Plasma physics has matured rapidly as a scientific and technological discipline with a vast span of relevant application in many different fields. As a consequence, no single textbook is able to address all aspects of plasma physics relevant to such a burgeoning community.
With this reference text I have attempted to bridge the gap between the excellent variety of traditional, broadly-based plasma books, and more specialist, device-oriented reference texts. David L Book's NRL Plasma Formulary was an inspiration, as too was Andre Anders' Formulary for Plasma Physics; however, I believe that this book offers a different perspective which makes it complementary to existing handbooks. I have tried to give the reader an overview of the key aspects of plasma physics without being too specialist in any particular area. Since this book is not a textbook, there is more room for not just contemporary findings, but also many traditional established results from the 1950's and 60's that are not often found in modern texts, and which are once more becoming important as imperfectly ionised and bounded plasmas enjoy a resurgence in relevance.
The diverse nature of the plasma science community is matched by a confusing miscellany of physical units. Throughout this handbook, all formulae are quoted in both SI and cgs-Guassian units where it is relevant. I hope this will maximise this book's practicality and utility, and perhaps even assist the whole community in the smooth transition to using SI units only.
It has been a guiding principle to reference the source (or sources) of any formula quoted in this book, together with whatever caveats or restrictionsthat apply to its use. Where practical I have referenced the original articles, subject to the important constraint that verifiable sources are accessible to the general reader.