Radiation from an electromagnetic source in a half-space of compressible plasma-surface waves

The study of the radiation characteristics of localized electromagnetic sources in ionized gaseous medium, known generally as plasmas, has application to the problem of radio communication with missiles and space vehicles passing through the ionized regions in space. In this paper, the radiation characteristics of a line source of magnetic current situated in a compressible plasma medium of semi-infinite extent and bounded on one side by a perfectly conducting rigid planar screen is investigated. The special case for which the line source is on the screen becomes equivalent to the problem of radiation into a plasma half-space from an infinitely long slot radiator whose width is very much smaller in comparison to the wavelength. In a previous paper, the same problem was investigated for the case of an incompressible plasma in which the longitudinal plasma waves cannot be sustained. In this investigation, the previous analysis is extended to the case of a compressible plasma which is capable of supporting both the transverse electromagnetic waves and the longitudinal plasma waves.