Polarization of the airglow emission λ6300 in an artificially heated ionosphere

Artificial heating of the ionosphere by powerful injections of radio waves have produced electron excitation of the airglow red line and in some instances the green line of metastable oxygen. If the exciting electrons are preferentially aligned parallel to the magnetic field, the red line will be polarized, except when it is viewed along the field. Observations of the degree of polarization would in turn confirm that there is a high degree of alignment of the fast electrons exciting metastable O, as implied by the parametric plasma instability thought to exist during periods of high energy input. A number of sample calculations for different angular distributions of the exciting electrons are presented.