HIGH-FREQUENCY WAVES IN A PLASMA WAVE-GUIDE

An analysis of the azimuthally symmetrical, high-frequency eigenmodes of a cylindrical metallic waveguide partially filled with a magnetized plasma is presented. Equations that permit calculation of the dispers ion curves for four families of electromagnetic and electrostatic mode s are derived. Numerical solutions are presented to facilitate the dev elopment of devices for generation of high-power electromagnetic radia tion, charged particle acceleration, and other applications of plasma waveguides. The dependence of the cutoff frequencies, and dispersion c urves of various modes on the ratio of the plasma radius a to the wave guide radius R is studied in detail. Space-charge modes are found to b e strongly dependent on the radius ratio a/R. The coupling of the disp ersion curves of different modes and the variation of the cutoff frequ encies of HE waveguide and cyclotron modes with cyclotron frequency ar e illustrated for the partially filled waveguide.