Study on plasma sheath and plasma transport properties in the azimuthator

A physical model of transport in an azimuthator channel with the sheath effect resulting from the interaction between the plasma and insulation wall is established in this paper.Particle in cell simulation is carded out by the model and results show that,besides the transport due to classical and Bohm diffusions,the sheath effect can significantly influences the transport in the channel.As a result,the ion density is larger than the electron density at the exit of azimuthator,and the non-neutral plasma jet is divergent,which is unfavorable for mass separation.Then,in order to improve performance of the azimuthator,a cathode is designed to emit electrons.Experiment results have demonstrated that the auxiliary cathode can obviously compensate the space charge in the plasma.     

Analysis of inverse synthetic aperture radar imaging in the presence of time-varying plasma sheath

The plasma sheath can induce radar signal modulation, causing not only ineffective targetdetection, but also defocusing in inverse synthetic aperture radar (ISAR) imaging. In this paper,through establishing radar echo models of the reentry object enveloped with time-varying plasmasheath, we simulated the defocusing of ISAR images in typical environment. Simulation resultssuggested that the ISAR defocusing is caused by false scatterings, upon which the falsescatterings’ formation mechanism and distribution property are analyzed and studied. The rangeof false scattering correlates with the electron density fluctuation frequency. The combined valueof the electron density fluctuation and the pulse repetition frequency jointly determines theDoppler of false scattering. Two measurement metrics including peak signal-to-noise ratio andstructural similarity are used to evaluate the influence of ISAR imaging     

Transmissivity of electromagnetic wave propagating in magnetized plasma sheath using variational method

A variational method is introduced to analyze the transmissivity of an electromagnetic wave propagating in the magnetized plasma sheath. The plasma density is modeled by two parabolic inhomogeneous regions separated by one homogeneous region. The Lagrangian density of the system is constructed based on the fluid energy density and the electromagnetic energy density.The total variation of the Lagrangian density is derived. The fluid and electromagnetic fields are numerically solved by expansion in piecewise polynomial function space. We investigate the effect of an external magnetic field on the transmissivity of the electromagnetic wave. It is found that the transmissivity is increased when an external magnetic field is applied. The dependence of transmissivity on the collision frequency between the electrons and the neutral particles has also been studied. We also show that the external magnetic field causes a shift in the critical frequency of the plasma sheath.     

Energy dissipation and power deposition of electromagnetic waves in the plasma sheath

Energy dissipation and power deposition of electromagnetic waves(EMW) in the reentry plasma sheath provide an opportunity to investigate ‘communication blackout' phenomena. Based on afinite element method(FEM) simulation, we analyze variation of EMW energy dissipation and power deposition profiles dependent on the wave polarization, wave incident angle, plasma density profile and electron collision frequency. Cutoff and resonance of EMW in the plasma sheath are crucial in explaining the regulation of energy dissipation and power deposition.     

The structure of an electronegative magnetized plasma sheath with non-extensive electron distribution

In this paper, an electronegative magnetized plasma sheath model with non-extensive electron distribution is established, and the Bohm criterion affected by the non-extensive parameter q is theoretically derived. The ion Mach number varies with q. The numerical simulation results show that compared with electronegative magnetized plasma sheath with Maxwell distribution (q = 1), the sheath structures with super-extensive distribution (q < 1) and sub-extensive distribution (q > 1) are different. The physical quantities including the sheath potential distribution, ion density distribution, the electron density distribution, negative ion density distribution and the net space charge density distribution are discussed. It is shown that the non-extensive parameter q has a significant influence on the structure of the electronegative magnetized plasma sheath. Due to the Lorentz force, both the magnitude and the angle of the magnetic field affect the structure of the sheath, whether the electrons are Maxwell distributed or non-extensively distributed.     

