Spin contribution to the ponderomotive force in a plasma
Plasma Physics
2015-05-18 v2 Quantum Physics
Abstract
The concept of a ponderomotive force due to the intrinsic spin of electrons is developed. An expression containing both the classical as well as the spin-induced ponderomotive force is derived. The results are used to demonstrate that an electromagnetic pulse can induce a spin-polarized plasma. Furthermore, it is shown that for certain parameters, the nonlinear back-reaction on the electromagnetic pulse from the spin magnetization current can be larger than that from the classical free current. Suitable parameter values for a direct test of this effect are presented.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.1003.5162,
title = {Spin contribution to the ponderomotive force in a plasma},
author = {G. Brodin and A. P. Misra and M. Marklund},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1003.5162},
year = {2015}
}
Comments
4 pages, 2 figures, version accepted for publication in Physical Review Letters