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Two plasmon parametric decay in a slightly inhomogeneous plasma

Conference ·
OSTI ID:7192532

The convective parametric decay of an incident electromagnetic wave (..omega../sub 0/,k/sub 0/) into two plasmons at ..omega.. = ..omega../sub p/ in a slightly inhomogeneous plasma of scale length L is considered. Asymptotic solutions for the fields are obtained which show that for L/lambda/sub 0/ much greater than (..omega../sub p/lambda/sub D//..nu..lambda/sub 0/)/sup 2/, where ..nu.. is the plasmon damping rate, the homogeneous-plasma decay criterion must be satisfied by the pump field for instability.

Research Organization:
Princeton Univ., N.J. (USA). Plasma Physics Lab.
Sponsoring Organization:
US Energy Research and Development Administration (ERDA)
OSTI ID:
7192532
Report Number(s):
MATT-1207; CONF-751130-32
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English