Generation of plasma oscillations in a low-pressure microwave discharge

The resonant excitation of plasma (Langmuir) oscillations during the microw ave breakdown of a low-pressure gas is studied both analytically and numeri cally using the simplest uniform model. It is shown that, because of a sign ificant delay in electron heating and cooling, this effect ensures that the plasma density increases at a high (resonant) rate, even after exceeding a critical value, and can reach a very high (overcritical) level. (C) 2001 M AIK "Nauka/Interperiodica".