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NASA NTRS1983

Theory of radar detection of solitons during ionospheric heating

RF modifiers at some existing ionospheric-heating facilities are found to be sufficiently intense for the production of (collapsing) solitons. The detection of these solitons using Thomson radar is considered, and the problem of an electromagnetic wave scattering off a collection of collapsing solitons is treated. The cross section for the process is found to be relatively large, and an intense plasma-line backscatter is predicted. An explanation of the phenomenon of 'plasma-line overshoot' is suggested.

Sheerin, J. P.↗

NASA NTRS1982

Theory and applications of electromagnetic levitation

A simple treatment of the electromagnetic levitation problem is presented, with emphasis placed on approximate formulas useful in planning and interpreting laboratory measurements. Consideration is also given to numerical solutions for fields, eddy currents, and Lorentz forces for rapidly varying applied fields, with particular reference made to traveling wave levitation experiments. Applications of levitation processing are briefly reviewed, including thermophysical property measurements, undercooling studies, containerless crystal growth, and continuous casting of cylinders.

Frost, R. T.↗

NASA NTRS1973

A theory for scattering by density fluctuations based on three-wave interaction

The theory of scattering by charged particle fluctuations of a plasma is developed for the case of zero magnetic field. The source current is derived on the basis of: (1) a three wave interaction between the incident and scattered electromagnetic waves and one electrostatic plasma wave (either Langmuir or ion acoustic), and (2) a synchronous interaction between the same two electromagnetic waves and the discrete components of the charged particle fluctuations. Previous work is generalized by no longer making the assumption that the frequency of the electromagnetic waves in large compared to the plasma frequency. The general result is then applied to incoherent scatter, and to scatter by strongly driven plasma waves. An expansion is carried out for each of those cases to determine the lower order corrections to the usual high frequency scattering formulas.

Harker, K. J.↗

NASA NTRS1985

Acceleration of energetic particles

Acceleration of some particles from the background plasma to highly superthermal energies is a common feature of collisionless shocks in interplanetary space. The complete in situ measurements of bulk flows, thermal plasma, electromagnetic waves and energetic particles available for interplanetary shocks both suggest and test the models of shock acceleration in the solar system and the rest of the universe. This tutorial will review the present state of shock acceleration theory. Scatter-free acceleration by grad B drift in the plasma electric field E = -V x B/c, and diffusive acceleration resulting from scattering by Alfven waves in the plasma on both sides of the shock are discussed. The diffusive theory in simple steady state gives power-law spectra, but also shows the effects of time-dependent shocks and injection rates, escape and other losses, the self-consistent Alfven wave spectra, and plasma flow fields affected by diffusive energetic particle acceleration.

Forman, M. A.↗

NASA NTRS2001

Stochastic Growth of Ion Cyclotron And Mirror Waves In Earth's Magnetosheath

Electromagnetic ion cyclotron and mirror waves in Earth's magnetosheath are bursty, have widely variable fields, and are unexpectedly persistent, properties difficult to reconcile with uniform secular growth. Here it is shown for specific periods that stochastic growth theory (SGT) quantitatively accounts for the functional form of the wave statistics and qualitatively explains the wave properties. The wave statistics are inconsistent with uniform secular growth or self-organized criticality, but nonlinear processes sometimes play a role at high fields. The results show SGT's relevance near marginal stability and suggest that it is widely relevant to space and astrophysical plasmas.

Cairns, Iver H.↗

NASA NTRS1978

A multiple-scattering approach to transient electromagnetic interaction with plasmas

A multiple-scattering method is described which is applicable to the transient plasma problem concerning the interaction between transient electromagnetic waves and plasmas. The method starts with the time-dependent wave fields scattered by a linear electric dipole when illuminated by a transient plane wave. It avoids the use of Fourier transform methods and provides additional physical insight into the origin of the frequency-dispersive properties of material media. The results are applicable only to cold plasmas since spatial dispersion is neglected, implying that effects due to thermal velocities of electrons - such as incoherent scatter - are not covered by the theory. The advantages of the method for initiation of the student into transient electromagnetics in dispersive media are identified as conceptual simplicity and computational simplicity. The entire analysis is in the time domain.

Bowhill, S. A.↗

NASA NTRS1990

Auroral kilometric radiation - An example of relativistic wave-particle interaction in geoplasma

The earth's auroral kilometric radiation (AKR) is believed to be produced by the electron-cyclotron maser instability. This instability is the result of a wave-particle interaction in which relativistic effects are crucial. An explanation is given as to how these relativistic effects alter the shape of the resonance curve in velocity space and modify the R - X mode wave dispersion near the electron cyclotron frequency compared to the results obtained in the nonrelativistic limit and from cold-plasma theory. The properties of the cyclotron maser instability in a driven system are illustrated using two-dimensional electromagnetic particle simulations which incorporate a continual flow of primary energetic electrons along the magnetic field.

