A scaled laboratory experiment has been constructed at the University of Strathclyde to replicate major features of the auroral kilometric radiation phenomenon [1,2] in a controlled environment at microwave frequencies [3-5]. 2D and 3D simulations are also being conducted to predict the experimental radiation power, spectrum, wave polarisation and propagation as well as analysing the evolution of the cyclotron instability in the absence of transverse radio boundaries [6-10]. Theoretical studies are being undertaken at the University of St Andrews to analyse the evolution of the instability using plasma kinetic theory [11-14]. The results of these studies confirm the proposition that sufficient free energy in the magnetically compressed descending electron current exists to explain satellite observations of the magnetospheric wave generation.
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