Excitation of Electrostatic Fields in a Plasma by Transverse Electromagnetic Waves

Abstract

An experiment has been conducted in which a plane transverse electromagnetic wave is incident from free space on a layer of isotropic plasma at small angles (0–12°) of incidence. Strong longitudinal electrostatic fields are observed within the plasma in the regions where the radian frequency of the incident wave equals the plasma frequency when the electric vector of the incident field is in the plane of incidence. Only weak longitudinal electrostatic fields are observed if the incident electric field is perpendicular to the plane of incidence. The observed phenomenon appears consistent with the field growth in a region where the dielectric coefficient of a plasma becomes zero.