Parametric excitation of kinetic waves—Ion-Bernstein waves by a lower hybrid pump wave

A new formulation of the nonlinear coupling of coherent waves described by the Vlasov equation is presented. This is used to derive the parametric growth rate for the down conversion from a lower hybrid pump wave to ion-Bernstein waves. It is found that the maximum growth rate for this interaction is larger than that for any other resonant interaction. The relevance of this to the current interest in lower hybrid heating of plasmas is discussed.