Magnetic field perturbations correlated with large amplitude lower-hybrid waves in a high-voltage linear plasma discharge

Abstract

The results of theoretical and experimental studies on excitation of magnetic field perturbations correlated with large amplitude lower-hybrid (LH) wave bursts in a high-voltage linear plasma discharge are presented. It is shown that the magnetic field perturbations, which are excited in the experiments mostly in the paramagnetic sense, are associated with the development of the magneto-modulational processes. The equations describing the relationship between the quasistationary magnetic field perturbations, plasma density perturbations, and the fields of LH waves are derived using the general nonlinear formalism developed for description of the modulational effects in arbitrary media. The results obtained on the basis of these equations are compared with the experimental data using the following parameters: the values of the magnitude of the magnetic field perturbations; the direction of the vector of the magnetic field perturbation; the correlation between the magnetic field perturbations and the electron density perturbations. It is shown that for LH waves propagating in one plane theoretical predictions are in a good agreement with the experimental results.