Hot carrier diffusion induced instabilities of electromagnetic waves in plasmas and semiconductors

Abstract

The stability of a plasma/semiconductor for small fluctuations in the intensity of plane electromagnetic beam has been studied when a non-linearity in the dielectric constant appears on account of the diffusion of non-uniformly heated carriers (due to fluctuations in the intensity of the beam). Fluctuations of optimum size and long duration have been found to grow at moderate powers. The effect of absorption is, however, to suppress this effect.