Abstract
The influence of thermal effects on the ray path near and through the electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) is investigated. First, the source of differences between the thermal plasma and cold plasma ray descriptions is identified. Ray paths obtained in (i) cold plasma, (ii) hot Maxwellian plasma and (iii) weakly relativistic Maxwellian plasma are then discussed. It is found that in the ECR region thermal effects may induce a substantial ray refraction, ray reflection and change of the wave polarization. This has important implications on the propagation and absorption characteristics of both, the low and the high field side launched electromagnetic waves.
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