PHYSICAL REVIEW E

VOLUME 53, NUMBER 5

MAY 1996

Modulational instability of beat waves in a transversely magnetized plasma: Ion effects

T. Ferdous, M. R. Amin, and M. Salimullah
Department of Physics, Jahangirnagar University, Savar, Dhaka 1342, Bangladesh Received 7 September 1995 The effect of ion dynamics on the modulational instability of the electrostatic beat wave at the difference frequency of two incident laser beams in a hot, collisionless, and transversely magnetized plasma has been studied theoretically. The full Vlasov equation in terms of gyrokinetic variables is employed to obtain the nonlinear response of ions and electrons. It is found that the growth rate of modulational instability is about two orders higher when ion motions are included. PACS number s : 52.35.Mw, 52.35.Nx, 52.75.Di

I. INTRODUCTION

Recently there has been a great interest in the generation of large amplitude electron plasma waves at the beat frequency of two high power laser radiation in a plasma 1 4 . The most promising application of beat waves is in the plasma beat wave accelerator PBWA 59 . Other applications of beat waves include plasma heating and current drive 10,11 , plasma diagnostics 12 , etc. Recently, in the case of particle acceleration, Modena et al. 13 experimentally observed the acceleration of electrons at the wave-breaking limit of a nonlinear relativistic electron plasma wave excited by strong forward Raman scattering induced by a highintensity ( 5 1018 W cm 2 ) short-pulse laser. However, the excitation of the electron plasma wave and the acceleration of electrons can be controlled more efciently in the well known plasma beat wave accelerator scheme. Amiranoff et al. 14 observed appreciable acceleration of electrons in a recent experiment on the PBWA. Before achieving the possible acceleration of particles to ultrahigh energy, the longitudinal large amplitude electron plasma wave may couple parametrically with different plasma modes, and may suffer a number of strong microinstabilities which may deteriorate the acceleration process seriously. Amiranoff et al. 14 concluded from their experiment that, in particular, modulational instability can seriously destroy the excited plasma wave and stop the acceleration mechanism. Therefore, the study of the parametric instabilities of beat waves and their possible saturation is of great importance in the PBWA. It is well known that the coupling of the Langmuir wave to the ion motion can give rise either to modulational or decay instabilities 15 . On a slow time scale, ion motion 16 can play an important role in saturating the large amplitude beat wave. In the present study we retain the ion dynamics as well as electron dynamics in the nonlinear response, because the time scale of the ion motion pi 1 where pi is the ion plasma frequency , which is very short on the order of a few picoseconds at the plasma density 1016 1017 cm 3 , can be less or comparable to the duration of the laser pulses in the present day experiments 14,17 . Therefore the role of ions may be important in these experiments. However, at higher pump strength and for short pulses less than an ion period , instabilities, particularly those which involve ion motion, can be avoided 9 . To the best knowledge of the
1063-651X/96/53 5 /5218 10 /$10.00 53

authors, there has been no study of beat wave instabilities including the ion dynamics. In the surfatron scheme 18 , a potential modication of the PBWA, an external transverse static magnetic eld is applied to phase lock the particles with the wave for preventing the accelerated particles from outrunning the plasma wave, thereby eliminating the limitation on the maximum energy gain of the plasma particles. In the presence of an external magnetic eld, a plasma supports a variety of plasma modes. The plasma wave in the PWBA attains a large amplitude, and may couple parametrically to these modes, deteriorating the uniform acceleration of particles to high energy. Therefore, a detailed investigation of all possible parametric instabilities of this high amplitude electron plasma wave in the presence of an external transverse static magnetic eld is of great importance in the context of the PBWA. In this paper, we have studied, in particular, the four wave parametric instability, i.e., the modulational instability of a large amplitude longitudinal beat wave excited at the beat frequency of two high power electromagnetic waves in a homogeneous, hot, and transversely magnetized plasma including ion dynamics. We consider short-wavelength perturbations which may be present in the laser-produced plasma because of the temperature or density gradients caused by the presence of ion/electron plasma waves. The plan of the paper is as follows. In Sec. II, we study the response of magnetized ions and electrons of the plasma by employing the full Vlasov equation in terms of gyrokinetic variables for the low-frequency mode. In the case of the 2 plasma beat wave accelerators, the condition 2 pe ce where pe and ce are, respectively, the electron plasma frequency and electron cyclotron frequency is always satised. We may therefore consider the high-frequency response of electrons to be unmagnetized. The frequency of the lowfrequency mode is usually less than frequency of the electron plasma wave excited at the beat frequency of the two incident laser beams, i.e., the pump waves. The Larmor radii of electrons and ions corresponding to this low-frequency mode may be larger than or comparable to the wavelengths of these waves. Hence we employ the kinetic equation for the nonlinear response of electrons and ions in the plasma. In Sec. III, the growth rate of the four wave decay process, i.e., the modulational instability, has been obtained. In this case the phase velocity of the low-frequency-driven mode is considered to be equal to the group velocity of the beat wave. A
5218 1996 The American Physical Society

