Generation of a longitudinal current by a transverse electromagnetic field in collisional degenerate plasma

Abstract

From the Vlasov–Boltzmann kinetic equation for a collisional degenerate plasma, the electron distribution function is constructed in the quadratic approximation in the electric field strength. A formula for calculating the electric current is derived. It is shown that nonlinearity leads to the rise of a longitudinal electric current directed along the wave vector. The longitudinal current is orthogonal to the known transverse classical current obtained in the linear analysis. When the collision frequency tends to zero, all results obtained for a collisional plasma pass into the corresponding results for a collisionless plasma. The case of small wavenumbers is considered. It is shown that, when the collision frequency tends to zero, the expression for the current passes into the corresponding expression for the current in a collisionless plasma. Graphic analysis of the real and imaginary parts of the current density is performed. The dependence of the electromagnetic field oscillation frequency and electron–plasma-particle collision frequency on the wavenumber is studied.