Theoretical and experimental study of wave mixing and weak non-linear resonance phenomena in a cold plasma column

The general problem of the mixing in a cold plasma cylinder of two incoming waves with E perpendicular to the axis of the column is solved to second order. The amplitude of the scattered non-linear field is computed so that detailed comparison with experiments is possible. In a special case of this general problem, namely the non-linear scattering of a plane incoming wave by a plasma column, experiments have been performed and the three cold plasma resonances observed have all the characteristics predicted by theory.