Nonlinear interaction of powerful short electromagnetic pulses with an electron plasma

The nonlinear interaction of powerful short electromagnetic pulses with a plasma consisting of two groups of electrons and immobile ions has been studied. It is shown that the interaction is governed by a nonlinear equation for the electromagnetic wave envelope and a driven nonlinear equation for the low-frequency electron fluctuations. The driver for the latter depends explicitly on the spatio-temporal evolution of the electromagnetic wave flux. Depending on the cold-to-hot electron density ratio, the localized pulse can propagate with sub- as well as supersonic velocities accompanied by compressional or rarefactional density perturbations. The conditions of existence for the different types of solitary pulses are obtained. The present investigation may be relevant to the study of wave-plasma interaction devices such as inertial fusion confinement as well as to ionospheric modification experiments.