Convective two-plasmon decay instability in inhomogeneous collisional plasma

Quantitative description of the two plasmon - decay (TPD) in inhomogeneous collisional plasma is given through the solution of the slow coupling equations of the decay modes. The initial TPD growth rate and the threshold pump intensity for the instability to occur are calculated in a homogeneous unmagnetized collisional plasma. In inhomogeneous plasma with a linear density ramp, the spatial amplification factor and the pump threshold intensity for the convective TPD instability has been calculated. (Abstract Copyright[2002], Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)