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MODULATIONAL INSTABILITY OF BEAT WAVES IN A . . .

5219

numerical estimate of our results is given in Sec. IV. Finally, a brief discussion is presented in Sec. V.
II. NONLINEAR RESPONSE OF ELECTRONS AND IONS

solve the full Vlasov equation for the nonlinear response of electrons and ions in the plasma 19 .
A. Response of ions

We consider the propagation of two colinear highamplitude upper-hybrid electromagnetic waves ( 1 ,k1 ) and ( 2 ,k2 ) in a transversely magnetized (Bs z ), hot, homogeneous, and collisionless plasma: E1,2 E1,2exp where
1,2 2 pe 2 1,2 2 1,2 2 1,2 2 pe 2 pe 2 ce 1/2

1,2t

k 1,2x ,

We study the response of ions to the four-wave decay process in the presence of an external static magnetic eld by the nonlinear Vlasov equation expressed in terms of the guiding center coordinates xg , magnetic moment , and the polar angle of perpendicular velocity and parallel momentum p : fT i t xg fT i xg fT i fT i p fT i p 0, 5

k 1,2

where xg x
i sin i cos

, , 6

4
pe

e 2 n 0 1/2 0 me eB s . m ec

yg y

z g z. eB s /m i c, m i 2 /2 ci , the superscript T refers to the total quantity, and the symbol denotes quantities parallel to the external magnetic eld; the dot over a quantity denotes derivative with respect to time. Using equations of motion, we can easily deduce
ci

ce

Here e, m e , n 0 , and c are the electronic charge, mass, 0 unperturbed equilibrium electron density, and velocity of light in a vacuum, respectively. On account of the nonlinear interaction of the incident electromagnetic waves in the plasma, a large-amplitude longitudinal electrostatic electron plasma wave ( 0 ,k0 ; 0 1 2 , k0 k1 k2 ) is generated at the difference frequency: E0
0 ,k0

e
ci

ET e

ik0 xik 0

0 ,k0 0 exp

i
0t

ci

mi e mi

E T sin x

E T cos y

k 0x ,

3 xg where H is the Hamiltonian, and

T 0 0 ,k0 2 E ci T ci ,

where 0 is the electrostatic potential of the beat wave ( 0 ,k 0 ) which satises the Bohm-Gross dispersion relation for the magnetized plasma,
2 0 2 pe 2 ce

3k 2 v 2 /2, 0 th,e

p2
ci

2m i

10

v th,e (2T e /m e ) 1/2 is the thermal speed of electrons, and T e is the temperature of the plasma electrons measured in units of the Boltzmann constant. Now we consider that this longitudinal electron plasma wave will interact with a short-wavelength low-frequency electrostatic density perturbation associated with a plasma mode ( ,k), and generate two high-frequency sideband modes ( 1,2 0 , k1,2 k k0 ). The waves ( ,k), ( 1 ,k1 ), and ( 2 ,k2 ) will grow at the expense of the energy from the pump wave ( 0 ,k0 ). For the hot magnetized plasma, the Larmor radii of electrons and ions may be larger than any of the wavelengths of the waves involved, i.e., k 0 e , k e , k 1 e , k 2 e , k 0 i , k i , k 1 i , and k 2 i 1, where e v / ce and i v / ci . The symbol denotes quantities perpendicular to the external magnetic eld. Hence the uid model of plasma breaks down, and one must

