Oscillating two-stream instability of a lower hybrid wave in an inhomogenous plasma

Abstract

The effect of the density inhomogeneity on the oscillating two-stream instability of a lower hybrid pump wave with a finite wavelength is investigated. The density inhomogeneity introduces dephasing that restricts the interaction region where the matching conditions hold. The loss of energy due to convection from this region introduces a certain convection threshold for the onset of this instability. The coupled differential equations are solved in Fourier space by converting them into an uncoupled eigenvalue equation and then applying a quantization condition. Expressions are obtained for the growth rate and the convective threshold, and the results are applied to the Princeton Large Torus parameters.< <ETX xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">&gt;</ETX>