The ionispheric Faraday effect and its applications

✍ Scribed by Fred B. Daniels; Siegfried J. Bauer

• Publisher: Elsevier Science
• Year: 1959
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 782 KB
• Volume: 267
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0016-0032
• DOI: 10.1016/0016-0032(59)90133-4

✦ Synopsis

An outline is given of the theory of the ionospheric Faraday effect (the rotation of the plane of polarization of radio waves by the ionosphere). Measurements of ionospheric characteristics by means of lunar radio reflections and radio transmissions from artificial satellites utilizing this effect are discussed.

The rate of fading of satellite signals due to the Faraday effect is found to depend upon both the integrated electron density up to the height of the satellite and the local electron density at the satellite.

Thus, a possibility exists of determining both quantities provided the satellite transmissions are received simultaneously by two or more stations. Expressions for the fading rate are derived and the effects of orbital parameters on the determination of ionospheric characteristics are discussed.