,k

1 ,k1

2 ,k2

11

is the total electrostatic potential in the system. Since ( , ), (x g ,y g ), and (p ,z) form the canonical set of variables, Eq. 5 follows directly from the continuity equation of ion density in the six dimensional space of the resulting variables 19 . In the presence of the electrostatic potentials of the pump and the decay waves, the total distribution function of ions in Eq. 5 may be decomposed as fT i f0 0i f 0i
0 ,k0

fi

,k

f 1i

1 ,k1

f 2i

2 ,k2

, 12

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T. FERDOUS, M. R. AMIN, AND M. SALIMULLAH

53

where the space and time variations are implied, and the equilibrium distribution function f 0 is taken to be Maxwell0i ian at the temperature T i : f 0 n0 0i 0 mi 2 Ti
3/2

exp

t kx

exp

i exp

t kxg in Jn k , 14

exp

mi 2 . 2T i

13

f 0i , f 1i , and f 2i are the high-frequency response at the pump and sideband frequencies , and f i is the low-frequency response. Using the identity

where J n is the Bessel function of order n and the summation over n runs from to , we can express

ET

ik0 ik1 ik2

0 exp

0t

k 0x g k1 xg k2 xg

exp
n

in

J 0 ik n

exp J1 n J 2, n

t kxg

exp
n

in

Jn

exp

1t

exp
n

in

exp

2t

exp
n

in

15

fT i

f 0 exp 0i exp i

0t

k 0x g

exp
n

in

f 0 exp ni

t kxg i
2t

exp
n

in

f ni in f2 . ni 16

1t

k1 xg

exp
n

in

f 1 exp ni

k2 xg

exp
n

In Eq. 15 , s are the amplitudes of the electrostatic potentials of the waves, J n J n (k i ), J 0 J n (k 0 i ), n 1 J n J n (k 1 i ), and J 2 J n (k 2 i ), where , 1 , and 2 are the angles between the x axis and k , k1 , and k2 , respecn tively. Using Eqs. 15 and 16 into Eqs. 7 9 , we can write

ie

0 exp

0t

k 0x g k1 xg

n exp
n

in

J 0 ie n

exp J 1 ie n

t kxg exp i
2t

n exp
n

in

Jn in J2 , n 17

ie

1 exp

1t

n exp
n

in

k2 xg

n exp
n

ci

e 0k 0 exp mi
1k 1

0t

k 0x g

exp
n

in

J0 n

e k exp mi J1 n e
2k 2

t kxg i
2t

exp
n

in

Jn in J2 , n 18

mi

exp

1t

k1 xg

exp
n

in

mi

exp

k2 xg

exp
n

xg

ie k m i ci exp
n

sin exp

t kxg
2 sin 2

exp
n

in

Jn k1 k2 xg exp
n

1 sin 1

exp

1t

k1 xg 19

in

J1 k2 n

exp

2t

in

J2 , n

53

MODULATIONAL INSTABILITY OF BEAT WAVES IN A . . .

5221

yg

ie k m i ci 0 k1 k2

exp

0t

k 0x g
1t

exp
n

in

J0 k n in

cos exp J1 n J2 , n

t kxg

exp
n

in

Jn

1 cos 1

exp

k1 xg k2 xg

exp
n

2 cos 2

exp

2t

exp
n

in p , mi

20

zg

21

where the prime on the Bessel functions denotes a derivative with respect to its argument. Now, since the maximum growing modes propagate in the plane perpendicular to the external magnetic eld 19,20 we take k k . Using Eqs. 15 21 in the Vlasov equation 5 , we obtain the following linear response of ions: f0 ni e 0 Ti e Ti e 1 Ti e 2 Ti n
0 ci

n
ci

ci

J0 f 0 , n 0i

f ni f1 ni f2 ni

n n
1 ci

ci

Jn f 0 , 0i J1 f 0 , n 0i J2 f 0 . n 0i

n
ci

22

ci

n
2

ci

Using Eq. 22 in Eq. 5 , we obtain the nonlinear part of the distribution function for the low-frequency mode ( ,k) as f NL ni where
1

