Laboratory study of nonlinear trapping of magnetized Langmuir waves inside a density depletion

The formation of a small-scale plasma density depletion region extended along the ambient magnetic field and caused by the nonlinear interaction of the upper-hybrid plasma waves with a magnetoplasma has been observed under laboratory conditions modeling the ionospheric heating experiments. Plasma waves are trapped inside the depletion due to their specific dispersion properties. The threshold of the nonlinear wave trapping significantly increases in the vicinity of the harmonics of the electron gyrofrequency.     

Role of stochastic heating in wakefield acceleration monitored by optical injection

It is shown that stochastic heating can play an important role in Laser Wake Field Acceleration. When considering low density plasma interacting with a high intensity wave perturbed by a low intensity counterpropagating wave, stochastic heating can provide electrons with the right momentum for trapping in the wake field. The influence of stochastic acceleration on the trapping of electrons is compared to the one of cold injection by considering several polarizations of the colliding pulses. For some value of the plasma density and pulse duration, a transition from an injection due to stochastic acceleration to a cold injection dominated regime – regarding the trapped charge – has been observed from PIC code simulations. When the plasma density exceeds some value, stochastic heating becomes important and is necessary in some circumstances to get electrons trapped into the wakefield.     

Laboratory studies of spectral features of stimulated electromagnetic emission during the ionospheric heating experiments

We present the results of laboratory studies of the formation of a number of spectral components of stimulated electromagnetic emission, which are related to the excitation of small-scale irregularities in the heated ionosphere. In the laboratory experiment, the small-scale irregularity was formed as a result of thermal self-channeling of short-wavelength quasielectrostatic oscillations in a magnetoplasma. Using the method of probing waves, it is experimentally shown that the trapping and waveguide propagation in a small-scale plasma irregularity are exclusively due to Langmuir waves, whereas the upper-hybrid waves with anomalous dispersion are not trapped into the irregularity. It is found that satellites shifted by about 1–2 MHz from the carrier frequency (700 MHz under the experimental conditions) are formed in the Langmuir wave spectrum during the thermal self-channeling. Two mechanisms of generation of spectral satellites have been detected. The first (dynamic) mechanism is observed during the formation of a small-scale irregularity with rapidly increasing longitudinal size. In this case, one low-frequency satellite is excited in the trapped-wave spectrum. The mechanism of the formation of this satellite is apparently related to the Doppler shift of the frequency of the Langmuir waves trapped inside the irregularity. The second (stationary) mechanism is observed in the case of a developed irregularity where its shape is close to cylindrical. In this regime, the trapped-wave spectrum has two symmetric spectral satellites, namely, high- and low-frequency ones. It may be hypothesized that the generation of these satellites is due to scattering of trapped Langmuir waves from drift oscillations of the irregularity.     

Production of nonisothermal electrons and Langmuir waves because of colliding ion holes and trapping of plasmons in an ion hole

We present new simulation studies exhibiting production of nonisothermal electron distributions and Langmuir waves by colliding ion holes and trapping of plasmons in an ion hole. We find that, during head-on ion hole collisions, streams of accelerated electrons are produced by the electrostatic potentials supporting the ion holes. Subsequently, Langmuir waves are excited by a two-stream instability involving energetic electron beams. The resulting Langmuir waves can be trapped in an ion hole. The present ion-hole-Langmuir wave interactions are unique kinetic phenomena which can be dealt with a Vlasov code, which we developed recently. The results can have relevance to the understanding of particle and field data that are forthcoming from different spacecraft missions in Earth's auroral ionosphere and the magnetosphere.     

Trapping of plasmons in ion holes

We present analytical and numerical studies of a new electron plasma wave interaction mechanism, which reveals trapping of Langmuir waves in ion holes associated with nonisothermal ion distribution functions. This Langmuir ion hole interaction is a unique kinetic phenomenon governed by two second nonlinear differential equations in which the Langmuir wave electric field and ion hole potential are coupled in a complex fashion. Numerical analyses of our nonlinearly coupled differential equations exhibit trapping of localized Langmuir wave envelops in the ion hole, which is either standing or moving with sub-or super ion thermal speed. The resulting ambipolar potential of the ion hole is essentially negative, giving rise to bipolar slow electric fields. The present investigation thus offers a new Langmuir wave contraction scenario that has not been rigorously explored in plasma physics.     

Propagation of lower hybrid resonance waves in depleted-plasma regions in the upper auroral ionosphere

We study theoretically the propagation of lower-hybrid resonance (LHR) waves in the auroral ionospheric plasma. The ray-tracing technique is used to study the properties of LHR wave propagation with account of a large-scale inhomogeneity both along and across the geomagnetic field. It is shown that wave refraction in such an inhomogeneous medium can result in direct transformation of LHR waves whose wave normals make large angles with the geomagnetic field into whistler-mode waves, whose wave vectors are close to the geomagnetic-field direction and which can therefore pass through the ionosphere to the ground. The parameters of LHR waves which can thus be transformed into whistler-mode waves are found. The transformation process considered can be important for interpreting ground-based observations of ELF waves. Deceased. Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Radiofizika, Vol. 52, No. 4, pp. 279–289, April 2009.     

