The Propagation of Radio Waves
The Theory of Radio Waves of Low Power in the Ionosphere and Magnetosphere

An account of the theory of radio waves in the ionosphere and magnetosphere.

K. G. Budden (Author)

9780521369527, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 4 August 1988

688 pages
23.6 x 19.2 x 4 cm, 1.19 kg

' … the most significant ionosphere text for many years … it is a masterpiece of lucidity and exposition.' Electronics and Power

This book is concerned with the ionosphere and the magnetosphere, and the theory of their effect on radio waves. It includes accounts of some mathematical topics now widely used in this study, particularly W. K. B. approximations, Airy integral functions and integration by steepest descents. The subject is divided into ray theory and full wave theory. Ray theory is useful for high frequencies when the ionosphere is treated as a horizonally stratified medium. The discussion of the magnetosphere, whose structure is more complicated, includes an account of whistlers and ion cyclotron whistlers. The book has been planned both for final year undergraduates and as a reference book for research. It is suitable as a course book on radio propagation for students of physics or electrical engineering or mathematics. Some of the topics are presented from an elementary viewpoint so as to help undergraduates new to the subject. The later parts are more advanced. Because the subject is so large and has seen many important recent advances, some topics have had to be treated briefly, but there is a full bibliography with about 600 references.

Preface
1. The ionosphere and magnetosphere
2. The basic equations
3. The constitutive relations
4. Magnetoionic theory I. Polarisation and refractive index
5. Magnetoionic theory II. Rays and group velocity
6. Stratified media. The booker quartic
7. Slowly varying medium. The W.K.B. solution
8. The Airy integral function and the Stokes phenomenon
9. Integration by steepest descents
10. Ray tracing in a loss-free stratified medium
11. Reflection and transmission coefficients
12. Ray theory results for isotropic ionosphere
13. Ray theory results for anisotropic plasmas
14. General ray tracing
15. Full wave solutions for isotropic ionosphere
16. Coupled wave eqations
17. Coalescence of couling points
18. Full wave methods for anisotropic stratified media
19. Applications of full wave methods
Answers to problems
Bibliography
Index of definitions of the more important symbols
Subject and name index.

Subject Areas: Wave mechanics [vibration & acoustics PHDS]