exp n

in
1 ci 2

23

ek 0 2m i e 2
1l

n l exp i n l J1 l f 0n
l i

J 0 f 1n l

l i

ek 1 2m i
1

n l exp il

J 1 f 0n l

e
l i

0l

2
1

exp i n l
1

J0 l

f 1n

l i

exp il

iek 0 k 1 2m i

sin
ci

exp i n l

J 0 f 1n l

1 i

iek 0 k 1 2m i

sin
ci

exp il

J 1 f 0n l

l i

, 24

ek 0 * 0
2 l

2m i e 2
2l

n l exp i n l
2 2 Jl

0 2 Jl

f 2n l i

ek 2 2m i
2

l n exp il J 0 f 2n l

2 2 Jl

f 0l* n i

e *l 0 2

exp i n l

0 2 Jl

f 2n

l i

exp il

f 0l* n

iek 0 k 2 2m i

* sin 0
ci

exp i n l

l i

iek 0 k 2 2m i

2 sin 2 ci

exp il

J 2 f 0l* n l

25

where the asterisk denotes the complex conjugate of the quantity involved. We obtain the linear and nonlinear ion density perturbations associated with low-frequency mode ( ,k) from the relation ni ,k 2
n 0

f ni J n

26

Thus the linear and nonlinear ion density perturbations at ( ,k) are obtained as nL i and
ik 2

4 e

27

5222

T. FERDOUS, M. R. AMIN, AND M. SALIMULLAH

53

n NL i where
2 pi 2 2 k th,i

n 0 e 2 exp 0 2m i T i

i
0 ci

1X i

* 0

2Y i

28

Z
th,i n

n k
th,i

ci

I n b i exp mi

bi ,
2 ci

29

Xi

ik 0 k 1 sin 1 exp i
1 ci 2 ci ci

I 0 b 0i exp

b 0i b 1i ,

ik 0 k 1 sin
0 ci

I 0 b 1i exp

b 1i

exp i
1

1 ci

2T i

1 I 0 b 0i exp

b 0i 30

mi 2T i and
0

1 I 0 b 1i exp

Yi

ik 0 k 2 sin
0

exp 2i
ci

I 2 b 2i exp

b 2i b 0i b 0i

ik 0 k 2 sin
2

exp i
ci 2

I 0 b 0i exp

b 0i b 2i 31

mi 2T i mi Ti
th,i

2 ciexp 2 2 ci

2 ci 2

1 I 0 b 0i exp 1 I 1 b 0i exp

mi

2 ciexp 0

2i
ci

2T i .

1 I 2 b 2i exp

exp 2i
0 ci

(2T i /m i ) 1/2; I 0 , I 1 , and I 2 are the zero, rst, and second order modied Bessel functions of the rst kind; b 0i k 2 2th,i /2 2 1 for the usual plasma parameters in the beat wave accelerators; b 1i k 2 2th,i /2 2 1; and 0 ci 1 ci b 2i k 2 2th,i /2 2 1, for the short-wavelength perturbation. In deriving Eq. 28 we have retained only the dominating terms 2 ci having ( ci) in the denominator.

B. Response of electrons

For the low-frequency response of magnetized electrons we use the Vlasov equation in terms of the guiding center coordinates. Following the same procedure as in the case of the magnetized ions, we nd the linear and nonlinear density perturbations of electrons as nL e and n 0 e 2 exp i 0 2m e T e
0 ce ek 2

4 e

32

n NL e where
2 pe k2 2 th,e

1X e

* 0

2Y e

33

Z
th,e n

n k

ce

I n b e exp me
2 ce ce 1

be ,

34

th,e

Xe

me

2 ce

exp
1 1

i
ce

2T e ik 0 k 1 sin
0

1 I 0 b 0e exp b 1e

b 0e

2T e i

1 I 0 b 1e exp I 0 b 0e exp b 0e ,

b 1e 35

I 0 b 1e exp

ik 0 k 1 sin 1 exp
1 ce

ce

53

MODULATIONAL INSTABILITY OF BEAT WAVES IN A . . .

