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Characteristics of Low-Frequency Radiation Excited by the Impact of an Oscillating, High-Frequency Beam on the Ionosphere According to In Situ Measurements

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Abstract—

The results of experimental studies of the characteristics of low-frequency (LF) radiation excited by the impact of two frequency-shifted, unmodulated pump waves emitted by spatially separated antenna subarrays of the EISCAT high-latitude heating facility on the Earth’s ionosphere are presented. In situ measurements of the characteristics of the generated LF signals have been carried out at altitudes of ∼660 km with the onboard equipment of the DEMETER microsatellite. The spatial and amplitude characteristics of LF radiation are determined. It is shown that the detected values of the electric-field strength of the excited radiation (~3 µV/m in the daytime and ~50 µV/m in the nighttime) under this generation scheme, even if the combination of impact parameters is far from optimal, are comparable to the levels of signals during heating with powerful, amplitude-modulated, high-frequency radiation, which offers the potential to significantly increase the efficiency of LF wave radiation.

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5. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We are grateful to N.F. Blagoveshchenskaya for the assistance with the research programs at the EISCAT heating facility and to V.L. Frolov for the access to the initial data and for the useful discussions and comments.

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  1. All-Russia Scientific Institute of Measuring Systems, Nizhny Novgorod, Russia

    A. S. Belov

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Translated by O. Pismenov

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Belov, A.S. Characteristics of Low-Frequency Radiation Excited by the Impact of an Oscillating, High-Frequency Beam on the Ionosphere According to In Situ Measurements. Geomagn. Aeron. 62, 116–124 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0016793222020037

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