Field experiments and laboratory study of plasma turbulence and effects on EM wave propagation

Summary form only given. Both active experiments in space and laboratory experiments with plasma chambers have been planned to investigate plasma turbulence and effects on electromagnetic wave propagation. Active experiments will use the HF heating facility at Arecibo, Puerto Rico and the satellite-borne VLF transmitter carried by the ACTIVE satellite. The HF pump waves will first be injected from the ground into the ionosphere to produce plasma turbulence via various parametric instabilities and nonlinear effects. The VLF waves will be subsequently launched for studying nonlinear propagation and interactions with the highly disturbed plasma environment. These field experiments will provide an information base to evaluate the effectiveness of plasma turbulence as a potential scheme of plasma cloaking. Planned laboratory experiments for microwave-plasma interactions are aimed at investigating the aforementioned plasma turbulence effects as well as ECRH (electron cyclotron resonance heating) processes. Since plasma turbulence can absorb wave energy and isotropize wave propagation, it is expected that electromagnetic wave energy will be further weakened during ECRH in the presence of plasma turbulence.