New properties of whistler modes

Two new properties of whistler modes have been observed in a large laboratory plasma which are relevant to whistler waves in space plasmas. The first is the reflection of whistler modes by nonuniform magnetic fields whose gradient scale length is comparable to the wavelength. Such situations may arise near shock waves, reconnection geometries, lunar crustal magnetic fields, and possibly for long wavelength whistlers in dipolar fields. The second observation shows that whistler modes can have linear polarizations. It arises by interference of wave packets. This observation may help interpret the variety of polarizations observed in magnetospheric whistlers.