Anomalous Penetration of an Ordinary Wave into a Magnetoplasma Slab

Abstract

The penetration of an ordinary wave into an infinite magnetoplasma slab is calculated by adopting the image-metal technique in treating the electrons reflected at the plasma boundaries. After general expressions are derived, the wave frequency is assumed to be near the electron cyclotron frequency because the influence of the thermal motion of electrons is remarkable only for this case. It is found that the evanescent wave penetrates deeply into the slab compared with the case of a cold plasma, and the size effect appears due to the increase of the wave reflection at the plasma-vacuum boundary. The absorptive power due to collisions, evaluated for the limiting case of infinite thickness of the slab, is much larger than the value for a cold plasma and shows the surface effect. These two effects become more noticeable for the higher density and higher temperature of the plasma.