Electromagnetic Waves in Moving Plasma Slabs.

Based on Einstein's theory of special relativity, various aspects of the electrodynamics of moving media are considered in the first discussion of the present dissertation. Systematic and extensive solutions of problems of electromagnetic wave propagation in uniformly moving isotropic plasma slabs are followed by using the relativistic or nonrelativistic method; in order to accomplish the general solution, final results are expressed in a series of propagation matrix products ready for numerical calculation and for the analysis of a few layer moving isotropic plasma. The aforementioned two methods are based on Minkowski theory, the principle of phase invariance and Lorentz transformation. Minkowski theory is useful in analyzing wave propagation characteristics for moving isotropic plasma slabs. As the moving medium is a magnetoplasma which is either anisotropic or bianisotropic, the equivalent bianisotropy of the medium is introduced to derive constitutive relations and dispersion equations between inertial frames in relative motion. Making use of bianisotropic techniques, Maxwell's equations and boundary conditions, the problems of wave propagation associated with a magnetoplasma slab moving perpendicular or parallel to the interface are investigated. The formal solution of a nearly polarized plane electromagnetic wave obliquely incident on stratified magnetoplasmas moving parallel to the direction of an externally impressed magnetostatic field has also been obtained by the method of solving second -order coupled wave equations; the final results of field distributions are expressed in terms of matrix products. Furthermore, the electromagnetic wave interaction of a magnetoplasma slab moving in an arbitrary direction is analyzed by the so-called method of the combination of coordinate transformations with bianisotropic techniques. Numerical results are also presented and discussed for certain cases.