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Ann. Geophys., 20, 1153-1165, 2002
www.ann-geophys.net/20/1153/2002/
© European Geosciences Union 2002
Ion sense of polarization of the electromagnetic wave field in the electron whistler frequency band
B. Lundin1 and C. Krafft2
1Institute of Terrestrial Magnetism, Ionosphere and Radiowave Propagation, Russian Academy of Sciences, Troitsk, Moscow Region, 142190, Russia
2Laboratoire de Physique des Gaz et des Plasmas, Université Paris-Sud, 91405 Orsay Cedex, France
Correspondence to: C. Krafft
(Catherine.Krafft@lpgp.u-psud.fr)
Abstract. It is shown that the
left-hand (or ion-type) sense of polarization can appear in the field
interference pattern of two plane electron whistler waves. Moreover, it is
demonstrated that the ion-type polarized wave electric fields can be
accompanied by the presence at the same observation point of electron-type
polarized wave magnetic fields. The registration of ion-type polarized fields
with frequencies between the highest ion gyrofrequency and the electron
gyrofrequency in a cold, overdense plasma is a sufficient indication for the
existence of an interference wave pattern, which can typically occur near
artificial or natural reflecting magnetospheric plasma regions, inside
waveguides (as in helicon discharges, for example), in fields resonantly
emitted by beams of charged particles or, in principle, in some self-sustained,
nonlinear wave field structures. A comparison with the conventional spectral
matrix data processing approach is also presented in order to facilitate the
calculations of the analyzed polarization parameters.
Key words. Ionosphere (wave
propagation) Radio science (waves in plasma) Space plasma physics (general or
miscellaneous)
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