Radiation from long conducting tethers moving in the near-earth environment

Summary In connection with the presently developed TSS (tethered satellite system) project, we consider the problem of radiation of electromagnetic waves from a long conducting tether moving in the ionosphere. In particular, we address to radiation of low-frequency plasma modes, from ULF up to the electron cyclotron frequency. Both the case of a passive tether (no generator) and that of a tether driven as an antenna are considered. This work was partially supported by the Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche under contract No. 81.00952.     

Collective magnetoplasma excitations in two-dimensional electron rings

The spectra of magnetoplasma excitations in two-dimensional electron disks and rings are studied by optical detection of resonance microwave absorption. For ring-shaped structures, two types of edge magnetoplasma modes localized along the inner and outer boundaries of the ring are observed. It is shown that the interaction between these modes leads to a strong modification of their magnetic-field dependences as compared to disks. In addition to the longitudinal edge magnetoplasma excitations, transverse plasma modes associated with the electron density oscillations along the ring radius are revealed. The spectra of magnetoplasma excitations are calculated in terms of the electrodynamic theory for both ring-shaped and disk-shaped structures. The classification of all modes of collective magnetoplasma excitations observed in the experiment is performed on the basis of the comparison between experimental and theoretical results.     

Magnetoplasma excitations and the effect of electron and hole velocity renormalization in free-hanging graphene studied by Raman scattering

The properties of plasma and magnetoplasma excitations in free-hanging graphene have been studied for the first time by Raman scattering. In addition to single-particle excitations associated with transitions between empty Landau levels of electrons and holes, collective plasma and magnetoplasma excitations in the system of electrons (and holes) of various densities have been discovered for the first time. Hybridization of plasma and cyclotron modes corresponding to the Kohn law has been shown to occur in the limit of high filling factors, which allows measuring directly the plasma and cyclotron energies. The dependence of the electron and hole velocities on their density has been investigated via the magnetic-field dependence of the cyclotron energy in free-hanging graphene. The effect of strong renormalization of the electron and hole dispersion relations seen as an increase in the velocity (by 40–50%) with a decrease in the charge-carrier density to 10¹¹ cm^–2 has been discovered. The charge-carrier density dependences of the widths of magnetoplasma resonances in free-hanging graphene and graphene lying on a silicon dioxide surface have been measured and shown to be at least 3.5 and 14.8 meV, respectively.     

Limitations of atom interferometry for gravitational wave observations in space

A paper published recently (Hogan et al. in Gen. Relativ. Gravit. 43:1953–2009, 2011) suggests the use of atom interferometry between satellites in Earth orbit to observe gravitational waves. The proposed altitude and satellite separation are about 1,000 and 30 km respectively. The difference in acceleration between clouds of ultracold atoms in atom interferometers near the two satellites would be detected by using laser beams between the interferometers. Because of the measurement path being very short compared with the million km or longer measurement path for a proposed laser interferometer gravitational wave antenna in space, the sensitivity to differential fluctuations in the laser phase as seen by the atoms in the two atom interferometers is very high. Problems introduced by this high sensitivity to spurious laser beam phase changes will be described in the first part of this paper. Then other limitations on the performance and on the suggested types of sources that could be observed will be discussed.     

Electrodynamics and dispersion properties of a magnetoplasma containing elongated and rotating dust grains

The electrodynamics and dispersion properties of a magnetized dusty plasma containing elongated and rotating charged dust grains are examined. Starting from an appropriate Lagrangian for dust grains, a kinetic equation for the dust grain and the corresponding equations of motion are derived. Expressions for the dust charge and dust current densities are obtained with the finite size (the dipole moment) of elongated and rotating dust grains taken into account. These charge and current densities are combined with the Maxwell-Vlasov system of equations to derive dispersion relations for the electromagnetic and electrostatic waves in a dusty magnetoplasma. The dispersion relations are analyzed to demonstrate that the dust grain rotation introduces new classes of instabilities involving various low-frequency waves in a dusty magnetoplasma. Examples of various unstable low-frequency waves include the electron whistler, the dust whistler, dust cyclotron waves, AlfvÉn waves, electromagnetic ion-cyclotron waves, as well as lower-hybrid, electrostatic ion cyclotron, modified dust ion-acoustic waves, etc. Also found is a new type of unstable waves whose frequency is close to the dust grain rotation frequency. The present results should be useful in understanding the properties of low-frequency waves in cosmic and laboratory plasmas that are embedded in an external magnetic field and contain elongated and rotating charged dust grains.     

