Publication Date
2017
Document Type
Thesis
Committee Members
Jerry Clark (Committee Member), Amit Sharma (Advisor), Vladimir Sotnikov (Committee Member)
Degree Name
Master of Science (MS)
Abstract
Previous theoretical work has shown that a parametric interaction between electrostatic lower oblique resonance (LOR) and ion acoustic waves (IAW) can produce electromagnetic whistler waves in a cold magnetized plasma. It was also demonstrated theoretically that this interaction can more efficiently generate electromagnetic whistler waves than by direct excitation using a conventional loop antenna. For the purpose of experimentally validating the above result, an experimental facility was designed and constructed utilizing a vacuum chamber, electromagnets, and a helicon plasma source array capable of producing a volume of plasma with high density and spatial uniformity. Additionally, positioning equipment and plasma diagnostics such as an RF compensated Langmuir probe and electrostatically shielded Bdot probes were fabricated to capture plasma parameter and time varying magnetic field data. The ability to experimentally excite the LOR, whistler wave, and IAW was demonstrated by utilizing the fabricated diagnostics. This data was then arranged to display spatial wave topologies which agreed with each wave's respective dispersion relation. Finally the parametric antenna was implemented to produce whistler waves through the interaction of LOW and IAW waves. The spatial and temporal information of the frequency components of these waves were analyzed by applying a band pass filter via Fourier analysis.
Page Count
83
Department or Program
Department of Physics
Year Degree Awarded
2017
Copyright
Copyright 2017, all rights reserved. My ETD will be available under the "Fair Use" terms of copyright law.
