Parametric Instabilities and Anomalous Heating of Plasmas near the Lower Hybrid Frequency

It is shown both by theory and by computer experiments that a plasma subjected to a long-wavelength electric field oscillating near the lower hybrid frequency causes parametric instabilities which lead to an anomalous heating of both ions and electrons. Because the instability threshold is much lower than that for the corresponding electron plasma-wave problem, the saturation of the electric field can be much higher.