Cutoff conditions for transverse circularly polarized electromagnetic waves in a finite temperature electro-magneto-ionic medium

Abstract

The dispersion relation for wave propagation in a homogeneous, electrically neutral electron gas subject to crossed static electric and magnetic fields is derived using the coupled Maxwell-Boltzmann-Vlasov equations. The cutoff condition for transverse circularly polarized electromagnetic waves is obtained from the derived dispersion relation. The variation of the cutoff frequency ω 0 with the static electric field E 0, magnetostatic field B 0, the electron number density N and the electron gas temperature T is discussed. For example it is shown that for a given value of B 0 and N, either a decrease of the electron gas temperature T or an increase of static electric field E 0 will cause the cutoff frequency of the left-hand circularly polarized wave to increase while the cutoff frequency of the right-hand circularly polarized wave decreases. A possible application of the theory to the study of electromagnetic wave propagation in the region of ionospheric plasma, where both static electric and static magnetic fields are present, is indicated.