5223

Ye

me me

2 ce

exp
0 2 ce

2i
ce

2T e Te

1 I 2 b 2e exp
2

b 2e b 0e

me

2 ce

exp
2 2 0

i
ce

2T e

1 I 0 b 0e exp 2i
2

b 0e b 0e 36

exp
0

2i
ce

1 I 1 b 0e exp b 0e .

ik 0 k 2 sin

exp
ce

I 1 b 0e exp

ik 0 k 2 exp
2 ce

I 0 b 0e exp

In the case of the plasma beat wave accelerators, the condi2 tion 2 pe ce is always satised and we may consider the high-frequency response of electrons to be unmagnetized. Taking the high-frequency response of electrons to be unmagnetized, the solution of the linearized Vlasov equation for the response at ( 0 ,k0 ) may be written as fL 0 e 0 k0 v 1 Te 0 k0 v
0

Now, substituting Eqs. 27 , 28 , 32 , 33 , 42 , 43 , and 44 in the Poissons equation, we obtain the following nonlinear coupled equations: 4 e NL NL ne ni , k2 4 e
1 1

45

f0, 0

37

k2 1 4 e k2 2

n NL , 1e n NL , 2e
1,

46

where 0 k0 v is assumed. For the high-frequency response at ( 1 ,k1 ) and ( 2 ,k2 ) we express f 1 and f 2 as f1 f2 fL 1 fL 2 f NL , 1 f NL , 2 38

47 and
2

where the linear dielectric functions , by 1 1

e i

are given

where the linear and nonlinear parts of the distribution functions f L , f L , f NL , and f NL in the limit 1,2 k1,2v turn out 1 2 1 2 to be f 1,2 f NL 1 e 2m e e 2m e f NL 1 e
1,2

k1,2v
1,2

Te 1
1

k1,2v
1,2

2 pe k2 2 th,e

Z
th,e n

n k n k
th,i

ce

I n b e exp

be

th,e ci

f0, 0

39

k1 v
1

2 pi k2 2 th,i

Z
th,i n

I n b i exp

bi , 48

k0 v f L * k v f L * 0 0

, 40 1
2 pe k2 2 1 th,e

f NL 2

1
2

k2 v
2

k0 v f L

k v f L 0

. 41

k1

ce

th,e n

k1

th,e

I n b 1e exp
2 pe 2 2 k 2 th,e

b 1e , n

49

Integrating and in velocity space, we obtain the following expressions for the nonlinear density uctuations at the high-frequency sidebands ( 1 ,k1 ) and ( 2 ,k2 ) for motion of electrons: n NL 1e n NL 2e e 2m e e 2m e
2 2 2 1

f NL 2

k2

ce

th,e n

k2

th,e

k0 k1 k0 k2

*n L 0 e
L 0n e

kk1

n L* , 0 n L* 0

42

I n b 2e exp

b 2e .

50

kk2

43

where n L is the linear density perturbation at the low free quency given by Eq. 32 , and n L is the linear density uc0 tuation associated with the pump wave: nL 0 ek 2 0
0 0n 0 . me 2 0

We have taken the response of electrons and ions for the low-frequency mode ( ,k), while only the electron response has been taken into account for the high-frequency modes, where the ions form only the charge neutralizing background. Eliminating , 1 , and 2 from Eqs. 45 47 we obtain the following expression for the nonlinear dispersion relation for the low-frequency electrostatic mode ( ,k):
1 1 2 2

44

51

5224

T. FERDOUS, M. R. AMIN, AND M. SALIMULLAH

i 2 2 * pee 0 2 2 2 4m e T e k k 1 1 0 ce ek 2

53

where
1

k0 k1 k 2 0 X i exp

2 pe 2 kk1 0

r/

55

Similarly 52
1

X e exp i and

m eT e m iT i

ce ci

1r L1 1 2r L2 2

56

2 2 2 2 * pee 0 2 2 2 4m e T e k k 2 2 0 ce ek 2

57

k0 k2 k 2 0 Y i exp

2 pe 2 kk2 0

Y e exp i

m eT e m iT i

ce ci

53

where L1 and L2 are the linear damping rates of the decay waves ( 1 ,k1 ) and ( 2 ,k2 ). Thus the growth rate of the four-wave parametric instability is obtained from
L L1 L2 1 1/ L2 1 2 2/ L1 2

