HAARP Diagnostic Instruments; High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program

摘要

This report describes the suite of diagnostic instruments at a major facility for experimental radio science research, under development in Gakona, Alaska. This site is being developed as part of the High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program (HAARP). A key objective of the program is the identification and characterization of the physical processes initiated in the ionosphere and space via interactions with high power radio waves. Among these phenomena are: plasma instabilities and turbulence; electron acceleration, including the production of optical and infrared (IR) emissions; the generation, maintenance and/or suppression of ionization structures aligned along the earth's magnetic field; the modulation of currents in the ionosphere, thereby producing virtual antennas in space to generate ULF/ELF/VLF radio waves; and the production of stimulated electromagnetic emissions (SEE). The efficiencies that can be obtained in the initiation, maintenance, and control of such processes and techniques to excite selected (individual) processes, or to suppress unwanted ones, are also research areas of increasing interest. To provide the experimental capabilities required to meet its objectives, the HAARP Gakona facility includes a powerful, phased-array, high-frequency (HF) transmitter and an extensive complement of radio-frequency and optical diagnostic instruments.