Pritchett, P. L.↗

NASA NTRS1994

Rigorous Justification of the Localized Approximation to the Beam-Shape Coefficients in Generalized Lorenz-Mie Theory: On-Axis Beams - Part 1

Generalized Lorenz-Mie theory describes electromagnetic scattering of an arbitrary light beam by a spherical particle. The computationally most expensive feature of the theory is the evaluation of the beam-shape coefficients, which give the decomposition of the incident light beam into partial waves. The so-called localized approximation to these coefficients for a focused Gaussian beam is an analytical function whose use greatly simplifies Gaussian-beam scattering calculations. A mathematical justification and physical interpretation of the localized approximation is presented for on-axis beams.

Lock, James A.↗

NASA NTRS1987

Electromagnetic beam modes driven by anisotropic electron streams

A theory is presented which provides an explanation for recent laboratory observations of a 'new electromagnetic' mode in a non-Maxwellian high-beta plasma' and suggests a likely relevance of these modes to space plasmas. Unstable parallel-propagating waves, which can be beam modes or whistlers, depending mainly on the degree of velocity anisotropy in a weak electron beam, are found. In the beam-mode limit relevant to the experiment, this is a kinetic Weibel instability, enhanced by a parallel magnetic field. The frequency of the mode can be above or below the electron cyclotron frequency.

Goldman, Martin V.↗

NASA NTRS1995

Low-energy ion acceleration at quasi-perpendicular shocks: Transverse diffusion

The problem of ion injection and acceleration at quasi perpendicular shocks has been the subject of some debate over the past two decades. It is widely known that these shocks efficiently accelerate particles that are well in the high-energy tail of the distribution. However, the issue of injection, or the acceleration of low-energy ions, has yet to reach a consensus. The fundamental issue is whether there is enough diffusion normal to the magnetic field for the particles to remain near the shock. Since transverse diffusion is a physical process that is not well understood in space plasmas, this is an important, and difficult issue to address. In this report, we will investigate the ion injection problem by performing test particle orbit integrations using synthesized turbulent fields. These fields are fully three-dimensional so that transverse diffusion is possible (cross-field diffusion is not possible in geometries where the electromagnetic fields are less than three dimensional). The synthesized fields are produced by superimposing a three-dimensional wave field on a background field. For completeness, we will compare the results from this model with the more well-established theories, such as the diffusive approximation and scatter-free shock drift acceleration. We will also compare these results with other numerical simulation techniques such as the well known hybrid simulation, and other test-particle calculations in which the shock fields are specified to have less than three dimensions. We will also discuss some recent relevant observations and how these compare with our results.

Giacalone, J.↗

NASA NTRS1966

Cutoff phenomena for guided waves in moving media.

Vector potential function solution to Maxwell- Minkowski equations describing cut-off phenomena for EM wave propagation in wave guide filled with homogeneous isotropic lossless moving medium

ELECTROMAGNETIC PROPAGATION↗

NASA NTRS1974

The dyadic diffraction coefficient for a curved edge

A compact dyadic diffraction coefficient for electromagnetic waves obliquely incident on a curved edge formed by perfectly conducting curved or plane surfaces is obtained. This diffraction coefficent remains valid in the transition regions adjacent to shadow and reflection boundaries, where the diffraction coefficients of Keller's original theory fail. The method is on Keller's method of the canonical problem, which in this case is the perfectly conducting wedge illuminated by plane, cylindrical, conical, and spherical waves. When the proper ray fixed coordinate system is introduced, the dyadic diffraction coefficient for the wedge is found to be the sum of only two dyads, and it is shown that this is also true for the dyadic diffraction coefficients of higher order edges. One dyad contains the acoustic soft diffraction coefficient; the other dyad contains the acoustic hard diffraction coefficient. The expressions for the acoustic wedge diffraction coefficients contain Fresnel integrals, which ensure that the total field is continuous at shadow and reflection boundaries. The diffraction coefficients have the same form for the different types of edge illumination; only the arguments of the Fresnel integrals are different. Since diffraction is a local phenomenon, and locally the curved edge structure is wedge shaped, this result is readily extended to the curved edge.

Kouyoumjian, R. G.↗

NASA NTRS1985

Remote sensing of earth terrain

Progress on the investigation of the anisotropy of the terrain media, such as vegetation canopy and sea ice, and the study of the fluctuation-dissipation theorem in conjunction with the application of strong fluctuation theory for passive remote sensing of snowpacks is reported. The Feynman diagrammatic technique is used to derive the Dyson equation for the mean field and the Bethe-Salpeter equation for the correlation or the covariance of the field for electromagnetic wave propagation and scattering in an anisotropic random medium. With the random permittivity expressed in a general form, the bilocal and the nonlinear approximations are employed to solve the Dyson equation and the ladder approximation to the Bethe-Salpeter equation. The mean dyadic Green's function for a two layer anisotropic random medium with arbitrary three dimensional correlation function was investigated with the zeroth-order solutions to the Dyson equation under the four characteristic waves associated with the coherent vector fields propagating in an anisotropic random medium layer, which are the ordinary and extraordinary waves with upward and downward propagating vectors.

