Characteristics of electromagnetic wave propagation through a magnetised plasma slab with linearly varying electron density

Abstract

Characteristics of electromagnetic wave propagation through a magnetized plasma slab with linear electron density profile is analysed. In the numerical analysis, cold, weakly ionized, collisional and steady state plasma layer is divided into sufficiently thin, adjacent subslabs, in each of which plasma parameters are constant. Reflection and transmission coefficients are calculated for discretised plasma by considering electron density profile with positive and negative slopes. Wideband absorbtion characteristic is obtained with high collision frequency and high electron density combination in linearly decreasing profile as well as wideband transmission characteristic is obtained for low collision frequency and low electron density combination in linearly increasing profile of finite length. The general results show that in steady state, plasma layer behaves as a frequency selective medium satisfying the major requirements of current shielding applications as the function of plasma parameters and the strength of external magnetic field excitation. Proposed plasma layer can be used in current shielding and stealth applications as a matching layer between the surface and the incident electromagnetic wave.