Current Collection by a Long Wire in Near-Earth Orbit

Investigation of the current collected by a long wire in space has application to long antennas and the proposed space shuttle tethered subsatellite. Langmuir's result for current collection by a moving probe in a plasma is used to obtain expressions for the voltage and current as functions of position along a wire. Two cases are considered: firstly, one end of the wire is grounded to the plasma and secondly, the wire is allowed to assume a natural grounding point. Results are obtained as a function of the wire resistivity, length and diameter for various particle densities. Calculations for a 2mm diameter copper wire show that a current of 0.066 amperes of oxygen ions will be collected by a tether of 10 km in length.     

Nonlinear propagation and ponderomotive force of electromagnetic plane waves of arbitrary polarisation in a magnetoplasma

Ponderomotive self-effects of plane uniform electromagnetic modes of a magnetoplasma introduce stop- and pass-band structures in the dispersion characteristics of the waves resulting in Bragg reflection, etc.     

Dynamics of antiferromagnetic vortices in yttrium orthoferrite domain walls

The total velocity of solitary flexural waves nonlinearly increases with an increase in the velocity of domain walls and becomes saturated at a level of 20 km s^?1; the smaller the wave amplitude, the more rapidly saturation occurs. Counter collisions of solitary flexural waves lead to the formation of a single wave with a difference amplitude moving in the same direction as the wave with a larger amplitude. The experimental results confirm that solitary flexural waves accompany antiferromagnetic vortices at domain walls in yttrium orthoferrite.     

Resistive electromagnetic ion cyclotron instability in counterstreaming plasmas

Obliquely propagating electromagnetic ion cyclotron waves are found to be unstable in a collisional, fully-ionized plasma consisting of two electron beams counterstreaming along an external magnetic field in a background of stationary ions.     

Cosmological effects of superconducting strings

Superconducting cosmic strings are a plausible consequence of symmetry breaking in grand unified gauge theories. The luminosity in electromagnetic radiation of an oscillating current-carrying loop may substantially exceed the luminosity in gravitational radiation. In the typical case considered, the energy released electromagnetically is 10⁴⁹ erg s⁻¹, or 10⁶⁶ erg in toto. Several consequences follow from this, the most interesting of which is the possibility that such loops may heat their surroundings, generating large, dense spherical shells of gas. Galaxies forming on these gravitationally unstable shells at moderate redshift will be seen at the present epoch to lie on bubbles having radii in the range 10–20h⁻¹ Mpc if the initial ratio of luminosity in electromagnetic waves to that in gravitational wavess is > 10⁻³ for mass/length 10²² g cm⁻¹. The required primordial energy density in magnetic fields is > 3 × 10⁻⁹ of the radiation energy density, if the charge carriers are bosons or superheavy fermions. Since these shells fill up space, the galaxies will have a distribution similar to that found in a recent survey of the northern sky. When the current saturates, a loop will emit particles copiously, and may be seen as an X-ray source at z ∼ 10–50. Such loops may also contribute significantly to the hard X-ray and γ-ray backgrounds and to 10²⁰ eV cosmic rays.     

On the cyclotron maser instability in a waveguide

The cyclotron maser instability is conventionally treated as a pure electromagnetic instability⁽⁵⁾. Waveguide modes can'be equivalent to plane waves reflected slantingly upon the two sides of the waveguide. According to the principles of plasma physics(⁶) the electromagnetic and the electrostatic modes can't be decoupled when the wave vector isn't strictly perpendicular or parallel to the d-c magnetic field. Therefore the conventional treatment is incomplete and invalid in the case of intense beams.Vlasov kinetic theory of the cyclotron maser instability taking into account the space-charge wave is presented. It is found that the respective couplings between the negative-energy cyclotron mode and the RHCP waveguide mode as well as the fast space-charge mode are responsible for the wave-guide maser instability.     

Using Josephson vortex lattices to control terahertz radiation: tunable transparency and terahertz photonic crystals

The Josephson vortex (JV) lattice is a periodic array that scatters electromagnetic waves in the THz-frequency range. We show that JV lattices can produce a photonic band-gap structure (THz photonic crystal) with easily tunable forbidden zones controlled by the in-plane magnetic field. The scattering of electromagnetic waves by JVs results in a strong magnetic-field dependence of the reflection and transparency. Fully transparent or fully reflected frequency windows can be conveniently tuned by the in-plane magnetic field. These proposals are potentially useful for controllable THz filters.     

Alfvénic shock waves in a collisional magnetoplasma

Compressional Alfvénic shock waves in a cold collisional magnetoplasma are investigated. For this purpose, we use the hydrodynamic equations and Faraday?s law to derive the governing nonlinear equations for the compressional Alfvén waves. It is shown that the latter can appear in the form of Alfvénic shock waves.     

