Comments on the Validity of Treating a Dense Plasma as a Metal†

†Communicated by Dr. R. Kompfner.

Abstract

The pressure exerted by an electromagnetic field against the surface of a plasma is discussed for the ease where the plasma is sufficiently dense to exclude the field. It is shown under rather general conditions that the electromagnetic boundary conditions are the some at the plasma surface as they are at a metallic surface and that the pressure exerted by the electromagnetic field against the surface of the plasma is the same as that exerted against a metal surface, except for an extra term— pυ_n ² that involves the motion of the plasma surface under the influence of the time-varying electromagnetic field. In an example, this extra term is shown to account for 19% of the pressure required to confine the plasma.

Notes

†Communicated by Dr. R. Kompfner.