Basic Microwave Properties of Hot Magnetoplasmas

Abstract

The usual conductivity tensor of a uniform plasma in a uniform, static magnetic field (along the $z$ axis) is generalized to include four effects of random motion of plasma electrons. These effects are due to (1) the shape of the radio-frequency electric field strength expressed by $\nabla \times \nabla \times \mathrm{E}\ne 0$, (2) the partial spanning of a wavelength by an electron cyclotron orbit, and (3) the possible variation of the radio-frequency electric field lines along the $z$ axis of electron drift. The effects resulting cause diffusion damping, the existence of nonzero ($x, z$), ($y, z$), ($z, x$), and ($z, y$) elements in the conductivity tensor, large changes of the effective plasma density, and phase changes in the conduction current density. These results are applied to evaluation of the index of refraction of microwave signals propagating normal to the magnetic field. The existence of unusual transmission bands is predicted for very dense, hot plasmas.