Abstract

Spatial damping of electromagnetic (EM) waves propagating parallel to the ambient magnetic field in collisionless plasmas is discussed for thermal distribution of electrons. By using the exact numerical analysis, it is shown that the spatial damping properties in hot plasma can be significantly different than the customary cold plasma analysis. The discrepancy comes from the wave-particle interaction (cyclotron resonance) and higher order thermal effects. The response of plasma to the interacting EM radiation depicts the variety of changes in different frequency domains. The comparison with the analytical results based on the expansion of plasma dispersion function is also made in order to validate the approximate treatment and to under what regime full kinetic treatment is called for. Published by AIP Publishing.