On the scattering of laser light from a marginally stable hydrogen plasma

Abstract

In recent experiments light has been scattered from hydrogen plasmas in which the electron component was drifting relative to the ion component. A lack of precise knowledge of the drift velocity corresponding to marginal stability, as well as of what is to be expected when marginal stability is reached, has led to a certain amount of vagueness in interpreting these experiments. The present work gives an exact division of parameter space into stable and unstable regions. The dividing line in the space of T+/T- vs nu d/ nu the is seen to have two segments, for which the wave number k that becomes unstable first is non zero (previously there was thought to be only one). The values of the critical wave numbers are given.