Generation of plasma waves by an X-mode pump wave

Summary form only given, as follows. Laboratory studies of stimulated plasma processes caused by injected X-mode waves were performed with the Versatile Toroidal Facility (VTF). VTF is a large plasma device that has been used to cross-check plasma heating experiments at Arecibo, Puerto Rico involving O-mode pump wave injection. In this paper we discuss preliminary results of X-mode heating of VTF plasmas that have characteristics comparable to the auroral region of the ionosphere. We compare the VTF results with those obtained in plasma heating experiments at Tromso, Norway. Past ionospheric plasma heating experiments have been carried out nearly exclusively with O-mode pump waves. A few heating experiments conducted at, for instance, Arecibo, Puerto Rico or Plattville, Colorado did not seem to produce prominent plasma phenomena, perhaps because of limited diagnostics in the heated ionospheric plasma region. However, some nonlinear plasma processes are still expected theoretically in the X-mode heating of magnetized plasmas. Measured excited electrostatic and electromagnetic waves are compared with theoretical expectations. Plans for future ionospheric plasma heating experiments to cross-check the VTF results are discussed.