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Coupled Electroacoustic and Electromagnetic Waves in an Inhomogeneous, Compressible, and Lossy Plasma
Author(s) -
Verma Y. P.,
Raemer H. R.
Publication year - 1971
Publication title -
radio science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.371
H-Index - 84
eISSN - 1944-799X
pISSN - 0048-6604
DOI - 10.1029/rs006i001p00113
Subject(s) - physics , compressibility , lossy compression , electromagnetic radiation , plasma , computational physics , collision frequency , boundary value problem , wave propagation , electron , perturbation (astronomy) , classical mechanics , mechanics , optics , quantum mechanics , mathematics , statistics
Wave propagation in a one‐fluid compressible, inhomogeneous, and lossy plasma is studied. Coupling between the electroacoustic and electromagnetic waves is investigated analytically. The inhomogeneity of the medium is due to the variation of the electron density, collision frequency, and temperature along the vertical direction only ( z direction). An E polarized electromagnetic wave is assumed to be incident from a vacuum to a slowly varying, inhomogeneous, compressible, and lossy plasma occupying the half space defined by z > 0. Among the various possible boundary conditions at z = 0 that involve the electroacoustic fields, the vanishing of the pressure at z = 0 is chosen so that the numerical computation becomes relatively simple. The profiles of the electron density, the collision frequency, and the temperature are chosen so that they are consistent with this type of boundary condition. The numerical results presented here show the dependence of the coupling characteristics (i.e., the transfer of energy from em waves to p waves) on the various plasma parameters and other parameters. Conditions for the validity of the perturbation method are examined and are proved to be satisfied for the problem.