Excitation of Waves in a Warm Plasma by a Current Source

Abstract

The general expression for the electromagnetic field due to an arbitrary monochromatic current source in an unbounded, homogeneous, warm, collisionless plasma in the absence of a magnetostatic field is derived. A hydrodynamic description is used in which ion and electron motion is included. The general results are specialized to the case of an electric dipole source. It is found that the field is generally composed of three parts which, in the radiation region, correspond to the well-known transverse, longitudinal electron, and longitudinal ion waves. The power flow in the radiation region is shown to be largest along the axis of the dipole for low frequencies whereas the maximum occurs perpendicular to the dipole at high frequencies.