Effect of switching a magnetoplasma medium on a traveling wave: longitudinal propagation

The interaction of electromagnetic radiation with a time-switched magnetoplasma is considered. It is shown that for longitudinal propagation within the so-called radio approximation (neglecting ion motion), the original wave splits into three waves whose frequencies are different from that of the incident wave. One of the waves is strongly influenced by the static magnetic field, and its frequency can be controlled by the strength of this field. Numerical results are presented for the cases of right-hand and left-hand circular polarization of the incident waves