K. M. Gillespie

Demonstration of auroral radio emission mechanisms by laboratory experiment

Auroral kilometric radiation occurs in regions of depleted plasma density in the polar magnetosphere. These emissions are close to the electron cyclotron frequency and appear to be connected to the formation of high pitch angle electron populations due to the conservation of the magnetic moment. This results in a horseshoe type distribution function being formed in velocity space where electrons are magnetically compressed as they descend towards the Earths atmosphere. Satellites have observed that radio emissions occur in conjunction with the formation of this distribution and show the radiation to have propagation and polarization characteristics of the extraordinary (X-mode) plasma mode with emission efficiency observed at ~1–2%. To investigate this phenomenon a laboratory experiment, scaled to microwave frequencies and lab dimensions by increasing the cyclotron frequency, was constructed whereby an electron beam propagated through a region of increasing magnetic field created by five independently variable solenoids. Results are presented for two experimental regimes of resonant coupling, 11.7 and 4.42 GHz, achieved by varying the peak magnetic field. Measurements of the experimental radiation frequency, power and efficiency were undertaken as a function of the magnetic compression. Results showed the radiation to be polarized in the near cut-off transverse electric radiation modes, with efficiency of emission ~1–2%, peak power outputs of ~19–30 kW and frequency close to the cyclotron frequency. This represented close correlation between the laboratory radiation efficiency, spectra, polarization and propagation with that of numerical predictions and the magnetospheric observations.

Numerical simulation of auroral cyclotron maser processes

Results are presented from a numerical investigation of radiation emission from an electron beam with a horseshoe-shaped velocity distribution. This process is relevant to the phenomenon of auroral kilometric radiation (AKR) which occurs in the polar regions of the Earths magnetosphere. In these regions of the auroral zone, particles accelerated into the increasing magnetic field of the Earths dipole develop a horseshoe-shaped velocity distribution through conservation of magnetic moment. It has been shown theoretically that this distribution is unstable to a cyclotron maser instability. A 2D particle-in-cell (PIC) code model was constructed to simulate a scaled laboratory experiment in which an electron beam subject to significant magnetic compression may be studied and brought into resonance with TE modes of an interaction waveguide. Results were obtained for electron beam energies of 75-85 keV, magnetic compression factors of up to 30 and electron cyclotron frequencies of 4.42 and 11.7 GHz. At 11.7 GHz, beam-wave coupling was observed with the TE03 mode and an RF output power of 20 kW was obtained corresponding to an RF conversion efficiency of 1.3%. At 4.42 GHz, excitation of the TE01 mode was observed with an RF output power of 35 kW for a cyclotron-wave detuning of 2%. This corresponds to an RF conversion efficiency of 2.6%. In both cases PiC particle velocity distributions show the clear formation of a horseshoe-shaped velocity distribution and subsequent action of a cyclotron maser instability. The RF conversion efficiencies obtained are also comparable with estimates for the AKR generation efficiency. (Abstract from: http://iopscience.iop.org/0741-3335/50/7/074011/)

Radio frequency resonator structure and diagnostic measurements for a laboratory simulation of Auroral Kilometric Radiation

Auroral Kilometric Radiation is emitted from regions of depleted plasma density in the Earth’s polar magnetosphere. The radiation frequency is close to the local electron cyclotron frequency, polarized in the X-mode with an efficiency of ∼1%, with power up to 1GW. Kinetic analysis of the instability in the descending auroral flux indicated that the phenomena scaled with the cyclotron frequency. Therefore, an experimental reproduction of the auroral geometry has been created scaled to laboratory dimensions by raising the radiation frequency to the microwave range. The experiment transports a 75–85keV electron beam through a region of increasing magnetic flux density, with a mirror ratio of up to 30. The experiments measured the mode, spectrum, power, and conversion efficiency of the emitted radiation as a function of the mirror ratio in two resonance regimes, with frequencies of 4.42 and 11.7GHz. The microwave diagnostics and measurements will be presented in this paper.

3D PiC code simulations for a laboratory experimental investigation of Auroral Kilometric Radiation mechanisms

Auroral Kilometric Radiation (AKR), occurs naturally in the polar regions of the Earth’s magnetosphere where electrons are accelerated by electric fields into the increasing planetary magnetic dipole. Here conservation of the magnetic moment converts axial to rotational momentum forming a horseshoe distribution in velocity phase space. This distribution is unstable to cyclotron emission with radiation emitted in the X-mode. In a scaled laboratory reproduction of this process, a 75–85 keV electron beam of 5–40 A was magnetically compressed by a system of solenoids and emissions were observed for cyclotron frequencies of 4.42 GHz and 11.7 GHz resonating with near cut-off TE0,1 and TE0,3 modes, respectively. Here we compare these measurements with numerical predictions from the 3D PiC code KARAT. The 3D simulations accurately predicted the radiation modes and frequencies produced by the experiment. The predicted conversion efficiency between electron kinetic and wave field energy of around 1% is close to the experimental measurements and broadly consistent with quasi-linear theoretical analysis and geophysical observations. (Some figures in this article are in colour only in the electronic version)

Electron beam measurements for a laboratory simulation of auroral kilometric radiation

