Nonlinear Excitation of Waves in a Plasma by High Power Microwaves.
Abstract
Nonlinear excitation of electron plasma and ion acoustic waves in an isotropic electron-ion plasma has been investigated theoretically and experimentally. A parametric theory based on a fluid description of the plasma taking into account the vector characters of the pumping and driven waves is developed which displays the directional characteristic of the threshold. A transmission line equivalent circuit is used to represent a plasma slab from which the ratio of the E fields of an E-polarized incident electromagnetic wave to the electron plasma wave inside the plasma at a Tonks-Dattner resonance is ascertained. Experiments are conducted on argon and mercury plasmas in C-Band waveguides with C.W. and pulsed microwaves. The minimum threshold microwave power observed is 10 Watts. Pulsed experiments show details of suppression of spontaneous oscillations in the plasma and subsequent excitation of ion acoustic waves. The dependence of the threshold microwave power on background plasma parameters is in qualitative agreement with theory. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Feb 01, 1971
- Accession Number
- AD0731392
Entities
People
- James C. Shiue
Organizations
- New York University