On the Self-Focusing of Whistler Waves in a Radial Inhomogeneous Plasma

The process of whistler wave self-focusing is experimentally investigated. It was found that a whistler wave propagating along the plasma column with a density crest excites a longitudinal wave of the same frequency propagating across the external magnetic field. The amplitude modulation of the latter wave is accompanied by a density modification, which leads to trapping of the whistler wave in a density trough in the center of the plasma column.