THEORY OF ELECTRON PLASMA OSCILLATION

Journal Article · Mon Dec 01 04:00:00 EST 1958 · Kaku Yugo Kenkyu

OSTI ID:4056148

Kaku, M

The various observed phenomena of electron plasma oscillation were investigated theoretically on the basis of a simplified model. The accelerated electrons were assumed to have acquired uniform velocity, and the plasma medium was assumed to have uniform density and maxwellian velocity distribution. The plasma was limited to a space bounded by two parallel and perfectly reflecting surfaces with a given separation. The basic equation was obtained by use of Boltzmann's equation for the electron velocity distribution and Poisson's equation for the electric field. The effect of short-range collisions on oscillation was neglected. The initial value problem of the linearized equation was solved by Fourier transformation of the space part and Laplacs transformation of the time part after Landau. The excitation of various modes and the phenomema of modeland frequency-jump are predicted on the basis of this model. The observation of standing waves in ion-sheath by Looney and Brown, so far attributed to a klystron-like mechanism, is reinterpreted is terms of the new model with success. The model also gives a satisfactory explanation of the observation of a standing wave between the cathode and a plane probe by Balley and Emeleus. The good agreement of the prediction of this simplified model and experimental results is an indication that loss due to reflection of the plasma wave in the sheath is small when electron scattering is not excessive. Agreement with experiments by Wehner and Kojima et al. is less satisfactory, but appears to improve when the effect of the density variation is taken into account. (JPRS)

• Research Organization: Communication Laboratory
• NSA Number: NSA-15-015152
• OSTI ID: 4056148
• Journal Information: Kaku Yugo Kenkyu, Journal Name: Kaku Yugo Kenkyu Vol. Vol: 1
• Country of Publication: Country unknown/Code not available
• Language: Japanese

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