QUASI-STATIONARY CURRENT GENERATION BY AN ELECTROMAGNETIC-WAVE IN MAGNETIZED COLLISIONAL PLASMA

A technique is developed for the theoretical description of a quasi-st ationary current generated by an electromagnetic wave in a dense magne tized plasma. This approach consistently incorporates the effect of el ectron-ion collisions on the Cherenkov wave-particle interaction. The system of kinetic equations, which is the basis of our theory, is stud ied for various values of the ratio of the electron mean free path to the radiation wavelength and also for various values of the ratio of t he wave frequency detuning from the electron cyclotron frequency to th e frequency of electron-ion collisions. For the limiting cases, both t he value of the quasistationary current and the current generation eff iciency are obtained. The dependence of the generation efficiency on t he plasma density and electron temperature, as well as on the electrom agnetic wave phase velocity, was obtained.