Electromagnetic radiation and nonlinear energy flow in an electron beam-plasma system

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Abstract
The mechanism by which unstable electron plasma waves are converted into electromagnetic waves in a uniform plasma is investigated. Electromagnetic radiation is generated upon injection of an electron beam (500 eV) into a collisionless quiescent magnetoplasma (ne ≲1012 cm−3, kTe ≊2 eV). The emission (ω0) is observed to peak near the plasma frequency (ωp) which is well above the cyclotron frequency (ωc ≪ωp≲ω0). It is shown that electromagnetic waves (ω0, k0) are produced by the scattering of electrostatic plasma waves (ωe, ke) off self‐consistently produced ion‐acoustic waves (ωi, ki). At low beam intensities the frequency and wave vector matching conditions are experimentally verified (ωe=ωi+ω0, ke=ki+k0≂ki). The emission is found to be polarized, negligible in intensity at ω0=2ωp, and its source is localized. The space‐time evolution of the three‐wave interaction is presented. Besides these nonlinear wave–wave interactions the wave–particle interactions are investigated. It is found that the strong Langmuir turbulence exhibits a three‐dimensional character. Cross‐correlation surfaces are measured, and their characteristic scale lengths are found to decrease with increasing wave intensity toward the Debye length (λD ≂20 μm) although the resolution is probe limited (Lmin ≂1 mm). The beam electrons are diagnosed using a novel directional velocity analyzer which is capable of resolving the true three‐dimensional distribution function. After interacting with the intense Langmuir waves, the beam electrons are scattered in velocity space, both parallel and perpendicular to their injection velocity. The background electron distribution is observed to develop an energetic anisotropic tail (E≲50 eV, kTe ≂1 eV). The energization of the background electrons coincides with the strong damping of the Langmuir waves. The nonlinear damping is seen as an anomalous ac resistivity produced by large amplitude ion‐density fluctuations (δni/ni ≂5%) in the electron beam region.