Regimes of the interactions of high-intensity plane electromagnetic waves with electron-ion plasmas

摘要

A set of fully nonlinear equations is derived from the Maxwell equations and the electron and ion fluid dynamics in one-dimensional geometry as a model of the interactions of extremely intense plane electromagnetic waves with cold locally non-neutral electron-ion plasmas. The problem is solved for phase velocities close to the speed of light numerically and with the help of asymptotic techniques. Depending on the field magnitudes, three nonlinear regimes are found to occur in the system. At plane-wave intensities inducing relativistic electron fluid dynamics but insufficient to cause significant ion motions, the model reverts to the classic Akhiezer-Polovin problem and yields its solutions describing the nonlinear self-modulation of the electromagnetic fields in plasmas. The types of regimes sustained at field strengths entailing substantial ion dynamics are the self-modulation with a splitting of the plane-wave field spectrum into a set of closely spaced bands, and the harmonics generation with a spectrum comprising broadly distanced bands. The latter two regimes correspond to a subcritical and an overcritical range of the plasma longitudinal field potentials. (c) 2008 American Institute of Physics.