Experimental Evidence of Parametric Instabilities in an Unmagnetized Plasma Subjected to a Strong H.F. Electric Field

Experimental evidence of parametric excitation, by an intense external H.F. field, of an electron surface mode and an ion wave is presented. The pumping electromagnetic energy density is equal to or slightly larger than the thermal energy density of the electrons. The value of f pc / f 0 (electron plasma frequency/external field frequency) is that for an electron surface wave. Depending on the pressure and field intensity, this decay instability can lead to three types of low frequency oscillations, with frequencies close to the ion plasma frequency. Two of these are described by Aliev and Silin's intense field theory: one is the volume ion plasma oscillation and the other a surface ion plasma oscillation. The third corresponds to no known ion eigenmode. Several other features of the theory by Aliev and co‐workers are also confirmed experimentally, such as the harmonic excitation of the instability ( nf 0 ≈ f pe /√2, where n is an integer), the instability amplitude as a function of f pe / f 0 (above threshold conditions), the value of the mismatch parameter as a function of field strength and ion mass, and the existence of a fine structure corresponding to the symmetric and antisymmetric electron surface oscillations. Even at high pump field strengths, the decay products are nearly monochromatic i.e. the plasma does not become turbulent.