Damping rates of waves in a switched magnetoplasma medium: longitudinal propagation

Abstract

The interaction of a circularly polarized electromagnetic wave with a switched-on magnetoplasma medium is considered. A static magnetic field in the direction of propagation is assumed to be present, resulting in longitudinal propagation. The incident wave splits into three waves whose frequencies are different from that of the incident wave. It is shown that these waves ultimately damp out if the plasma is even slightly lossy. The damping of the waves is interpreted in terms of their attenuation with distance and decay with time as they propagate in the lossy plasma. The attenuation-length and decay-time constants of the waves are obtained, and their dependence on the incident-wave frequency and the gyrofrequency is examined. Optimum parameters for an experiment to detect these waves are suggested.