Magnetoplasma absorption of intense electromagnetic waves: Numerical results

Abstract

Numerical methods are used to investigate absorption of either intense or weak electromagnetic waves obliquely incident on a nonuniform plasma with and without the presence of a dc magnetic field. The numerical formulation includes the full set of Maxwell's equations and three moments of the Boltzmann equation with a ponderomotive-force description. The investigation includes a study of the reflection and absorption of the incident wave as a function of angle of incidence as well as the complex electric and magnetic fields, electron-flow, dc magnetic field generation, and kinetic energy gained by resonant electrons within the plasma. Selected field snapshots are directly compared to particle-simulation predictions where a thousandfold reduction in computation time allows a detailed investigation of the wave-plasma interaction for laser wavelengths.