Guidance in the Magnetosphere Along Field‐Alined Irregularities

A study is made of guidance of waves along an inhomogeneous field‐alined plasma stratum. A time invariant model of the ionosphere imbedded in the earth's dipole field is postulated. Along the lines of flux of the earth's magnetic field bell shaped plasma strata are alined. The theory presented here is based on the mode of theory of propagation in an inhomogeneous medium and is modified to account for anisotrophy. The two‐dimensional problem is reduced to a one‐dimensional integral equation, the modal condition, by using Booker's q parameter. The numerical results are calculated for the locked modes only, although the theory is capable of handling the leaky modes as well. The numerical results indicate the existence of total guidance between the conjugate points for some frequencies, but only partial guidance for other frequencies.