Debye length’ , a measure of the shielding distance

or the thickness of the sheath.

Now the solution of equation (6) is

Ø(x) = Aemx + Be-mx

Taking m = 1/λD , we have,

Ø(x) = Aex/λD + Be-x/λD (8)

Applying boundary condition we can get the values of A and B:

If x = 0, Ø(x) = Ø0(x)

So, Ø0(x) = A + B (9)

If x = , A = 0 and Ø0(x) = B

Equation (8) then becomes

Ø = Ø0(x)exp(-x/λD)

Or, Ø = Ø0(x)e-x/λD (10)