Study on Multi-Mode Propagation Characteristics of High-Power High-Frequency Heating Waves

During the ionospheric heating process, high-power high-frequency heating waves can excite artificial (electron density) field-aligned irregularities at the height of the ionospheric F layer under certain conditions. At the same time, due to the field-aligned scattering effect of field-aligned irregularities on electromagnetic waves, in addition to conventional reflection, part of the high-frequency heating waves will be scattered, and even scattered multiple times during their uplink and downlink propagation. Using ray-tracing technology, according to the scattering propagation characteristics of electromagnetic waves on field-aligned irregularities, a high-frequency heating propagation model based on field-aligned scattering was established. The propagation path of the high-frequency heating wave was calculated using the model simulation. The results showed that the multi-mode propagation mode of the heating wave on the field-aligned irregularities makes the ground reception effect diverse. The established propagation model and simulation analysis results lay the foundation for studying the energy dissipation mechanism of high-power high-frequency heating waves and evaluating their impact range.