On the ponderomotive force and the effect of loss reaction on parametric instability

Abstract

In this paper, the growth rate, ponderomotive force and the exciting condition for parametric instability are derived by considering the loss reaction using a new method. On the basis of the hydrodynamic equations, we take the production and loss reactions in plasma into account to derive the coupling equations for the electron plasma oscillation and ion acoustic oscillation, and obtain the growth rate for the parametric instability, the ponderomotive force and the exciting condition. The result shows that (a) the production reaction has no effect on the parametric instability, and the effect of loss reaction on the parametric instability is a damping one, (b) the more intensive the external field or pump is, the larger the growth rate is, (c) there exist two modes of the ponderomotive force, i.e.the high frequency mode and the low frequency mode, and (d) when ponderomotive force counteracts the damping force, the oscillations become non-damping and non-driving. The ratio of the electron plasma oscillation to ion acoustic oscillation is independent of the loss reaction and the external field.