Accession Number:

AD0694499

Title:

ELECTROMAGNETIC WAVE PROPAGATION IN UNIAXIAL PLASMAS WITH CURVED MAGNETIC FIELD,

Descriptive Note:

Corporate Author:

POLYTECHNIC INST OF BROOKLYN FARMINGDALE N Y DEPT OF ELECTROPHYSICS

Personal Author(s):

• Stalzer,Henry J. , Jr.
• Shmoys,Jerry
• Felsen,Leopold B.

Report Date:

1969-07-01

Pagination or Media Count:

196.0

Abstract:

The effect of the curvature of an impressed static magnetic field on the propagation and diffraction of electromagnetic waves in a uniaxial plasma is studied. The model chosen for the analysis is two dimensional with the magnetic field lines consisting of concentric circles. Ray optical techniques are used to construct approximate solutions to the field radiated from a line source in the unbounded medium and one into which a perfectly conducting or a transparent cylinder is introduced. The radiated, reflected, refracted and diffracted fields calculated by ray optics are then validated by obtaining exact integral representations for the solutions to several canonical problems and evaluating these integrals asymptotically for high frequencies. The agreement between the ray optical results and the asymptotic approximations validates the ray optical procedure and suggests its usefulness in obtaining approximate solutions to more general configurations which are not amenable to a rigorous analysis. The center of curvature of the magnetic field lines in the unbounded medium acts as a scatterer and is shown to be analogous to the vertex of a wedge. When cylindrical boundaries are introduced, the diffracted field consists of creeping rays which are excited by rays which are incident either tangentially or at the critical angle. Author

Descriptors:

• *PLASMAS(PHYSICS)
• WAVE PROPAGATION
• ELECTROMAGNETIC RADIATION
• DIFFRACTION
• MAGNETIC FIELDS

Subject Categories:

• Plasma Physics and Magnetohydrodynamics

Distribution Statement:

APPROVED FOR PUBLIC RELEASE