Modulation of microwaves propagating through a radio-frequency plasma subjected to a perpendicular low-intensity time-dependent magnetic field

Abstract Radio-frequency electric power absorbed by a plasma, in the presence of a low-intensity perpendicular magnetic field, shows a variation with the intensity of the applied magnetic field and a resonance at electron cyclotron frequency equal to the frequency of the electric field. If such an r.f. plasma, is subjected to a perpendicular low-intensity time-dependent magnetic field, then the r.f. electric power absorbed by the plasma, will follow the periodic variation of the magnetic field. This periodic variation in r.f. power absorbed by the plasma will lead to a periodic variation in the plasma parameters, such as electron density and elastic collision frequency of electron and molecule. A microwave propagating through such a plasma, possessing periodically varying parameters, will evidently become amplitude modulated. In the present paper, important theoretical aspects of this problem have been investigated, and the modulation impressed upon the microwave propagating through such a plasma has been computed for various cases.