Plasma, the fourth state of matter, plays a key role in a variety of real-world problems, from solving the energy crisis to understanding the cosmos. This class provides an introduction to plasma physics, with a focus on understanding the underlying mechanics of future fusion reactors. Some of the topics covered are thermonuclear processes, nuclear fusion reactors, magnetic confinement, computer simulations, and black hole accretion disks. This class will also feature a variety of live experiments, demonstrations, and an examination of current research being conducted by scientists at MIT! This course provides a great introduction for anyone who is interested in the fields of physics, engineering, computer science, applied mathematics, chemistry, material science, and (especially) all things nuclear!

So, you want to be a nuclear physicist? This class provides a graduate level introduction to magnetohydrodynamics (MHD), a physical system for understanding and modeling particle motion in high energy plasmas. After gaining both a conceptual and mathematical understanding of the underlying mechanics of plasma and turbulence, we will wrap up the class by examining a real plasma instability currently being researched by physicists and engineers at MIT!

Plasma, the fourth state of matter, plays a key role in a variety of real-world problems, from solving the energy crisis to understanding the cosmos. This course provides an introduction to plasma physics, with a focus on understanding the underlying mechanics of future fusion reactors. Some of the topics covered are thermonuclear processes, nuclear fusion reactors, magnetic confinement, computer simulations, and black hole accretion disks. We will wrap up the course by examining a real plasma instability currently being researched by physicists and engineers at MIT! The difficulty of the course may vary between lectures, as well as depend highly upon the level of calculus and physics background knowledge that students have.