'Collisionless' absorption of electromagnetic waves in a small plasma volume with a free boundary

Investigations are carried out on the interaction of 10-cm pulsed radiation with a flow of a collisionless plasma at initial conditions favourable for the linear transformation of waves. In a wide range of SHF power corresponding to νsub(E)/νsub(Te) approximately 10sup(-5)/1 the absorption coefficient D2 is shown to be approximately the same (at the beginning of a SHF pulse at least). The absorption sets in practically instantaneously and is followed by a rapid decay of a plasma and by production of accelerated electrons. At νsub(E)/νsub(Te) > or approximately 1 the values of D2 decrease already at the front of a SHF pulse apparently due to intensive plasma decay