Null Faraday rotation—a clean method for determination of relaxation times and effective masses in MIS and other systems

We determine the relation between photon, cyclotron, collision, and plasma frequencies which ensures a null Faraday rotation for electromagnetic wave propagation in a free-carrier magnetoplasma. This provides a clean determination (in the sense that it is independent of multiple reflections and the length of the plasma along the beam direction) of scattering times and effective masses in MIS and other systems.     

Lightning effects at high altitudes: sprites, elves, and terrestrial gamma ray flashes

A fascinating set of newly discovered complex phenomena indicate that thunderstorms and lightning discharges are strongly coupled to the overlying upper atmospheric regions. Lightning discharges at cloud altitudes (<20 km) affect altitudes >40 km either via the release of intense electromagnetic pulses (EMPs) and/or the production of intense quasi-static electric (QE) fields. The intense transient QE fields of up to 1 kV·m⁻¹, which for positive CG discharges is directed downwards, can avalanche accelerate upward-driven runaway MeV electron beams, producing brief (1 ms) flashes of gamma radiation. A spectacular manifestation of these intense fields is the so-called ‘Sprites’, large luminous discharges in the altitude range of 40 km to 90 km, which are produced by the heating of ambient electrons for a few to tens of milliseconds following intense lightning flashes. The so-called ‘Elves’ are optical flashes which last much shorter (<1 ms) than sprites, and are typically limited to 80–95 km altitudes with much larger (up to 600 km) lateral extent, being produced by the heating, ionization, and optical emissions due to the EMPs radiated by both positive and negative lightning discharges. To cite this article: U.S. Inan, C. R. Physique 3 (2002) 1411–1421.     

Laboratory modeling of the interaction of electron beams with a magnetoplasma

We present the results of laboratory experiments in which the mechanisms of interaction of electron beams with whistler waves in a magnetoplasma are studied. Different mechanisms of whistler generation during the injection of a modulated electron beam in the plasma are studied, and the mechanism of conversion of the beam kinetic energy to radiation is demonstrated. The processes of whistler wave generation by the modulated beam at the ˇ Cerenkov and Doppler resonances are analyzed in detail. The excitation of whistler waves by means of a nonresonant mechanism of the transition radiation is studied.     

The anomalous radiation force of light on a left-handed material

This paper derives the force of the electromagnetic radiation on left-handed materials (LHMs) by a direct applica-tion of the Lorentz law of classical electrodynamics.The expressions of radiation force are given for TE-polarised and TM-polarised fields.The numerical results demonstrate that electromagnetic waves exert an inverse lateral radiation force on each edge of the beams,that is,the lateral pressure is expansive for TE-polarised beams and compressive for TM-polarised beams.The investigation of the radiation force will provide insights into the fundamental properties of LHMs and will provide to better understanding of the interaction of light with LHMs.     

Electron heating by the magnetic field-aligned electron-cyclotron waves in plasmas

It is shown that resonant nonlinear interactions between the magnetic-field aligned right-hand circularly polarized electromagnetic (CPEM) electron-cyclotron waves and electrons can produce electron temperature anisotropy due to the stochastic electron heating by waves in magnetized plasmas. The present result can thus account for the simultaneous presence of CPEM waves and an anisotropic electron temperature distribution in laboratory and space magnetoplasmas.     

Study of the energy spectrum and mass composition of primary cosmic rays in the energy range of 10<Superscript>18</Superscript>–10<Superscript>20</Superscript> eV using a balloon setup in antarctica (SPHERE-antarctica project)

An Antarctic balloon experiment for measuring the energy spectrum and elemental composition of cosmic rays in the ultrahigh-energy range (10¹⁸–10²⁰) eV is proposed. Scientific equipment will measure fluorescence caused by an extensive air shower formed in the atmosphere by an ultrahigh energy particle and Cherenkov light of this shower reflected from a snow surface. It is assumed that the balloon will fly in the circumpolar orbit in Antarctica at a height of ~25 km for (2–3) winter (in the Southern Hemisphere)months. For this time, ~3000 events caused by particles with energies above 10¹⁸ eV and (200–300) events caused by particles with energies above 10¹⁹ eV will be detected.     

The diffraction of electromagnetic waves by sound in conducting crystals

The diffraction of electromagnetic waves by sound in conducting crystals is investigated. It is shown that in such crystals a significant contribution to the scattering of electromagnetic waves can be made by electron waves which are generated by a sound wave and accompany it. An estimate shows that in the ‘hydrodynamic’ case ql 1 (where q is the wave number of the sound and l is the electron mean free path) the contribution from an electron density wave to the scattering of electromagnetic waves in the infrared and millimeter ranges in substances with a low electron effective mass (of the type of InSb) can be comparable to the contribution from the lattice deformation waves, or may even exceed it. The results of a concrete calculation of the first and second order intensities of Raman-Nath diffraction in a semiconductor are presented.