PLASMA EMISSION BY A NONLINEAR BEAM INSTABILITY IN A WEAKLY MAGNETIZED PLASMA

In a recent series of publications, a new theory of electromagnetic ra diation with emission frequency close to the plasma frequency and/or i ts harmonic (i.e., the plasma emission) was presented; In this theory, the emission of radiation takes place as a result of excitation of lo ng wavelength modes by a nonlinear beam-plasma instability, which are converted to radiative electromagnetic waves by a nonlinear mode conve rsion process. Unlike standard theories, the new theory;predicts high radiation growth rate. In all the previous efforts on this theory, how ever, effects due to the presence of constant background magnetic fiel d were ignored. The purpose of this article is to generalize the new t heory to the case of weakly magnetized plasmas. (C) 1997 American Inst itute of Physics.