Plasma microlensing dynamic spectrum probing fine structures in the ionized interstellar medium

Understand

Gravitational microlensing has become a mature technique for discovering small gravitational lenses in the Universe which are otherwise beyond our detection limits.

• Similarly, plasma microlensing can help us explore cosmic plasma lenses.
• Both pulsar scintillation and extreme scattering events of compact radio sources suggest the existence of $\sim$ AU scale plasma lenses in the ionized interstellar medium (IISM), whose astrophysical correspondence remains a mystery.
• We demonstrate that plasma microlensing events by these plasma lenses recorded in the form of wide-band dynamic spectra are a powerful probe of their nature.