Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-nmvwc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-02T13:37:23.654Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Attenuation of longitudinal electro-acoustic waves in a plasma

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 March 2009

R. J. Papa
Affiliation:
Air force Cambridge Research Laboratories, L. G. Hanscom Field, Bedford, Massachusetts
P. Lindstrom
Affiliation:
Air force Cambridge Research Laboratories, L. G. Hanscom Field, Bedford, Massachusetts

Abstract

There are several practical situations in partially ionized plasmas when both collisionless (Landau) damping and electron-neutral collisions contribute to the attenuation of longitudinal waves. The longitudinal-wave dispersion relation is derived from Maxwell's equations and the linearized Boltzmann equation, in which electron-neutral collisions are represented by a Bhatnagar–Gross–Krook model that conserves particles locally. (The dispersion relation predicts that, for a given signal frequency ώ), an infinite number of complex wavenumbers kn can exist. Using Fourier–Laplace transform techniques, an integral representation for the electric field of the longitudinal waves is readily derived. Then, using theorems from complex variable theory, a modal expansion of the electric field can be made in terms of an infinite sum of confluent hypergeometric functions, whose arguments are proportional to the complex wavenumbers kn. It is demonstrated numerically that the spatial integral of the square of the electric field amplitude decreases as the electron-neutral collision frequency increases. Also, the amount of energy contained in the first few (lowest) modes, and the coupling between the modes, is examined as a function of plasma frequency, signal frequency and collision frequency.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1974

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Bhatnagar, P. L., Gross, E. P. & Krook, M. 1954 Phys. Rev. 94, 511.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Derfler, H. 1966 Proc. 7th Int. Conf. on Phenomena in Ionized Cases, vol. 2, p. 282.Google Scholar
Derfler, H. & Simonen, T. C. 1969 Phys. Fluids, 12, 269.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fried, B. D. & Conte, S. D. 1961 The Plasma Dispersion Function. Academic.Google Scholar
Ginzburg, V. L 1964 The Propagation of Electromagnetic Waves in Plasmas. Pergamon.Google Scholar
Hayes, J. N. 1961 Phys. Fluids 4, 1387.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Landau, L. D. 1946 J. Phys. USSR, 10, 25.Google Scholar
Lindstrom, P. & Papa, R. 1973 Air Force Cambridge Res. Labs. TR 73–0193.Google Scholar
Simonen, T. C. 1967 Landau waves. Stanford University AD 651461.Google Scholar
Van Kampen, N. G. 1955 Physica, 21, 949.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vlasov, A. 1945 J. Phys. Moscow, 9, 25.Google Scholar