Propagation of a chirp radio pulse in isotropic plasma

The problem of space-time deformation of a chirp radio pulse propagating in cold isotropic collisional plasma is solved analytically. Pulses with rectangular and biexponential initial envelopes are considered as examples to show that, as the covered distance grows, a chirp pulse is at first compressed and then broadened and, simultaneously, the linear increase of the instantaneous frequency observed within the pulse duration changes into an approximately linear decrease. The distance at which a chirp pulse is compressed to the minimum possible duration is estimated, and the effect of absorption on the current shape of the pulse envelope is analyzed.