Preference of right-handed whistler modes and helicon discharge directionality due to plasma density gradients

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Whistlers are magnetized plasma waves in planetary magnetospheres. Bounded whistlers, known as helicons, can create high-density laboratory plasmas. We demonstrate reversal of the plasma discharge direction by changing either antenna helicity or magnetic field direction. Simulations reproduce these findings only in the presence of a radial density gradient. Inclusion of such a gradient in the wave equation gives rise to azimuthal shear currents, which for the first time consistently explains the preference of right- over left-handed whistlers and the discharge directionality in helicon plasmas.