Dr. Evgeny Mishin, Space Vehicles Directorate, Air Force Research Laboratory, Kirkland AFB, Albuquerque

"Artificial plasma creation by electron and radio beams in the ionosphere: Implications for natural aurora"

Abstract: A survey of nonlinear plasma phenomena in the Earth's ionosphere during active experiments with injections of high-power electron and HF radio beams is presented. The common feature of those is acceleration of suprathermal electrons by strong Langmuir turbulence that create "artificial" plasma in weakly-ionized ionosphere. This process leads to ignition of beam-plasma discharge in rocket experiments with electron beam injections and to formation of ionizing waves in high-power HF modification experiments at the European Incoherent Scatter (EISCAT at Tromsø, Norway) and High-frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP at Gakona, Alaska, USA) heating facilities. These results advanced the understanding of the physics of natural 'Enhanced' aurora.