Polar observations of electron density distribution in the Earth's magnetosphere. 2. Density profiles

International audienceUsing spacecraft potential measurements of the Polar electric field experiment, we investigate electron density variations of key plasma regions within the magnetosphere, including the polar cap, cusp, trough, plasmapause, and auroral zone. The statistical results were presented in the first part of this study, and the present paper reports detailed structures revealed by individual satellite passes. The high-altitude (> 3 RE) polar cap is generally one of the most tenuous regions in the magnetosphere, but surprisingly, the polar cap boundary does not appear as a steep density decline. At low altitudes (1 RE) in summer, the polar densities are very high, several 100 cm-3 , and interestingly, the density peaks at the central polar cap. On the noonside of the polar cap, the cusp appears as a dense, 1?3° wide region. A typical cusp density above 4 RE distance is between several 10 cm-3 and a few 100 cm-3 . On some occasions the cusp is crossed multiple times in a single pass, simultaneously with the occurrence of IMF excursions, as the cusp can instantly shift its position under varying solar wind conditions, similar to the magnetopause. On the nightside, the auroral zone is not always detected as a simple density cavity. Cavities are observed but their locations, strengths, and sizes vary. Also, the electric field perturbations do not necessarily overlap with the cavities: there are cavities with no field disturbances, as well as electric field disturbances observed with no clear cavitation. In the inner magnetosphere, the density distributions clearly show that the plasmapause and trough densities are well correlated with geomagnetic activity. Data from individual orbits near noon and midnight demonstrate that at the beginning of geomagnetic disturbances, the retreat speed of the plasmapause can be one L-shell per hour, while during quiet intervals the plasmapause can expand anti-earthward at the same speed. For the trough region, it is found that the density tends to be an order of magnitude higher on the day-side (~1 cm-3) than on the nightside (~0.1?1 cm-3), particularly during low Kp

Altitude dependence of plasma density in the auroral zone

International audienceWe study the altitude dependence of plasma depletions above the auroral region in the 5000?30 000 km altitude range using five years of Polar spacecraft potential data. We find that besides a general decrease of plasma density with altitude, there frequently exist additional density depletions at 2?4 RE radial distance, where RE is the Earth radius. The position of the depletions tends to move to higher altitude when the ionospheric footpoint is sunlit as compared to darkness. Apart from these cavities at 2?4 RE radial distance, separate cavities above 4 RE occur in the midnight sector for all Kp and also in the morning sector for high Kp. In the evening sector our data remain inconclusive in this respect. This holds for the ILAT range 68?74. These additional depletions may be substorm-related. Our study shows that auroral phenomena modify the plasma density in the auroral region in such a way that a nontrivial and interesting altitude variation results, which reflects the nature of the auroral acceleration processes

The occurrence frequency of auroral potential structures and electric fields as a function of altitude using Polar/EFI data

The aim of the paper is to study how auroral potential structures close at high altitude. We analyse all electric field data collected by Polar on auroral field lines in 1996–2001 by integrating the electric field along the spacecraft orbit to obtain the plasma potential, from which we identify potential minima by an automatic method. From these we estimate the associated effective mapped-down electric field <i>E<sub>i</sub></i>, defined as the depth of the potential minimum divided by its half-width in the ionosphere. Notice that although we use the ionosphere as a reference altitude, the field <i>E<sub>i</sub></i> does not actually exist in the ionosphere but is just a convenient computational quantity. We obtain the statistical distribution of <i>E<sub>i</sub></i> as a function of altitude, magnetic local time (MLT), <i>K<sub>p</sub></i> index and the footpoint solar illumination condition. Surprisingly, we find two classes of electric field structures. The first class consists of the low-altitude potential structures that are presumably associated with inverted-V regions and discrete auroral arcs and their set of associated phenomena. We show that the first class exists only below ~3<i>R<sub>E</sub></i> radial distance, and it occurs in all nightside MLT sectors (<i>R<sub>E</sub></i>=Earth radius). The second class exists only above radial distance <i>R</i>=4<i>R<sub>E</sub></i> and almost only in the midnight MLT sector, with a preference for high <i>K<sub>p</sub></i> values. Interestingly, in the middle altitudes (<i>R</i>=3–4<i>R<sub>E</sub></i>) the number of potential minima is small, suggesting that the low and high altitude classes are not simple field-aligned extensions of each other. This is also underlined by the fact that statistically the high altitude structures seem to be substorm-related, while the low altitude structures seem to correspond to stable auroral arcs. The new finding of the existence of the two classes is important for theories of auroral acceleration, since it supports a closed potential structure model for stable arcs, while during substorms, different superposed processes take place that are associated with the disconnected high-altitude electric field structures.<br><br> <b>Key words.</b> Magnetospheric physics (electric fields; auroral phenomena) – Space plasma physics (electrostatic structures

Polar observations of electron density distribution in the Earth's magnetosphere. 1. Statistical results

International audienceForty-five months of continuous spacecraft potential measurements from the Polar satellite are used to study the average electron density in the magnetosphere and its dependence on geomagnetic activity and season. These measurements offer a straightforward, passive method for monitoring the total electron density in the magnetosphere, with high time resolution and a density range that covers many orders of magnitude. Within its polar orbit with geocentric perigee and apogee of 1.8 and 9.0 RE, respectively, Polar encounters a number of key plasma regions of the magnetosphere, such as the polar cap, cusp, plasmapause, and auroral zone that are clearly identified in the statistical averages presented here. The polar cap density behaves quite systematically with season. At low distance (~2 RE), the density is an order of magnitude higher in summer than in winter; at high distance (>4 RE), the variation is somewhat smaller. Along a magnetic field line the density declines between these two altitudes by a factor of 10?20 in winter and by a factor of 200?1000 in summer. A likely explanation for the large gradient in the summer is a high density of heavy ions that are gravitationally bound in the low-altitude polar cap. The geomagnetic effects are also significant in the polar cap, with the average density being an order of magnitude larger for high Kp; for an individual case, the polar cap density may increase even more dramatically. The plasma density in the cusp is controlled primarily by the solar wind variables, but nevertheless, they can be characterized to some extent in terms of the Kp index. We also investigate the local time variation of the average density at the geosynchronous distance that appears to be in accordance with previous geostationary observations. The average density decreases with increasing Kp at all MLT sectors, except at 14?17 MLT, where the average density remains constant. At all MLT sectors the range of the density varies by more than 3 orders of magnitude, since the geostationary orbit may cut through different plasma regions, such as the plasma sheet, trough, and plasmasphere

