Direct Detection of Resonant Electron Pitch Angle Scattering by Whistler Waves in a Laboratory Plasma

Resonant interactions between energetic electrons and whistler mode waves are an essential ingredient in the space environment, and in particular in controlling the dynamic variability of Earth's natural radiation belts, which is a topic of extreme interest at the moment. Although the theory describing resonant wave-particle interaction has been present for several decades, it has not been hitherto tested in a controlled laboratory setting. In the present Letter we report on the first laboratory experiment to directly detect resonant pitch angle scattering of energetic (similar to keV) electrons due to whistler mode waves. We show that the whistler mode wave deflects energetic electrons at precisely the predicted resonant energy, and that varying both the maximum beam energy, and the wave frequency, alters the energetic electron beam very close to the resonant energy.