Teaching
First think, then do the integral.
- Rudolf Peierls to the young Hans Bethe
TA for Aph 77 Physics experiment 2020
Selected experiments chosen to familiarize students with laboratory equipment, procedures, and characteristic phenomena in plasmas, fluid turbulence, fiber optics, X-ray diffraction, microwaves, high-temperature superconductivity, black-body radiation, holography, and computer interfacing of experiments.
TA for Aph 156 abc Plasma physics 2020 and 2021
An introduction to the principles of plasma physics. A multitiered theoretical infrastructure will be developed consisting of the Hamilton-Lagrangian theory of charged particle motion in combined electric and magnetic fields, the Vlasov kinetic theory of plasma as a gas of interacting charged particles, the two-fluid model of plasma as interacting electron and ion fluids, and the magnetohydrodynamic model of plasma as an electrically conducting fluid subject to combined magnetic and hydrodynamic forces. This infrastructure will be used to examine waves, transport processes, equilibrium, stability, and topological self-organization. Examples relevant to plasmas in both laboratory (fusion, industrial) and space (magneto-sphere, solar) will be discussed.