Plasma wave aided two photon decay of an electromagnetic wave in a plasma

Journal Article · Sat Nov 15 00:00:00 EST 2014 · Physics of Plasmas

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4902104· OSTI ID:22403252

Kumar, K. K. Magesh ^[1]; Singh, Rohtash ^[2]; Krishan, Vinod ^[3]

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1. Key Laboratory for Laser Plasmas (Ministry of Education), Department of Physics and Astronomy, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200240 (China)
2. Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, New Delhi 110016 (India)
3. Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bangalore 560034 (India)

The presence of a Langmuir wave in an unmagnetized plasma is shown to allow parametric decay of an electromagnetic wave into two electromagnetic waves, which is otherwise not allowed due to wave number mismatch. The decay occurs at plasma densities below one ninth the critical density and the decay waves propagate at finite angles to the pump laser. Above the threshold, the growth rate scales linearly with the amplitude of the Langmuir wave and the amplitude of the pump electromagnetic wave. The frequency ω of the lower frequency decay wave increases with the angle its propagation vector makes with that of the pump. The growth rate, however, decreases with ω.

• OSTI ID: 22403252
• Journal Information: Physics of Plasmas, Vol. 21, Issue 11; Other Information: (c) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 1070-664X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
DECAY
ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
PHOTONS
PLASMA DENSITY
PLASMA WAVES
PUMPS