Adaptive protograph-based BICM-ID relying on the RJ-MCMC algorithm: a reliable and efficient transmission solution for plasma sheath channels

For reentry communication, owing to the influence of the highly dynamic plasma sheath (PS), the parasitic modulation effect can occur and the received phase shift keying (PSK) signal constellation can be severely rotated, leading to unacceptable demodulation performance degradation. In this work, an adaptive non-coherent bit-interleaved coded modulation with iterative decoding (BICM-ID) system with binary PSK (BPSK) modulation and protograph low-density parity-check under the PS channel is proposed. The proposed protograph-based BICM-ID (P-BICM-ID) system can achieve joint processing of demodulation and decoding, where the soft information is adaptively estimated by reversible-jump Markov chain Monte Carlo (RJ-MCMC) algorithms. Simulation results indicate that compared to existing algorithms, the proposed system can adapt well to the dynamic characteristics of the PS channel and can obtain a 5 dB performance improvement at a bit error rate of 10⁻⁶.     

Effects of pulsed magnetic field on density reduction of high flow velocity plasma sheath

A three-dimensional model is proposed in this paper to study the effect of the pulsed magnetic field on the density distribution of high flow velocity plasma sheath. Taking the typical parameters of plasma sheath at the height of 71 km as an example, the distribution characteristics and time evolution characteristics of plasma density in the flow field under the action of pulsed magnetic field, as well as the effect of self-electric field on the distribution of plasma density, are studied. The simulation results show that pulsed magnetic field can effectively reduce the density of plasma sheath. Meanwhile, the simulation results of three-dimensional plasma density distribution show that the size of the density reduction area is large enough to meet the communication requirements of the Global Position System(GPS) signal. Besides, the location of density reduction area provides a reference for the appropriate location of antenna. The time evolution of plasma density shows that the effective density reduction time can reach 62% of the pulse duration, and the maximum reduction of plasma density can reach 55%. Based on the simulation results, the mechanism of the interaction between pulsed magnetic field and plasma flow field is physically analyzed. Furthermore, the simulation results indicate that the density distributions of electrons and ions are consistent under the action of plasma self-electric field.However, the quasi neutral assumption of plasma in the flow field is not appropriate, because the self-electric field of plasma will weaken the effect of the pulsed magnetic field on the reduction of electron density, which cannot be ignored. The calculation results could provide useful information for the mitigation of communication blackout in hypersonic vehicles.     

Research on phase shift characteristics of electromagnetic wave in plasma

The phase shift characteristics reflect the state change of electromagnetic wave in plasma sheath and can be used to reveal deeply the action mechanism between electromagnetic wave and plasma sheath. In this paper, the phase shift characteristics of electromagnetic wave propagation in plasma were investigated. Firstly, the impact factors of phase shift including electron density,collision frequency and incident frequency were discussed. Then, the plasma with different electron density distribution profiles were employed to investigate the influence on the phase shift characteristics. In a real case, the plasma sheath around the hypersonic vehicle will affect and even break down the communication. Based on the hypersonic vehicle model, we studied the electromagnetic wave phase shift under different flight altitude, speed, and attack angle. The results indicate that the phase shift is inversely proportional to the flight altitude and positively proportional to the flight speed and attack angle. Our work provides a theoretical guidance for the further research of phase shift characteristics and parameters inversion in plasma.     

Influence of high-voltage pulse parameters on the propagation of a plasma synthetic jet

In this work, a typical pin-to-pin plasma synthetic jet in static air is excited by a pulsed DC power supply. The influences of the pulse rising time, the amplitude and the repetition frequency of the pulse voltage on the jet flow have been investigated. First, using a high-speed Schlieren imaging technique, the induced shock waves and the fast jet flow generated by the plasma synthetic jet are characterized. With a deposited energy of 44 mJ per pulse, the velocity of the shock wave and the maximum velocity of the jet flow reach 320 m s⁻¹ and 100 m s⁻¹, respectively. Second, when the applied voltage increases from 12.8 kV to 16 kV, the maximum jet velocity increases from 66 m s⁻¹ to 93 m s⁻¹. On the other hand, as the pulse rising time varies from 50 ns to 500 ns, or the pulse repetition frequency increases from 5 Hz to 40 Hz, the jet velocity induced by the plasma synthetic jet is weakly dependent. In addition, a comparative study of the plasma synthetic jets using three commercial pulsed power supplies (XJ-15, NPG- 18, and PG-30) is implemented. It reveals that the maximum jet velocity of 120 m s⁻¹ is obtained in the case of PG-30, with the longest pulse rising time and the lowest breakdown voltage, while the maximum velocity of 33 m s⁻¹ is detected in the case of NPG-18, even though it has the shortest pulse rising time and the highest breakdown voltage.     

