ELECTROMAGNETIC-WAVES SCATTERING BY NONUNIFORM PLASMA CYLINDER

An analytical technique for obtaining a complete set of scattering coe fficients for a stratified plasma cylinder is presented, referred to a s the scattering matrix model (SMM). The plasma model chosen for the s tudy is cold, steady-state, nonuniform, collisional and magnetised. Th e nonuniform cylinder is represented by a number of concentric cylindr ical shells and each has a fixed electron density. The overall density profile follows any prescribed distribution function. The field in ea ch layer is written in terms of an appropriate wave function weighted by unknown scattering coefficients. These coefficients are obtained by using successive application of boundary conditions. Another approxim ate analytical technique for solving such a problem is employed known as the impedance boundary conditions (IBC), which replaces the interio r cylinder with an impedance surface. Results show that SMM and IBC gi ve identical results as long as the application criteria of the IBC ar e satisfied. IBC has been found to be: faster and requires relatively simpler formulation. The effect of varying the plasma parameters on th e backscattering cross section is investigated.