Effective parameters for Maxwellian and non-Maxwellian magnetoplasmas

Abstract

The velocity dependence of the electron–neutral collision frequency may be taken into account by introducing an effective collision frequency and an effective plasma frequency. The properties of these effective parameters are examined for cold, weakly ionized magnetoplasmas. The relationship between these effective parameters and a new collisional response function R(y) is described for Maxwellian distribution functions. For this case of Maxwellian distributions, curves are presented of the effective parameters as a function of frequency for both a pure power-law dependence of collision frequency on electron velocity and for the case of a coupling between two power-law variations. When the a-c. electric field becomes sufficiently strong to alter the form of the isotropic part of the electron distribution function, the effective plasma parameters will become functions of the ellipticity and intensity of the a-c. field. Graphs are presented of the effective parameters as a function of normalized frequency, normalized field strength, and dependence of collision frequency on electron velocity for the case where only pure (unmixed) high-intensity modes are present in the weakly ionized magnetoplasma.