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Inductive and space charge electric fields in a whistler wave packet

Journal Article · · Physical Review Letters; (United States)
; ;  [1]
  1. University of California, Los Angeles, California 90024-1547 (United States)

A low-frequency whistler wave packet is excited with a pulsed magnetic loop antenna in a large laboratory plasma (1 m diam[times]2.5 m, [ital n][sub [ital e]]=7[times]10[sup 11] cm[sup [minus]3], kT[sub e]=1.3 eV, [ital B][sub 0]=20 G). Multipoint (10[sup 4]) measurements of the wave magnetic field, [bold B]([bold r],[ital t]), and 4D fast Fourier transformation, [bold B]([bold k],[omega]), both verify the dispersion of oblique plane whistler modes and permit the calculation of the wave electric field, decomposed into its rotational (inductive) and irrotational (space charge) contributions, [bold E]([bold r],[ital t])=[bold E][sub ind]+[bold E][sub sc]. The space charge density, [rho]([bold r],[ital t]), for a whistler wave is also shown.

OSTI ID:
5118116
Journal Information:
Physical Review Letters; (United States), Journal Name: Physical Review Letters; (United States) Vol. 72:11; ISSN 0031-9007; ISSN PRLTAO
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English