The effect of gradients of density and static magnetic field on the propagation of surface waves and the wave-beam interaction

Abstract

For some specific forms of axial density variation analytic solutions of the electrodynamic and dispersion equations are presented for surface waves propagating along the boundary of a semi-infinite plasma. It is demonstrated that the inclusion of the axial density inhomogeneity results in a reduction of the growth rate for unstable oscillations, which may be interpreted as a suppression of the beam-plasma instability by the axial plasma inhomogeneity.