INTERACTION BETWEEN A RADIO WAVE AND A PLASMA IN THE PRESENCE OF A UNIFORM MAGNETIC FIELD

Technical Report · Sun Jan 01 04:00:00 EST 1961

OSTI ID:4023129

Koga, T

Because of the imposed -magnetic field, the effect of movements of ions is not to be neglected. Considering a plausibie model of plasmas where molecules are partly ionized, Boltzmann type equations are proposed for ions and electrons. By introducing "generalized moments'' of the distribution functions of electrons end of ions, it is easy to solve the equations, obtaining the conductivity of a plasma to an oscillating electric field. The propagation of a radio wave in the plasma is investigated. There are seven frequencies which characterize the phenomena: (i) Larmor's frequencies of electrons and of ions; (ii) frequency of radio wave; (iii) plasma frequency and a similar one defined with respect to ions; and (iv) collision frequencies of electrons and of ions. Considerations are given for the first approximation where frequency (iii) is negligibly small compared with frequency (ii), i.e., the electric field induced by the group displacements of electrons and of ions is neglected. As special cases, Alfven's theory of hydromagnetic waves and Margenau's theory of radio waves in plasmas with no imposed magnetic field are included. For the second approximation, the field induced by the group displacements of electrons and of ions may also be considered. (auth)

• Research Organization: University of Southern California, Los Angeles. Engineering Center
• NSA Number: NSA-15-016560
• OSTI ID: 4023129
• Report Number(s): USCEC-83-204; AFOSR-283
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

ALFVEN WAVES
BOLTZMANN EQUATION
DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS
DISTRIBUTION
ELECTRIC CONDUCTIVITY
ELECTRIC FIELDS
ELECTRONS
FREQUENCY
GYROFREQUENCY
HYDROMAGNETIC WAVES
INTERACTIONS
IONIZATION
IONS
MAGNETIC FIELDS
MAGNETOHYDRODYNAMICS
MOLECULES
MOTION
OSCILLATIONS
PHYSICS
PLASMA
PLASMA WAVES
RADIO WAVES
STATISTICS
TRANSPORT THEORY