Plasma influence on the dispersion properties of finite-length, corrugated waveguides

Abstract

We present an experimental study of the electromagnetic properties of transverse magnetic modes in a corrugated-wall cavity filled with a radially inhomogeneous plasma. The shifts of the .resonant frequencies of a finite-length, corrugated cavity were measured as a function of the background plasma density and the dispersion diagram was reconstructed up to a peak plasma density of 1012 em - 3. Good agreement with a calculated dispersion diagram is obtained for plasma densities below 5 X 1011 em - 3.