On the parametric excitation of surface oscillations of a cold plasma

The excitation of surface oscillations of cold plasmas is studied for external electric fields perpendicular to the plasma density gradient. Boundary conditions for electromagnetic fields on the plane boundary between plasmas with different densities are derived, and the dispersion relation for the excitation of the surface modes is obtained. The effects of metallic walls of a vacuum chamber are considered, together with the excitation of surface oscillations of a plasma slab immersed in a plasma with different density.