Current-driven plasma waves in the Versatile Toroidal Facility (VTF)

The authors have been conducting laboratory experiments to investigate plasma turbulence that can affect the propagation of electromagnetic waves. This work is aimed at simulating the ionospheric plasma turbulence and cross-checking the radar experiments at Arecibo, Puerto Rico. The large toroidal plasma device, called the Versatile Toroidal Facility (VTF), can produce a radially inhomogeneous plasma imposed in a helically shaped magnetic field. VTF plasma has a sharp density gradient and an intense magnetic field-aligned current, simulating well the plasma environment in the auroral ionosphere. A broad spectrum of plasma waves can be exited in VTF by the injected microwaves and electron beams. In this paper, the authors discuss the excitation of low-frequency plasma waves driven by electric currents, including ion acoustic waves and current-convective modes. A good agreement has been found between the experimental results and the theories developed for the VTF plasmas. However, their experimental results are quite different from those obtained in the rocket/space shuttle experiments. The difference in the laboratory experiments and space experiments arise form two facts. One is that the plasma inhomogeneity does not play a significant role in the space experiments. The other is that the electron beam injected in the space experiments does not produce a drifting Maxwellian plasma as seen in the VTF plasmas. The contrast between the VTF experiments and the active space experiments show that VTF can adequately simulate the ionospheric plasma turbulence and complement the rocket/space shuttle experiments