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The kinetic energy imparted to a charged particle by an electromagnetic pulse is 12q2φ2/mc2, where φ is the “magnetic flux” in the pulse. The particle can acquire any velocity < c in the propagation direction, but not more than 2−1/2c in the transverse direction. An ionized medium is able to perturb the wave significantly whenever ω2<ωp2, no matter how powerful the wave.
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Peter D. Noerdlinger (1971) studied this question.
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