Radio-frequency backscatter of artificial electron clouds

Abstract

Backscatter and forward-scatter reflection properties of chemically created electron clouds were measured throughout the HF spectrum. The measurements included radar cross sections, signal fading characteristics, and frequency-time-dependence. These quantities led to certain conclusions regarding the cloud model which describes in general the chemical releases. The model so presented appears to be a limited coherent type of reflector; i.e., it is composed of an assembly of reflectors of coherent nature in a random motion which in turn give rise to a partially incoherent radar scatter signal. This simple model adequately describes most of the cesium releases, but it fails often enough to show that further experimentation is required.