Plasma Physics Laboratory 1

The course is meant to provided experimental skills applied to the investigation of plasmas (and specifically nonneutral plasmas) and charged particle beams.

After attending the course, the student will possess the following set of knowledge and skills:
- Basics of the theory of plasmas/nonneutral plasmas
- Basic notions about the interest of experimental nonneutral plasma physics
- Basics of vacuum techniques
- Knowledge of the theory and practice of operation of experimental plasma machines (Penning-Malmberg traps)
- Formulation and design of experiments and experimental routines
- Performance of experiments with research-level instrumentation
- Theory and practice of data acquisition and analysis: electrostatic signals, Fourier analysis
- Theory and practice of data acquisition and analysis: phosphor screen-CCD camera images, image denoising and analysis
- Preparation of experimental reports, critical evaluation of results and experimental limitations.