Quasistationary magnetic field generated in a plasma by a whistler-mode radio pulse

It has been shown experimentally that a quasistationary magnetic field is generated in a weakly collisional magnetized plasma by a spatially nonuniform high-frequency whistler-mode field. The sources of the quasistationary magnetic field are nonlinear currents generated due to the longitudinal and transverse components of the ponderomotive force, acting on charged particles in the spatially localized high-frequency pump field. The dynamics of the excited magnetic fields has been analyzed. It was found that the settling time of the quasistationary magnetic field is determined by the switching-on time of the high-frequency field and the propagation of pulsed current and magnetic fields from the region of their generation occurs with the velocity of low-frequency whistler waves.