Efficient (~1%) electron cyclotron radio emissions are produced in the X-mode from regions of locally depleted plasma in the Earths polar magnetosphere. These emissions are commonly referred to as auroral kilometric radiation. Two populations of electrons exist with rotational kinetic energy to contribute to this effect, the downward propagating auroral electron flux which acquires transverse momentum due to conservation of the magnetic moment as it experiences an increasing magnetic field and the mirrored component of this flux. This paper demonstrates the production of an electron beam having a controlled velocity spread for use in an experiment to investigate the available free energy in the earthbound electron flux. The experiment was scaled to microwave frequencies and used an electron gun to inject an electron beam into a controlled region of increasing magnetic field produced by a set of solenoids reproducing the magnetospheric situation. Results are presented of the measurements of diode voltage, beam current as a function of magnetic mirror ratio and estimates of the line density versus electron pitch angle consistent with the formation of a horseshoe velocity distribution and demonstrating control of the electron distribution in velocity space.

Numerical investigation of auroral cyclotron maser processes

When a mainly rectilinear electron beam is subject to significant magnetic compression, conservation of magnetic moment results in the formation of a horseshoe shaped velocity distribution. It has been shown that such a distribution is unstable to cyclotron emission and may be responsible for the generation of auroral kilometric radiation—an intense rf emission sourced at high altitudes in the terrestrial auroral magnetosphere. Particle-in-cell code simulations have been undertaken to investigate the dynamics of the cyclotron emission process in the absence of cavity boundaries with particular consideration of the spatial growth rate, spectral output and rf conversion efficiency. Computations reveal that a well-defined cyclotron emission process occurs albeit with a low spatial growth rate compared with waveguide bounded simulations. The rf output is near perpendicular to the electron beam with a slight backward-wave character reflected in the spectral output with a well defined peak at 2.68 GHz, just bel...

Cyclotron maser emission: stars, planets, and laboratory

This paper is a review of results by the group over the past decade on auroral kilometric radiation and similar cyclotron emissions from stars and planets. These emissions are often attributed to a horseshoe or crescent shaped momentum distribution of energetic electrons moving into the convergent magnetic field which exists around polar regions of dipole-type stars and planets. We have established a laboratory-based facility that has verified many of the details of our original theoretical description and agrees well with numerical simulations. The experiment has demonstrated that the horseshoe distribution does indeed produce cyclotron emission at a frequency just below the local cyclotron frequency, with polarization close to X-mode and propagating nearly perpendicularly to the beam motion. We discuss recent developments in the theory and simulation of the instability including addressing a radiation escape problem and the effect of competing instabilities, relating these to the laboratory, space, and astrophysical observations.

Cyclotron maser radiation from inhomogeneous plasmas

Cyclotron maser instabilities are important in space, astrophysical, and laboratory plasmas. While extensive work has been done on these instabilities, most of it deals with homogeneous plasmas with uniform magnetic fields while in practice, of course, the systems are generally inhomogeneous. Here we expand on our previous work [R. A. Cairns, I. Vorgul, and R. Bingham, Phys. Rev. Lett. 101, 215003 (2008)] in which we showed that localized regions of instability can exist in an inhomogeneous plasma and that the way in which waves propagate away from this region is not necessarily obvious from the homogeneous plasma dispersion relation. While we consider only a simple ring distribution in velocity space, because of its tractability, the ideas may point toward understanding the behavior in the presence of more realistic distributions. The main object of the present work is to move away from consideration of the local dispersion relation and show how global growing eigenmodes can be constructed.

Characterization of a Penning discharge for investigation of auroral radio wave generation mechanisms

Auroral Kilometric Radiation (AKR), observed by satellites in the Earths magnetosphere, is naturally generated in regions of partial plasma depletion (auroral density cavity) in the polar magnetosphere at approximately 3200 km altitude. As an electron descends through these regions of partial plasma depletion along magnetic field lines towards the Earths ionosphere, the field lines increases and, through conservation of the magnetic moment, the electron gives up axial velocity in favour of perpendicular velocity. This results in a horseshoe-shaped distribution function in parallel/perpendicular-velocity space which is unstable to X-mode radiation, near the cyclotron frequency. Power levels as high as GW levels have been recorded with frequencies around 300 kHz. The background plasma frequency within the auroral density cavity is approximately 9 kHz corresponding to a plasma density 1 cm−3. A laboratory experiment scaled from auroral frequency to microwave frequency has previously been reported. Here, the addition of a Penning trap to simulate the background plasma of the density cavity is reported, with measurements ne ~ 2 × 1014–2.17 × 1015 m−3, fpe ~ 128–418 MHz and fce ~ 5.21 GHz giving a ratio of ωce/ωpe comparable to the magnetospheric AKR source region.

Numerical simulations of unbounded cyclotron-maser emissions

Numerical simulations have been conducted to study the spatial growth rate and emission topology of the cyclotron-maser instability responsible for stellar/planetary auroral magnetospheric radio emission and intense non-thermal radio emission in other astrophysical contexts. These simulations were carried out in an unconstrained geometry, so that the conditions existing within the source region of some natural electron cyclotron masers could be more closely modelled. The results have significant bearing on the radiation propagation and coupling characteristics within the source region of such non-thermal radio emissions.