Ion plasma waves induced by frustrated Debye shielding

Abstract

The oscillation of electrons, in a sufficiently intense pump wave, frustrates Debye shielding in the direction of the oscillation. One finds that such oscillating electrons cannot shield charge fluctuations over distances smaller than the distance they sample in a plasma period. One consequence is that the frequency of ion waves can be increased from the ion acoustic frequency to the ion plasma frequency in the presence of large enough oscillations. This may explain a number of observations in laser experiments. More generally, any phenomenon involving Debye shielding will be altered by an intense pump wave. © 2002 American Institute of Physics.