SCATTERING OBLIQUELY INCIDENT MICROWAVES BY A MOVING PLASMA COLUMN

The problem of the interaction of obliquely incident microwaves with a plasma column which is moving uniformly in the axial direction is treated analytically. An arbitrary polarization for the incident plane wave is assumed. Two methods in solving this problem are presented. Extensive numerical results for the scattered energy in the backward and broadside directions and the angular distribution of the scattered energy are obtained for various interesting ranges of the parameters involved. It is found that cross-polarized field components are induced even at normal incidence when the plasma medium is moving with respect to the observer and that cross-polarized field components disappear at an incident angle θ0=sin-1(v z/c), where vz is the velocity of the moving plasma and c is the speed of light in vacuum when the plasma column is imbedded in free space. © 1970 The American Institute of Physics.