This is the general dispersion relation of any low-frequency electrostatic mode ( ,k) in the presence of an electrostatic pump wave and the sidebands in a transversely magnetized plasma. From Eqs. 52 and 53 , we notice that the effect of ion motion enters into the coupling coefcients 1 and 2 through the terms containing X i and Y i . For ci , the ion contribution may dominate over that due to motion of electrons.
III. EXPRESSION FOR GROWTH RATE

1 /

58

To obtain the growth rate of the decay process we write 14,16

r r

where is the growth rate in presence of the damping of the waves. Now the linear dielectric function of the lowfrequency mode ( ,k) propagating along the x direction can be simplied with the approximations ci and , 1 , 2 k0,1,2v, and 0 when all waves are 0 1 2 considered to be propagating along the x direction , Eq. 48 becomes 1 and
2 pe k2 2 th,e

i , i

2 pi k2 2 th,i

1
ci

1 2 bi

59

2 i
r L

2 pi

2 ci ci

54 Using Eqs. 49 , 50 , normalized growth rate bility in the absence of waves ( L L1 L2

k3

3 th,i

2.

60

where the subscript r represents a real quantity and L , the linear damping rate of the low-frequency mode may be obtained from the relation

52 , 53 , and 60 we obtain the ( 0 ) of the modulational instathe linear damping of all the decay 0) as

0 / th,e

2 2 ce

k3

8k 0 k2 2
2 2 2

3 3 th,e th,i 2 2 pi ci 2 ek

ce

ci 2 2 pe 2 0

2 0

k2 1

1 2 1

ce

2 ek

k0
1/2

2 pe 2 0

m eT e m iT i

ce ci

ce

k0

m eT e m iT i

ce ci

61

where
2 0

e 2k 2 * 0 0 m2 e b 0e
2 0

, me
2 ce ce 2 ci ci

62

me 2T e
1

2 ce ce 2 ci ci

1 I 0 b 0e exp

2T e mi 2T i

1 I 0 b 1e exp

b 1e ,

63

mi 2T i
1

1 I 0 b 0i exp

b 0i

1 I 0 b 1i exp

b 1i ,

64

53

MODULATIONAL INSTABILITY OF BEAT WAVES IN A . . .

5225

me 2T e me Te
2 0

2 ce ce 2 ce ce

1 I 2 b 2e exp 1 I 0 b 0e exp mi 2T i
2 2 ci

b 2e b 0e ,

me Te
0

2 ce ce

1 I 1 b 0e exp

b 0e 65

mi 2T i
0

2 ci ci

1 I 2 b 2i exp

b 2i

1 I 0 b 0i exp
ce

b 0i

mi Ti
0

2 ci ci

1 I 1 b 0i exp

b 0i . 66

Since we are considering all the waves propagating in the x direction, 1 2 0 and k z k 1z k 2z 0. Hence there is no linear damping of the waves. Consequently, the threshold of the modulational instability of the electrostatic beat wave is zero. Thus the undamped growth rate given by Eq. 61 is due only to the nonlinear beating of the pump and the sidebands. It may be anticipated that the motion of ions to the undamped growth rate of the modulational instability Eq. 61 may contribute signicantly and even dominate over the contribution of electron motion for ci .

IV. NUMERICAL RESULTS AND GRAPHICAL REPRESENTATIONS

To have some numerical appreciation of the results of our theory, we have made calculations for the growth rate of modulational instability for the following typical plasma parameters: 1 1.963 1014 rad sec 1 , 2 1.778 1014 rad sec 1 corresponding to a CO 2 laser , n 0 1017 cm 3 , 0 T e 1 keV, B s 20200 kG, 0 / th,e 1.0, / ci 1.001, and T e /T i 100. We have chosen the above set of parameters for our calculations, because of their relevance to plasma beat wave experimental studies. The results of calculations are presented in the form of graphs in Figs. 1 4. Figure 1 shows the variation of the normalized growth rate 0 / for the modulational instability with electron plasma temperature T e . From Fig. 1, we note that modula-