Middle-energy electron anisotropies in the auroral region

Field-aligned anisotropic electron distribution functions of <i>T</i><sub>∥</sub> > <i>T</i><sub>⊥</sub> type are observed on auroral field lines at both low and high altitudes. We show that typically the anisotropy is limited to a certain range of energies, often below 1keV, although sometimes extending to slightly higher energies as well. Almost always there is simultaneously an isotropic electron distribution at higher energies. Often the anisotropies are up/down symmetrical, although cases with net upward or downward electron flow also occur. For a statistical analysis of the anisotropies we divide the energy range into low (below 100eV), middle (100eV–1keV) and high (above 1keV) energies and develop a measure of anisotropy expressed in density units. The statistical magnetic local time and invariant latitude distribution of the middle-energy anisotropies obeys that of the average auroral oval, whereas the distributions of the low and high energy anisotropies are more irregular. This suggests that it is specifically the middle-energy anisotropies that have something to do with auroral processes. The anisotropy magnitude decreases monotonically with altitude, as one would expect, because electrons have high mobility along the magnetic field and thus, the anisotropy properties spread rapidly to different altitudes.<br><br> <b>Key words.</b> Magnetospheric physics (auroral phenomena). Space plasma physics (wave-particle interactions; changed particle motion and acceleration

Nonequilibrium characteristics in all-superconducting tunnel structures

We study the nonequilibrium characteristics of superconducting tunnel structures in the case when one of the superconductors is a small island confined between large superconductors. The state of this island can be probed for example via the supercurrent flowing through it. We study both the far-from-equilibrium limit when the rate of injection for the electrons into the island exceeds the energy relaxation inside it, and the quasiequilibrium limit when the electrons equilibrate between themselves. We also address the crossover between these limits employing the collision integral derived for the superconducting case. The clearest signatures of the nonequilibrium limit are the anomalous heating effects seen as a supercurrent suppression at low voltages, and the hysteresis at voltages close to the gap edge $2\Delta/e$, resulting from the peculiar form of the nonequilibrium distribution function.Comment: 8 pages, 10 figure

Characterization of air ions in boreal forest air during BIOFOR III campaign

International audienceThe behavior of the concentration of positive small (or cluster) air ions and naturally charged nanometer aerosol particles (aerosol ions) has been studied on the basis of measurements carried out in a boreal forest at the Hyytiälä SMEAR station, Finland, during the BIOFOR III campaign in spring 1999. Statistical characteristics of the concentrations of cluster ions, two classes of aerosol ions of the sizes of 2.5?8 nm and 8?ca 20 nm and the quantities that determine the balance of small ions in the atmosphere have been given for the nucleation event days and non-event days. The dependence of small ion concentration on the ion loss (sink) due to aerosol particles was investigated applying a model of bipolar diffusion charging of particles by small ions. The small ion concentration and the ion sink were closely correlated (correlation coefficient 87%) when the fog events and the hours of high relative humidity (above 97%), as well as nocturnal calms and weak wind (wind speed-1 had been excluded. In the case of nucleation burst events, variations in the concentration of small positive ions were in accordance with the changes caused by the ion sink due to aerosols; no clear indication of positive ion depletion by ion-induced nucleation was found. The estimated average ionization rate of air at the Hyytiälä station in early spring, when the ground was partly covered with snow, was about 4.8 ion pairs cm-3 s-1. The study of the charging state of nanometer aerosol particles (2.5?8 nm) revealed a strong correlation (correlation coefficient 88%) between the concentrations of particles and their charged fraction (positive air ions) during nucleation bursts. The estimated charged fraction of particles, which varied from 3% to 6% considering various nucleation event days, confirms that these particles are almost quasi-steady state charged. Also the particles and air ions in the size range of 8?ca 20 nm showed a good qualitative consistency; the correlation coefficient was 92%

Development of high-speed directly-modulated DFB and DBR lasers with surface gratings

The conventional distributed feedback and distributed Bragg reflector edge-emitting lasers employ buried gratings, which require two or more epitaxial growth steps. By using lateral corrugations of the ridge-waveguide as surface gratings the epitaxial overgrowth is avoided, reducing the fabrication complexity, increasing the yield and reducing the fabrication cost. The surface gratings are applicable to different materials, including Al-containing ones and can be easily integrated in complex device structures and photonic circuits. Single-contact and multiple contact edge-emitting lasers with laterally-corrugated ridge waveguide gratings have been developed both on GaAs and InP substrates with the aim to exploit the photon-photon resonance in order to extend their direct modulation bandwidth. The paper reports on the characteristics of such surface-grating-based lasers emitting both at 1.3 and 1.55 μm and presents the photon-photon resonance extended small-signal modulation bandwidth (> 20 GHz) achieved with a 1.6 mm long single-contact device under direct modulation. Similarly structured devices, with shorter cavity lengths are expected to exceed 40 GHz smallsignal modulation bandwidth under direct modulatio