Effect of pulse waveform on plasma sheath expansion in plasma-based ion implantation

In this paper, the effect of the pulse waveform on plasma sheath evolution around a diamond-shaped target has been simulated using fluid dynamic model in the context of plasma-based ion implantation (PBII). The implanted parameters of ions such as ion-implanted energy, impact angle and impact current have also been studied under different pulse shapes. Understandably, the longer pulse rise time would result in the lower ion impact energy, and less sheath expanding extent. By comparing the sheath structure under different pulse rise time, we found that long pulse rise time would enhance the conformation of the sheath to the target at the earlier stage of the pulse and would reduce the tendency of the ion depletion in the plasma sheath. Accordingly increase the ion impact current at the later stage of the pulse, which is quite important for the PBII process, when the ions have been accelerated adequately.     

Influence of plasma-induced reflected wave variations on microwave transmission characterization of supersonic plasma excited in shock tube

In this work, the theoretical analysis and experiment results investigating the influence of plasma-induced reflected wave variations on microwave transmission characterization are presented. Firstly, an analytical transmission line model for transmission characterization of plasma in shock tube is derived and validated against full-wave simulation. Then, the theoretical analysis of transmission characterization based on a time-dependent reconstruction algorithm that takes into account the variations of reflected wave is presented and the influence of reflection variations under various states of plasma is also investigated. The unusual increase in the amplitude of transmitted wave is theoretically predicted and experimentally demonstrated as well. Finally, the experiment results are also presented to illustrate the effects of reflected wave variations in practical microwave transmission characterization of supersonic plasma excited in shock tube.     

Effects of electron temperature on the ion extraction characteristics in a decaying plasma confined between two parallel plates

In this paper, a one-dimension particle-in-cell (PIC) code (EDIPIC) is employed to simulate the parallel-plate ion extraction process under an externally applied electrostatic field, focusing on the analysis of the influence of the initial electron temperature on the extracted ion fluxes to the metal plates during the ion extraction process. Compared with previously published results, the plasma oscillations on a timescale of the electron plasma period, and the excitation of the ion acoustic rarefaction waves resulting from the plasma oscillations originating from both the negative and positive electrodes, are studied for the first time. The modeling results show that both the negative and positive extractors can collect ions due to the plasma oscillations and the propagation of the ion acoustic rarefaction waves. With the increase of the initial electron temperature achieved by keeping other parameters unchanged, on the one hand, both the ion speed and flux to the negative and positive plates increase, which leads to a significant decrease of the ion extraction time, while on the other hand, the ion flux to the positive plate after the formation of a Child–Langmuir sheath is much more sensitive to an increase of the initial electron temperature than that to the negative plate. The PIC simulation results provide a deeper physical understanding of the influence of the initial electron temperature on the characteristics of the entire ion extraction process in a decaying plasma.     

Power absorption,plasma parameters and wave structure in inductive RF plasma source with low value external magnetic field

The efficiency of radio-frequency (RF) power absorption, RF magnetic field structure and plasma parameters were measured in cylindrical inductive RF plasma sources 20 cm in diameter and 22, 32, 53 cm in length with a low value external magnetic field. The experiments were carried out in argon at pressures of 13–140 mPa. The RF power supply changed from 200 W to 800 W. The spiral antenna was used for sustaining the discharge. It was shown that efficiency of RF power absorption depended nonlinearly on the external magnetic field values. At maximal values of the RF power absorption efficiency, the axial distributions of longitudinal B_z and azimuthalBcomponents of RF magnetic field manifested the formation of the partially standing wave with a half wavelength close to 8 cm. At the same conditions, the axial dependence of the radial RF magnetic field component B_r differed drastically. It was concluded that the B_z and Bamplitudes were largely determined by the RF field of Trivelpiece-Gould wave, while B_r amplitude represented the radial RF field of the helicon wave.     

