The effect of the bouncing motion of electrons on electron cyclotron resonance heating

Cyclotron resonance heating of bouncing electrons by an obliquely incident wave field is analyzed. Continuous interaction between electrons and wave fields throughout the entire range of electron excursion has been considered in the analysis. The results show that the bouncing motion of electrons serves to alleviate the detuning effect of frequency mismatch and efficient heating can be achieved. The kinetic temperature is found to increase algebraically in t ² for the fundamental resonance and exponentially in t for the second harmonic heating. Due to the interaction between electrons and the parallel component of the wave electric field, heated electrons tend to focus to the midplane and their excursion amplitudes also become filamented in the steady state.