Kong, J. A.↗

NASA NTRS1984

Arguments for fundamental emission by the parametric process L yields T + S in interplanetary type III bursts

Observations of low frequency ion acoustic-like waves associated with Langmuir waves present during interplanetary Type 3 bursts are used to study plasma emission mechanisms and wave processes involving ion acoustic waves. It is shown that the observed wave frequency characteristics are consistent with the processes L yields T + S (where L = Langmuir waves, T = electromagnetic waves, S = ion acoustic waves) and L yields L' + S proceeding. The usual incoherent (random phase) version of the process L yields T + S cannot explain the observed wave production time scale. The clumpy nature of the observed Langmuir waves is vital to the theory of IP Type 3 bursts. The incoherent process L yields T + S may encounter difficulties explaining the observed Type 3 brightness temperatures when Langmuir wave clumps are incorporated into the theory. The parametric process L yields T + S may be the important emission process for the fundamental radiation of interplanetary Type 3 bursts.

Cairns, I. H.↗

NASA NTRS1986

Electromagnetic scattering theory

Electromagnetic scattering theory is discussed with emphasis on the general stochastic variational principle (SVP) and its applications. The stochastic version of the Schwinger-type variational principle is presented, and explicit expressions for its integrals are considered. Results are summarized for scalar wave scattering from a classic rough-surface model and for vector wave scattering from a random dielectric-body model. Also considered are the selection of trial functions and the variational improvement of the Kirchhoff short-wave approximation appropriate to large size-parameters. Other applications of vector field theory discussed include a general vision theory and the analysis of hydromagnetism induced by ocean motion across the geomagnetic field. Levitational force-torque in the magnetic suspension of the disturbance compensation system (DISCOS), now deployed in NOVA satellites, is also analyzed using the developed theory.

Bird, J. F.↗

NASA NTRS1972

Nonlinear wave interaction in a plasma column

Two particular cases of nonlinear wave interaction in a plasma column were investigated. The frequencies of the waves were on the order of magnitude of the electron plasma frequency, and ion motion was neglected. The nonlinear coupling of slow waves on a plasma column was studied by means of cold plasma theory, and the case of a plasma column surrounded by an infinite dielectric in the absence of a magnetic field was also examined. Nonlinear scattering from a plasma column in an electromagnetic field having it's magnetic field parallel to the axis of the column was investigated. Some experimental results on mode conversion in the presence of loss are presented along with some observations of nonlinear scattering, The effect of the earth's magnetic field and of discharge symmetry on the radiation pattern are discussed.

Larsen, J.↗

DOE OSTI2025

Doppler Backscattering Data Analysis and Integrated Modeling with OMFIT

One Modeling Framework for Integrated Tasks (OMFIT) is a widely used software tool in the magnetic fusion research community. OMFIT provides magnetic fusion energy researchers with a framework for the development of special-purpose physics modules. This paper describes an OMFIT physics module pertaining to the Doppler Backscattering (DBS) fusion plasma diagnostic. DBS measures density fluctuations and flow velocity through plasma scattering of electromagnetic waves. The OMFIT DBS module was developed to analyze experimental DBS data and facilitate modeling of DBS systems installed on multiple tokamak devices. The OMFIT DBS module is designed to support several analysis workflows: detailed analysis of experimental data, experimental planning, and theory-based synthetic diagnostic modeling. The DBS module uses integrated modeling by leveraging other OMFIT physics modules to perform tasks related to DBS, e.g. ray/beam–tracing simulations, edge-localized mode–synchronized data analysis, magnetic equilibrium reconstruction, and fitting kinetic profile data. Furthermore, this paper describes several supported workflows and serves a reference for the OMFIT DBS module.

Doppler backscattering↗

NASA NTRS1974

Remote sensing and snowpack management

The present work describes the use of an airborne electromagnetic sensing system for measuring snowpack depth, density, and water content. A transmitter sends a sequence of pulses of stepped frequencies, and the reflections are measured by a sensitive receiver. The combination of the snowpack and the earth interacts with the electromagnetic wave so as to modify the characteristics of the reflected signals. The variation of the reflected intensity with frequency provides the desired data. A theoretical analysis of return signal and snowpack parameter relationships is given, and the results of experimental verification of the theory are discussed.

Linlor, W. I.↗