Compact Plasma and Focused Ion Beams

207

13

Penetration and Screening of Perpendicularly

Launched Electromagnetic Waves

Introduction

The physics of the interaction of electromagnetic (EM) waves with plas-

mas has been an active area of research over the years [1–12]. In the pres-

ence of a static magnetic eld in the plasma, the interaction becomes all

the more interesting due to the generation of a variety of wave modes, cut-

offs, and resonances [1]. Most of the earlier experiments have focused on

launching waves parallel to a nearly uniform axial magnetostatic (B

o

) eld

produced by current-carrying coils (k ‖ B

o

case) [1–5]. The experiments on

the Whistler [2,3] and the electron-c ...