Transport of Current by Whistler Waves

When an electrode is immersed in a laboratory plasma with magnetized electrons and its bias is pulsed with respect to the plasma potential so as to collect either ions or electrons, the initial current in the plasma is always carried by electrons. The dc current front is preceded by oscillatory dispersive currents which, for our experimental conditions, are associated with whistler waves. Thus, the current front advances along ${\mathbf{B}}_0$ not at particle speeds but at the whistler wave speed.