Excitation and Diagnostics of Dispersive Whistler Waves in a Controlled Plasma Jet Chamber

We report measurements of driven magnetic wave modes in the upgraded ERAU single flux rope plasma jet system. A three turn, 5 cm radius loop antenna, matched to a 100 W broadband RF amplifier through a tunable capacitor network, is inserted downstream of the electrode and driven in the 10 kHz to 10 MHz range. By sweeping the drive frequency across the ion-cyclotron and lower hybrid landmarks, we systematically excite low k whistler modes. Wave fields are captured with the 45-channel magnetic probe array (MPA), now synchronized to the antenna output. We present measurements of antenna-launched wave packets interacting with spontaneously generated reconnection events in kink-unstable flux ropes, suggesting a role for whistler fluctuations in jet energy transport. By correlating these measurements with cold plasma dispersion models, the experimentation provides new insight into coupling and reconnection phenomena relevant to plasma jets.