Trapping of an electromagnetic wave by the boundary of a suddenly created plasma half-space

The study of the interaction between electromagnetic waves and bounded plasmas with fast growing density is of considerable interest due to its potential applications in generation of tunable microwave radiation. We examine the case when the boundary of the plasma half-space whose frequency instantaneously grows in time from one value to another is perpendicular to the plane wave front. The distinguishing feature of this case is the possibility of the creation of surface waves guided by the plasma boundary. In other words, the part of the original wave energy may be trapped by the boundary of time-varying plasma via transformation into surface waves. The most perspective application of the phenomenon of wave trapping is the development of new methods far input of electromagnetic radiation into planar waveguiding structures filled with solid-state (semiconductor) plasma