Nonlinear propagation of coherent electromagnetic waves in a dense magnetized plasma

We present an investigation of the nonlinear propagation of high-frequency coherent electromagnetic waves in a uniform quantum magnetoplasma. Specifically, we consider nonlinear couplings of right-hand circularly polarized electromagnetic-electron-cyclotron (CPEM-EC) waves with dispersive shear Alfven (DSA) and dispersive compressional Alfven (DCA) perturbations in plasmas composed of degenerate electron fluids and non-degenerate ion fluids. Such interactions lead to amplitude modulation of the CPEM-EC wave packets, the dynamics of which is governed by a three-dimensional nonlinear Schrodinger equation (NLSE) with the frequency shift arising from the relativistic electron mass increase in the CPEM-EC fields and density perturbations associated with the DSA and DCA perturbations. Accounting for the electromagnetic and quantum forces, we derive the evolution equation for the DSA and DCA waves in the presence of the magnetic field-aligned ponderomotive force of the CPEM-EC waves. The NLSE and the driven DSA and DCA equations are then used to investigate the modulational instability. The relevance of our investigation to laser-plasma interaction experiments and the cores of white dwarf stars is pointed out. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4731733]