  The excitation of electrostatic waves in plasma by laser electromagnetic
pulse is important as it provides a scheme by which the power from the laser EM
field can be transferred into the plasma medium. The paper presents a
fundamentally new ponderomotive pressure-driven mechanism of excitation of
electrostatic waves in an overdense magnetized plasma by a finite laser pulse.
Particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations using the EPOCH-4.17.10 framework have been
utilized for the study of a finite laser pulse interacting with a magnetized
overdense plasma medium. The external magnetic field is chosen to be aligned
parallel to the laser propagation direction. In this geometry, the
electromagnetic wave propagation inside the plasma is identified as whistler or
(R and L) waves. The phase velocity of these waves being different, a clear
spatial separation of the R and L pulses is visible. In addition, excitation of
electrostatic perturbation associated with the EM pulses propagating inside the
plasma is also observed. These electrostatic perturbations are important as
they couple laser energy to the plasma medium. The excitation of electrostatic
oscillations is understood here by a fundamentally new mechanism of charge
separation created by the difference between the ponderomotive force (of the
electromagnetic pulse) felt by the two plasma species, viz., the electrons, and
the ions in a magnetized plasma.