Nonlinear resonance of plasma waves in the thermal irregularities of ionospheric plasma

We study the effect of striction plasma density disturbances on the generation intensity of longitudional cold and plasma oscillations due to polarization of the magnetic field-aligned ionospheric plasma irregularities with δN_o<0 by a powerful radio wave. It is assumed that the plasma density level inside the irregularity intersects the upper-hybrid resonance level, in the vicinity of which the cold oscillations excited directly by a powerful radio wave are transformed to shorter-wave plasma oscillations. We consider the short plasma wave limit to reduce the problem to a system of two coupled equations for the cold wave induction and plasma wave electric field. The first equation is supplemented by a local source equal to the integral of the plasma wave electric field in the resonance region. The second equation involves the cold wave induction at the resonance point and describes the electric field of interacting waves in the resonance vicinity. We use simplifications connected with the small absorption of plasma waves propagating inside the irregularity and weak radiation of these waves outside the irregularity. These conditions correspond to the generation of eigenmodes of plasma oscillations trapped in the irregularity. We have obtained a resonance-type nonlinear equation for the electric field intensity (or energy flux) of eigenmode plasma waves with allowance for striction disturbances of the plasma density profile in the resonance region. It is shown that the striction expulsion of plasma is responsible for the occurrence of coefficients describing the change in the intensity of excitation and radiation of plasma waves at the irregularity boundary. Such an expulsion leads to variations of the efficient generation band of plasma eigenmodes with the total phase increment of the wave in the irregularity. It also leads to a change in the phase shift of the plasma wave reflected from the resonance. These coefficients and the nonlinear phase shift are expressed in terms of real wave functions of the nonlinear Airy equation which describes the electric field of the excited waves in the resonance vicinity when the dissipation is absent. Institute of Terrestrial Magnetism, Ionosphere and Radio Wave Propagation, Russian Academy of Sciences, Troitsk, Moscow region, Russia. Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Radiofizika, Vol. 41, No. 3, pp. 270–297, March, 1998.     

Laboratory modeling of nonlinear interaction of Langmuir waves with a magnetoplasma

We present the results of laboratory modeling of the physical processes which lead to smallscale stratification of the ionospheric plasma during active experiments on modification of the ionosphere by high-power radio waves. It is shown that such a stratification can result from thermal self-channeling of Langmuir waves in a magnetoplasma. We established that the selfchanneling is threshold in behavior such that the threshold significantly increases near gyroharmonics. It is demonstrated that in the process of self-channeling, the frequency spectrum of the Langmuir wave is enriched. In particular, spectral maxima are formed, which are shifted away from the carrier frequency by a value of the order of the lower-hybrid frequency. Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Radiofizika, Vol. 51, No. 11, pp. 988–1003, November 2008.     

Driven spatially autoresonant stimulated Raman scattering in the kinetic regime

The autoresonant behavior of Langmuir waves excited by stimulated Raman scattering (SRS) is clearly identified in particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations in an inhomogeneous plasma. As previously shown via a 3-wave coupling model [T. Chapman et al., Phys. Plasmas 17, 122317 (2010)], weakly kinetic effects such as trapping can be described via an amplitude-dependent frequency shift that compensates the dephasing of the resonance of SRS due to the inhomogeneity. The autoresonance (AR) leads to phase locking and to growth of the Langmuir wave beyond the spatial amplification expected from Rosenbluth's model in an inhomogeneous profile [M. N. Rosenbluth, Phys. Rev. Lett. 29, 565 (1972)]. Results from PIC simulations and from a 3-wave coupling code show very good agreement, leading to the conclusion that AR arises even beyond the so-called weakly kinetic regime.     

Determination of the Phase Shift of a Plasma Wave Reflected from the Edge of a Small-Scale Irregularity

In our papers [1,2], a nonlinear theory has been developed for excitation of plasma-wave eigenmodes inside field-aligned small-radius inhomogeneities in experiments on ionospheric heating by powerful radio waves. This theory takes into account the striction effects of plasma expulsion near the plasma resonance level where a trapped wave is reflected from the edge of the irregularity. The results of this theory depend strongly on the phase of the linear (i.e., weak-field) reflection coefficient. In this paper, we calculate this parameter for irregularities of different shapes.     

Excitation of an Additional Region of Short-Wavelength Plasma Oscillations in Ionospheric Heating Experiments

We discuss transfer of plasma waves, excited by a powerful radio wave due to its scattering on artificial ionospheric irregularities, into an additional region of very short plasma oscillations polarized almost perpendicular to the magnetic field. Such a region can exist in the magnetized ionospheric plasma due to the strong spatial dispersion. We take into account the plasma-wave diffusion over the spectrum caused by multiple scattering on irregularities, as well as the nonlinear process of plasma-wave interaction due to induced scattering by ions. The latter process leads to the transfer of primary plasma waves into the additional region. The induced scattering is considered in the differential approximation valid for sufficiently smooth plasma-wave spectra. The numerical calculations are performed for a Maxwellian plasma in which suprathermal electrons are absent. It is shown that in this case, the additional region of plasma waves is excited if the pump frequency is close to but slightly less than the fourth electron gyroharmonic, so that the absorption of primarily excited plasma waves becomes sufficiently strong. Application of our calculations to the results of ionospheric experiments is discussed.     

