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Deterministic Chaos in Ionospheric Plasma Pumped by Radio Waves
Author(s) -
Leyser Thomas B.
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2021gl093892
Subject(s) - ionosphere , physics , plasma , computational physics , radio wave , exponential function , electromagnetic radiation , harmonic , parametric statistics , plasma oscillation , spectral line , excited state , electron density , atomic physics , geophysics , optics , quantum mechanics , mathematics , mathematical analysis , statistics
A commonly observed spectral feature of electromagnetic emissions stimulated by powerful radio waves in ionospheric plasma is found to have an exponential frequency spectrum. This so called broad upshifted maximum (BUM) is excited for pump frequencies near and slightly above an harmonic of the ionospheric electron gyro frequency. A simplified model of lower hybrid oscillations driven by parametric four‐wave interaction localized in a cylindrical density depletion shows how the plasma drift can exhibit deterministic chaos. The associated exponential spectra are consistent with the experimental results.