Determination of the Dielectric Constant of a Plasma

Abstract

The propagation of electromagnetic waves in a plasma is determined by the value of the dielectric constant. In the absence of a magnetic field the dielectric constant can be written

$$\varepsilon = 1 - {{4\pi {e^2}n} \over {{m_e}{\omega ^2}}} \cdot {1 \over {1 - i{{{v_{col}}} \over \omega }}},$$

(7.1)

where ω is the angular frequency of the electromagnetic wave; ν_col is the electron collision frequency in the plasma. The frequency of collisions with charged particles is given by

$${v_{col}} = {{{{2.10}^{ - 5}}{n_i}Z} \over {T_e^{3/2}\left( {eV} \right)}}.$$