The need for long-term energy sources, in particular for our highly technological society, has become increasingly apparent during the last decade. One of these sources, of tremendous poten tial importance, is controlled thermonuclear fusion. The goal of controlled thermonuclear fusion research is to produce a high-temperature, completely ionized plasma in which the nuclei of two hydrogen isotopes, deuterium and tritium, undergo enough fusion reactions so that the nuclear energy released by these fusion reactions can be transformed into heat and electricity with an overall gain in energy. This requires average kinetic energies for the nuclei of the order of 10 keV, corresponding to temperatures of about 100 million degrees. Moreover, the plasma must remain confined for a certain time interval, during which sufficient energy must be produced to heat the plasma, overcome the energy losses and supply heat to the power station. At present, two main approaches are being investigated to achieve these objectives: magnetic confinement and inertial con finement. In magnetic confinement research, a low-density plasma is heated by electric currents, assisted by additional heating methods such as radio-frequency heating or neutral beam injection, and the confinement is achieved by using various magnetic field configurations. Examples of these are the plasmas produced in stellarator and tokamak devices.

The NATO Advanced Study Institute on "Atomic and Molecular Processes in Controlled TheI'IllOnuclear Fusion" was held at Chateau de Bonas, Castera-Verduzan, Gel's, France, from 13th to 24th August 1979, and this volume contains the text of the invited lectures. The Institute was supported by the Scientific Affairs Division of NATO, and additional support was received from EURATOM and the United States National Science Foundation. The Institute was attended by 88 scientists, all of whom were active research workers in control of thermonuclear plasmas, 01' atomic and molecular physics, 01' both. In addition to the formal lectures, printed in this volume, which were intended to be pedagogic, more than twenty research seminars were given by participants. The first half of the Institute was directed to introducing atomic and molecular theoretical and experimental physicists to the physics of controlled thermonuclear fusion. Most attention was paid to magnetic confinement, and within that field, to tokamaks. MI'.

Advances in Atomic and Molecular Physics

Nuclear Fusion by Inertial Confinement provides a comprehensive analysis of directly driven inertial confinement fusion. All important aspects of the process are covered, including scientific considerations that support the concept, lasers and particle beams as drivers, target fabrication, analytical and numerical calculations, and materials and engineering considerations. Authors from Australia, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, Spain, and the U.S. have contributed to the volume, making it an internationally significant work for all scientists working in the Inertial Confinement Fusion (ICF) field, as well as for graduate students in engineering and physics with interest in ICF.

Scattering is one of the most powerful methods used to study the structure of matter, and many of the most important breakthroughs in physics have been made by means of scattering. Nearly a century has passed since the first investigations in this field, and the work undertaken since then has resulted in a rich literature encompassing both experimental and theoretical results. In scattering, one customarily studies collisions among nuclear, sub-nuclear, atomic or molecular particles, and as these are intrinsically quantum systems, it is logical that quantum mechanics is used as the basis for modern scattering theory. In Principles of Quantum Scattering Theory, the author judiciously combines physical intuition and mathematical rigour to present various selected principles of quantum scattering theory. As always in physics, experiment should be used to ultimately validate physical and mathematical modelling, and the author presents a number of exemplary illustrations, comparing theoretical and experimental cross sections in a selection of major inelastic ion-atom collisions at high non-relativistic energies. Quantum scattering theory, one of the most beautiful theories in physics, is also very rich in mathematics. Principles of Quantum Scattering Theory is intended primarily for graduate physics students, but also for non-specialist physicists for whom the clarity of exposition should aid comprehension of these mathematical complexities.

The goals of atomic, molecular, and optical physics (AMO physics) are to elucidate the fundamental laws of physics, to understand the structure of matter and how matter evolves at the atomic and molecular levels, to understand light in all its manifestations, and to create new techniques and devices. AMO physics provides theoretical and experimental methods and essential data to neighboring areas of science such as chemistry, astrophysics, condensed-matter physics, plasma physics, surface science, biology, and medicine. It contributes to the national security system and to the nation's programs in fusion, directed energy, and materials research. Lasers and advanced technologies such as optical processing and laser isotope separation have been made possible by discoveries in AMO physics, and the research underlies new industries such as fiber-optics communications and laser-assisted manufacturing. These developments are expected to help the nation to maintain its industrial competitiveness and its military strength in the years to come. This report describes the field, characterizes recent advances, and identifies current frontiers of research.

The book presents the following counterintuitive theoretical results breaking several paradigms of quantum mechanics and providing alternative interpretations of some important phenomena in atomic and molecular physics. 1) Singular solutions of the Schrödinger and Dirac equations should not have been always rejected: they can explain the experimental high-energy tail of the linear momentum distribution in the ground state of hydrogenic atoms. Application: a unique way to test intimate details of the nuclear structure by performing atomic (rather than nuclear) experiments and calculations. 2) Charge exchange is not really an inherently quantal phenomenon, but rather has classical roots. Application: continuum lowering in plasmas. 3) The most challenging problem of classical physics that led to the development of quantum mechanics — the failure to explain the stability of atoms — can be solved within a classical formalism that has its roots in Dirac's works. The underlying physics can be interpreted as a non-Einsteinian time dilation. 4) In two-electron atoms/ions, the spin-spin interaction (singular in its nature), usually considered unimportant, makes a significant contribution to the binding energy. 5) In magnetized plasmas the standard Inglis-Teller concept, concerning the number of observed lines in spectral series of hydrogen, breaks down. Application: new plasma diagnostic. 6) Extrema in transition energies of molecules/quasimiolecules can result in dips (rather than usually considered satellites) within spectral lines. Application: the experimental determination of rates of charge exchange between multicharged ions — important for magnetic fusion in Tokamaks, for population inversion in the soft x-ray and VUV ranges, for ion storage devices, and for astrophysics.

Vols. for 1980- issued in three parts: Series, Authors, and Titles.