New collaboration for studying interaction of waves and particles in the near-Earth plasma: active experiment, laboratory modeling, and numerical simulation

The purpose of the new laboratory is to interrelate experimental studies of laboratory plasma in two research facilities, one at IAP RAS (Nizhny Novgorod) and the other at the nearby SURA ionospheric heater, as well as to incorporate analysis of data from existing ionospheric heating facilities (HAARP, EISCAT, and Arecibo). The goal is a better understanding of plasma-wave phenomena and the development of new methods for monitoring the geophysical environment. The long-range goal is developing a sophisticated capability to investigate and forecast the behavior of the Earth’s ionosphere and magnetosphere under various natural and anthropogenic perturbations while linking natural and artificial perturbations in the geophysical environment to potential operational disruptions of ground- and space-based telecommunication systems.

On-demand artificial ionospheric turbulence will be studied at the mid-latitude heating facility SURA (Nizhny Novgorod State Univ.). Natural and artificial physical phenomena in the ionosphere and magnetosphere will be modeled using the specially designed laboratory setups at the Inst. Applied Physics, Russian Academy of Sciences: KROT (a space simulation chamber) and SMIS-37 (a magnetic mirror trap). Electromagnetic wave propagation and ionospheric turbulence will be simulated by multiscale codes including full-wave and Vlasov descriptions of wave-particle interactions and kinetic instabilities.