Penetration and screening of perpendicularly launched electromagnetic waves through bounded supercritical plasma confined in multicusp magnetic field

The question of electromagnetic wave penetration and screening by a bounded supercritical (ωp>ω with ωp and ω being the electron-plasma and wave frequencies, respectively) plasma confined in a minimum B multicusp field, for waves launched in the k perpendicular Bo mode, is addressed through experiments and numerical simulations. The scale length of radial plasma nonuniformity (|ne/(∂ne/∂r)|) and magnetostatic field (Bo) inhomogeneity (|Bo/(∂Bo/∂r)|) are much smaller than the free space (λo) and guided wavelengths (λg). Contrary to predictions of plane wave dispersion theory and the Clemow-Mullaly-Allis (CMA) diagram, for a bounded plasma a finite propagation occurs through the central plasma regions where αp2=ωp2/ω2≥1 and βc2=ωce2/ω2<<1(∼10-4), with ωce being the electron cyclotron frequency. Wave screening, as predicted by the plane wave model, does not remain valid due to phase mixing and superposition of reflected waves from the conducting boundary, leading to the formation of electromagnetic standing wave modes. The waves are found to satisfy a modified upper hybrid resonance (UHR) relation in the minimum B field and are damped at the local electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) location.