Wave Propagation in a Plasma Based on the Cold Plasma Model Classic Reprint

Excerpt from Wave Propagation in a Plasma Based on the Cold Plasma Model

The study of wave propagation originated decades ago with the examination of radio wave propagation in the ionosphere. Once the cold plasma conductivity tensor is developed, the problem reduces to a study of Maxwell's equations with the specified conductivity tensor. By far, the bulk of the work done in this field has been based on geometric optics or plane stratified medium approximations. Neither of these approximations is particularly valid in many typical laboratory plasma applications at moderately low frequencies and moderately long wavelengths. Additionally, the appearance of resonances and the associated plasma heating brings into question the relevance of the simple cold plasma model. Here, we intend to examine fairly generally the consequences of the cold plasma model for wave propagation problems. We intend to compare the situation in a plasma with the better known problems of scattering of waves in electromagnetic theory or in quantum mechanics. Our attack on this problem is based on an examination of the system of partial differential equations that defines the wave propagation problem. We will not be able to give definitive answers to many of the questions we raise, as the problems appear far beyond current knowledge. We will show that waves in plasmas behave, in many cases, quite unlike the much simpler version of waves in ordinary electromagnetic theory or in quantum mechanics. We believe that the questions we raise must be addressed directly to obtain reliable, quantitative measures of ion cyclotron or lower hybrid wave heating and model patterns in a plasma device. Any direct numerical calculations face immediately the problems posed here.

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