Dissipation and amplification of waves in space and laboratory plasmas

This thesis is concerned with theoretical investigations into the dissipation and amplification of waves in laboratory and space plasmas. Three specific examples of current interest are examined. The first is the dissipation of a magnetosonic wave by resonant mode conversion into a shear Alfven wave and the subsequent collisionless damping of the shear Alfven wave by resonant particle interactions. The other two involve the amplification of electromagnetic and whist— ler waves by electron cyclotron instabilities