Measurement of Collisionless Electron-Cyclotron Damping along a Weak Magnetic Beach

Abstract

We present measurements of collisionless spatial cyclotron damping rates and finite minimum wavelengths near resonance. The plasma density and temperature are determined from wavelength data by solving the hot-plasma dispersion relation far away from and near cyclotron resonance. Damping rates determined from resulting plasma parameters agree with the experimentally determined damping rates as well as with those obtained from Langmuir-probe data.