WAVE-PROPAGATION IN A DRIFTING PLASMA

Electromagnetic wave propagation in a drifting plasma is considered as a paradigm of vector wave propagation. In the drift frame, the disper sion tenser has a diagonal representation: one eigenmode is electrosta tic and two eigenmodes are electromagnetic. The dispersion equations f or all three eigenmodes are simple and well known. However, in the lab oratory frame the dispersion tenser is rather complicated and two of t he eigenmodes are neither electrostatic nor electromagnetic. We show e xplicitly that this complexity is due to the way in which the electric and magnetic fields transform between the drift frame and the laborat ory frame, and discuss how this transformation can be accomplished mos t efficiently. (C) 1995 American Institute of Physics.