Interaction of an electromagnetic wave packet with an ionization front: Copropagating configuration - art. no. 037401

The interaction of a TM polarized wave packet with a moving ionization fron t is theoretically investigated. We extend our previous study [IEEE Trans. Plasma Sci. 27, 655 (1999)], where we considered the case when the wave pac ket is incident on the front, by including the case often used in experimen ts when the front overtakes the wave packet. We focus on the energy transfo rmation into the generated waves-the point that is rarely addressed in lite rature due to complications arising from the presence of Langmuir waves. Ou r quantitative results show the importance of losses via Langmuir wave exci tation compared to other possible losses due to the excitation of stationar y transverse electron currents in the plasma. Applicability to the generati on of frequency upshifted radiation is discussed.