Computer calculations have been made for a plasma composed of electron and ion fluids, with the electrostatic field as an additional variable described by Poisson's equation, allowing for the first time a hydrodynamic study of the electrostatic phenomena in plasmas, where very short time steps, large computer capacity and special numerical procedures were used. The numerically observed oscillations of the fields and electron fluid and the waves and their damping by collisions have been evaluated and an analytical model has been derived to study damping by Coulomb collisions. The magnitudes of the electrostatic fields in inhomogeneous plasma have been evaluated as functions of temperature and density gradient. For laser irradiation of 1016 W/cm2, including nonlinear forces with the complete intensity dependent (nonlinear) optical response for heating and dielectric force effects, electrostatic fields exceeding 108 V/cm are generated.

Field emission is identified as the mechanism responsible for high current emission (50 A/cm2 at 300°K) from a dispenser-type cathode. This cathode has advantages for high power operation, and should be suitable for practical applications.

This paper is a part of a series intended to develop a detailed understanding of the physics of hydrogen thyratrons. This theory is needed, because the improvement of electrical switches such as the thyratron are now necessary for the development of high power lasers and other devices. In this paper, a detailed analysis of many different electron, atomic and molecular collisional and radiative processes is made, in order to determine the electron temperature in a thyratron plasma. Calculations of the rates for production of Balmer lines are made and the results are summarized in a way that can be used for in situ measurements.

A computer kinetics model has been developed to predict the steady state behaviour of e-beam-pumped KrF lasers. The model can be used to calculate species densities, gain, loss and laser efficiency. Close agreement is obtained between the model predictions and a wide range of experimental measurements of optical gain, loss, and laser efficiency as a function of e-beam pump power, taken at various laboratories.

An ‘effective Feynman diagram’ technique is introduced to obtain relations between the cross-sections of various atomic processes. In this paper the technique is used to obtain a simple relation between the cross-sections of electron impact excitation and resonant photon absorption. The method is important because calculations of complicated atomic wavefunctions are eliminated.

Starting from two-wave coupled plasma equations the parametric decay instabilities appearing in homogeneous plasmas are discussed as a first step. If damping is present, the instabilities may appear, and when the damping is so small that it can be neglected, there exists only spatial gain. The analytic solution for inhomogeneous plasma, as a second step, with density varying almost linearly is obtained and the conditions for the instabilities to occur are discussed.

The production of atomic hydrogen and positive ions in a typical hydrogen thyratron plasma is considered through an analysis of radiative and collisional processes. The production of atomic hydrogen and positive ions in devices such as hydrogen thyratrons is an important and sensitive factor in determining the operational limitations.

Most of the observed features of magnetically insulated transmission lines are derived from the simple considerations of pressure balance and the space-charge flow limit. These include the mean electron drift velocity and the relationship between line voltage and the currents in the positive and negative lines. This voltage-current relationship is compared with experimental data.

The present state of understanding of a new maser effect is reviewed. The new maser effect, the idea that the resonant electrons in a turbulent plasma can radiate amplified electromagnetic radiation, does not require population inversion of electrons. The new maser effect always coexists with Landau (or cyclotron) damping; thus it is a fundamental effect in plasma turbulence. In nuclear fusion, magnetic confinement will be at a disadvantage due to the enhanced radiation losses in the long wave length region, while inertial confinement will be improved by the laser effect in the X-ray region

Possible modifications of some of the properties of an electromagnetic wave by a medium in which it propagates, are studied. The mechanism for mass generation is investigated. It is shown that, for some purposes, a medium may be replaced by a curved space. Furthermore, if the nonlinear interaction terms between the electromagnetic wave and the curvature of space-time are included, the resulting Maxwell equations are modified. These additional terms may be identified with the photon's mass, which is proportional to the curvature scalar. A laser intensity above 1020 W/cm2 produces a mass of the photons of about 10−5 times the mass of the electrons.