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Stability of strong electromagnetic waves in overdense plasmas against long-wavelength perturbations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 March 2009

F. J. Romeiras  and
G. Rowlands
F. J. Romeiras
Affiliation:
Centro de Electrodinâmica, Instituto Superior Técnico, 1096 Lisboa Codex, Portugal
G. Rowlands
Affiliation:
Department of Physics, University of Warwick, Coventry CV4 7AL, U.K.
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Abstract

We consider the stability against long-wavelength small parallel perturbations of a class of exact standing wave solutions of the equations that describe an unmagnetized relativistic overdense cold electron plasma. The main feature of these nonlinear waves is a circularly polarized transverse component of the electric field periodically modulated in the longitudinal direction. Using an analytical method developed by Rowlands we obtain a dispersion relation valid for long-wavelength perturbations. This dispersion relation is a biquadratic equation in the phase velocity of the perturbations whose coefficients are very complicated functions of the two parameters used to define the nonlinear waves: the normalized ion density and a quantity related to the modulation depth. This dispersion relation is discussed for the whole range of the two parameters revealing, in particular, the existence of a region in parameter space where the nonlinear waves are stable.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Plasma Physics , Volume 33 , Issue 2 , April 1985 , pp. 285 - 301
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1985

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References

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