Transient enhancement and detuning of laser-driven parametric instabilities by particle trapping

Kinetic simulations of backward stimulated Raman scattering (BSRS), where the Langmuir wave coherence time is greater than the bounce time for trapped electrons, yield transient reflectivity levels far above those predicted by fluidlike models. Electron trapping reduces the Langmuir wave damping and lowers the Langmuir wave frequency, and leads to a secular phase shift between the Langmuir wave and the BSRS beat ponderomotive force. This phase shift detunes and saturates BSRS and a similar effect, due to ion trapping, is the saturation mechanism for backward stimulated Brillouin scattering. Competition with forward SRS is discussed.     

Fine Structure of the Local Alfven Resonances in Cold Plasma Placed in Bumpy Magnetic Field

Unlike in the case of an axial magnetic field, in which each mode of electromagnetic wave excited by an external source propagates independently, ripples in a bumpy magnetic field cause the wave to propagate as a wave envelope that contains also satellite harmonics in addition to the main harmonic. The influence of this multimodity on the distribution of electromagnetic waves within the local Alfven resonance regions is studied and compared for the following three cases. In the first case, Alfven resonance takes place for a main harmonic of the wave. In the second case, Alfven resonance occurs in the same region for two main harmonics which are coupled due to the plasma periodic axial inhomogeneity. Alfven resonance for a satellite harmonic is considered in the third case.     

Measurement of Landau damping and the evolution to a BGK equilibrium

Linear Landau damping and nonlinear wave-particle trapping oscillations are observed with standing plasma waves in a trapped pure electron plasma. For low wave amplitudes, the measured linear damping rate agrees quantitatively with linear Landau damping theory. At larger amplitudes, the wave initially damps at the Landau rate, then regrows and oscillates, approaching a steady state, as predicted by O'Neil in 1965 [Phys. Fluids 8, 2255 (1965)]]. This BGK equilibrium is observed to decay slowly due to external dissipation.     

On a new scenario for the saturation of the low-threshold two-plasmon parametric decay instability of an extraordinary wave in the inhomogeneous plasma of magnetic traps

The most probable scenario for the saturation of the low-threshold two-plasmon parametric decay instability of an electron cyclotron extraordinary wave has been analyzed. Within this scenario two upperhybrid plasmons at frequencies close to half the pump wave frequency radially trapped in the vicinity of the local maximum of the plasma density profile are excited due to the excitation of primary instability. The primary instability saturation results from the decays of the daughter upper-hybrid waves into secondary upperhybrid waves that are also radially trapped in the vicinity of the local maximum of the plasma density profile and ion Bernstein waves.     

Transformation of waves and eigenoscillations of an inhomogeneous layer of hot plasma

On the case of a plasma layer we show that in a hot plasma with the inhomogeneity of density across the magnetic field there exist eigenmodes for frequencies of hybrid resonance that are combinations of two kinds of waves: The potential long waves of cold plasma and the short-wave Bernstein modes. Their coupling is due to transformation in the region of the hybrid resonance. These eigenmodes can also be travelling waves with energy transmitted in one direction by a long wave and in the opposite one by a short wave. Different types of eigenmodes and corresponding quantization conditions are obtained.     

ECRH of trapped electrons in laboratory magnetoplasmas

Heating of plasma electrons by high power millimeter wave fields at cyclotron harmonic resonance is studied. A mirror field is modelled for the local trapping of electrons. It is shown that superthermal electrons can be generated as the consequence of the ECRH of trapped electrons.     

Quantization of plasma density irregularities under the action of a powerful electromagnetic wave: The spectrum of upper hybrid oscillations self-consistently trapped in density cavities

We present a theoretical model of the self-localization of the upper hybrid (UH) oscillations in plasma density depletions due to thermal nonlinearities driven by a homogeneous and monochromatic pump electric field. The Bohr-Sommerfeld condition for the trapped UH oscillations demands that the parameters of the density cavity be quantized. The depth and square of the depletion width across the magnetic field is proportional to an integer. The depth of the parabolically shaped cavity is proportional to the square of its width. The characteristic relative value of the density minimum is a few percent and the width is of the order of one meter for the pump wave amplitudes used in the ionospheric F-region experiments. We consider also the parametric decay of primary, localized UH oscillations trapped in the quantized plasma density depletions into secondary UH oscillations and lower-hybrid waves. We calculated the spectrum of the non-linear stabilized secondary UH oscillations which are also self-consistently trapped in the same density cavity. The spectrum of the UH oscillations is consistent with the observed spectrum of the downshifted (DM) and upshifted (UM) maximum in the stimulated electromagnetic emissions (SEE). Translated from Izvestiya Vysshikh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Radiofizika, Vol. 42, No. 7, pp. 641–650, July 1999.