FIG. 1. Variation of 0 / with T e for the following parameters: / th,e 1.0, Te 1 keV, T e /T i 100, B s 20 kG, 13 rad sec 1 , / ci 1.001, and n 0 1017 cm 3 . 0 1.85 10 0 Curve A corresponds to the normalized growth rate for the electron motion only. Curve B corresponds to the normalized growth rate of the instability when both electron and ion motions are included.
0

FIG. 2. Variation of 0 / with T e /T i for the following parameters: 0 / th,e 1.0, T e 1 keV, and B s 20 kG. The other parameters and specications are the same as in Fig. 1.

5226

T. FERDOUS, M. R. AMIN, AND M. SALIMULLAH

53

FIG. 3. Variation of 0 / with the external magnetic eld B s for the following parameters: 0 / th,e 1.0, T e /T i 100, and T e 1 keV. The other parameters and specications are the same as in Fig. 1.

FIG. 4. Variation of 0 / with / ci for the following parameters: 0 / th,e 1.0, T e /T i 100, T e 1 keV, and B s 200 kG. The other parameters and specications are the same as in Fig. 1.

tional instability decreases at low temperature but becomes more or less independent of T e for a given T e /T i . Figure 2 shows the variation of the normalized growth rate 0 / for the modulational instability of the beat wave with T e /T i . It is noticed that the modulational instability decreases rapidly with T e /T i only when electron motion is considered; but with ion motion included, the modulational instability takes a steady value. Figure 3 shows the variation of the normalized growth rate 0 / of the modulational instability of the beat wave with external magnetic eld B s . It follows that the normalized growth rate of the modulational instability decreases slowly with increasing B s . However, the growth rate is about two orders higher when ion motion is included. Figure 4 shows the variation of the growth rate 0 / with / ci . We notice that the growth rate increases with / ci . When ion motion is included, the growth rate of the instability takes a higher steady value. For unmagnetized plasmas 16 , the growth rate of the modulational instability is quite high in the order of pi). But, due to the application of the external static magnetic eld in the present investigation, the growth rate of the modulational instability reduces substantially, on the order of ci pi .
V. DISCUSSION

In this paper, we have studied the modulational instability of an electrostatic electron plasma wave excited by two elec-

tromagnetic waves in a transversely magnetized plasma. The transverse static external magnetic eld is applied with a view to phase lock the accelerated particles with the wave; that is, preventing these particles from outrunning the plasma beat wave, thereby allowing the particles to gain maximum energy. The nonlinear response of electrons and ions has been obtained by solving the full Vlasov equation expressed in terms of gyrokinetic variables. It is seen from the expression for the growth rate of the modulational instability cf. Eq. 61 that the growth rate vanishes when ci because at the ion cyclotron resonance of the low-frequency mode ( ,k) the wave is totally damped to the ions. For unmagnetized plasmas 16 , the growth rate of the modulational instability is quite high on the order of pi). But, due to the application of the external static magnetic eld in the present investigation, the growth rate of the modulational instability reduces substantially, on the order of ci pi . The ion nonlinearity is seen to dominate over the electron nonlinearity for the low-frequency perturbation for ci . From the numerical calculations, we observe that the growth rate of the modulational instability is about two orders higher when ion motion is included. We note that the modulational instability decreases at low temperature but becomes more or less independent of T e for a given T e /T i . It is also noted that the

53

MODULATIONAL INSTABILITY OF BEAT WAVES IN A . . .

5227

modulational instability decreases rapidly with T e /T i only when electron motion is considered; however, with ion motion included, the modulational instability takes a steady value. We also note that the growth rate of the modulational instability decreases slowly with increasing B s . Therefore, the application of an external magnetic eld in the plasma beat wave acceleration scheme is also important for sup-

pressing modulational instability which otherwise may destroy the acceleration mechanism 9,14 . It may be mentioned further that the effect of ion dynamics on other parametric instabilities, such as decay, oscillating two-steam instabilities, etc. of the longitudinal beat wave may become important and signicant. Work along this line is in progress.

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