On the generation of a broad downshifted spectrum of HF wave enhanced plasma lines in the ionospheric heating experiments

Abstract

Generation of a broad downshifted spectrum of HF wave enhanced plasma Lines (HFPLs) in ionospheric heating experiments is explored. Langmuir waves are first excited within a cone around the geomagnetic field by the HF wave, in the region near its reflection height, through the oscillating two stream instability (OTSI). These Langmuir waves then cascade through a secondary parametric instability, whereby an obliquely propagating Langmuir pump wave decays into an obliquely propagating Langmuir sideband and a lower hybrid decay mode, which propagates in a direction perpendicular to the Langmuir pump wave. The excited Langmuir sidebands have a broad downshifted frequency spectrum and large propagation angles. Their propagation angles are further widened via the filamentation instability or scattering off short‐scale field‐aligned density irregularities. Thus they become detectable by backscatter radars as HFPLs with a broad downshifted frequency spectrum. The results of our analysis show that it requires HF field amplitude of 3.6 V/m to cascade the OTSI‐excited Langmuir waves, for example, 8 times to produce a downshifted spectral width of 50 KHz in the Arecibo heating experiments.