| Summary: | Thesis (M.Sc.Eng.) PLEASE NOTE: Boston University Libraries did not receive an Authorization To Manage form for this thesis or dissertation. It is therefore not openly accessible, though it may be available by request. If you are the author or principal advisor of this work and would like to request open access for it, please contact us at open-help@bu.edu. Thank you. === The study of wave-wave interactions in the ionosphere is important for designing communication systems, satellite systems, and spacecraft. Ionospheric research also informs laser and magnetic fusion plasma physics. This thesis focuses on two nonlinear wave-wave interactions in the ionosphere. The first interaction is a nonlinear mode conversion. Very Low Frequency (VLF) waves transmitted from the ground travel through the ionosphere as injected whistler waves. The whistler waves interact with naturally-occurring density fluctuations in the ionosphere and are mode converted into lower hybrid waves. The lower hybrid waves accelerate electrons along the geomagnetic field and the resulting beam mode Langmuir waves are detectable by radar. This type of mode conversion may combine additively with a four wave interaction with the same VLF wave as its source. Data collected at the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico during the occurrence of spread F and sporadic E was analyzed. Plasma line enhancements may indicate the nonlinear mode conversion both separately from and in conjunction with the four wave interaction. The second nonlinear wave-wave interaction is the parametric decay instability (PDI) excited by High Frequency (HF) heater waves at the High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program facility in Gakona, Alaska. Resonant PDI cascades downwards, resulting in up-shifted ion line enhancements as detected by radar. This process has been detected in the presence of down-shifted ion line enhancements which may be caused by beating between PDI-produced Langmuir waves, or by naturally occurring ionospheric currents. === 2031-01-01
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