The influence of grounded electrode positions on the evolution and characteristics of an atmospheric pressure argon plasma jet

An atmospheric pressure plasma jet (APPJ) in Ar with various grounded electrode arrangements is employed to investigate the effects of electrode arrangement on the characteristics of the APPJ.Electrical and optical methods are used to characterize the plasma properties.The discharge modes of the APPJ with respect to applied voltage are studied for grounded electrodepositions of 10 mm,40 mm and 80 mm,respectively,and the main discharge and plasma parameters are investigated.It is shown that an increase in the distance between the grounded electrode and high-voltage electrode results in a change in the discharge modes and discharge parameters.The discharges transit from having two discharge modes,dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) and jet,to having three,corona,DBD and jet,with increase in the distance from the grounded to the high-voltage electrodes.The maximum length of the APPJ reaches 3.8 cm at an applied voltage of 8 kV.The discharge power and transferred charges and spectral line intensities for species in the APPJ are influenced by the positions of the grounded electrode,while there is no obvious difference in the values of the electron excited temperature (EET) for the three grounded electrode positions.     

Some studies on transient behaviours of sheath formation in dusty plasma with the effect of adiabatically heated electrons and ions

Based on quasipotential analysis, a plasma sheath is studied through the derivation of the Sagdeev potential equation in dusty plasma coexisting with adiabatically heated electrons and ions. Salient features as to the existence of sheaths are shown by solving the Sagdeev potential equation through the Runge–Kutta method, with appropriate consideration of adiabatically heated electrons and ions in the dynamical system. It has been shown that adiabatic heating of plasma sets a limit to the critical dust speed depending on the densities and Mach number, and it is believed that its role is very important to the sheath. One present problem is the contraction of the sheath region whereby dust grains levitated into the sheath lead to a crystallization similar to the formation of nebulons and are compressed to a larger chunk of the dust cloud by shrinking of the sheath. Our overall observations advance knowledge of sheath formation and are expected to be of interest in astroplasmas.     

Numerical study of the influence of dielectric tube on propagation of atmospheric pressure plasma jet based on coplanar dielectric barrier discharge

A 2D fluid model was employed to simulate the influence of dielectric on the propagation of atmospheric pressure helium plasma jet based on coplanar dielectric barrier discharge (DBD). The spatio-temporal distributions of electron density, ionization rate, electrical field, spatial charge and the spatial structure were obtained for different dielectric tubes that limit the helium flow. The results show that the change of the relative permittivity of the dielectric tube where the plasma jet travels inside has no influence on the formation of DBD itself, but has great impact on the jet propagation. The velocity of the plasma jet changes drastically when the jet passes from a tube of higher permittivity to one of lower permittivity, resulting in an increase in jet length,ionization rate and electric field, as well as a change in the distribution of space charges and discharge states. The radius of the dielectric tube has a great influence on the ring-shaped or solid bullet structure. These results can well explain the behavior of the plasma jet from the dielectric tube into the ambient air and the hollow bullet in experiments.     

Simulation of propagation of the HPM in the low-pressure argon plasma

The propagation of the high-power microwave (HPM) with a frequency of 6 GHz in the low-pressure argon plasma was studied by the method of fluid approximation.The two-dimensional transmission model was built based on the wave equation,the electron drift-diffusion equations and the heavy species transport equations,which were solved by means of COMSOL Multiphysics software.The simulation results showed that the propagation characteristic of the HPM was closely related to the average electron density of the plasma.The attenuation of the transmitted wave increased nonlinearly with the electron density.Specifically,the growth of the attenuation slowed down as the electron density increased uniformly.In addition,the concrete transmission process of the HPM wave in the low-pressure argon plasma was given.     

Analysis of microwave propagation in a time-varying plasma slab with particle-in-cell simulations

Continuous microwave propagation through a time-varying plasma and frequency up-conversion has been demonstrated by particle-in-cell(PIC) simulation.In principle,it is possible to transform a 2.45 GHz source radiation to an arbitrary larger frequency radiation.The energy conversion is also obtained by the theoretical analysis and has been testified by PIC simulation.The source wave was propagating in a parallel plate waveguide locally filled with the ionized gas.In this paper we would discuss the effects of the rise time,the plasma length,the switching time and the collision frequency on the energy conversion,and the methods to improve the upshift wave energy are proposed.We also put forward the new concept of the critical values of the rise time and the source wave amplitude to provide a theoretical basis for the selection of parameters in the experiments.     

Collision effects on propagation characteristics of electromagnetic waves in a sub-wavelength plasma slab of partially ionized dense plasmas

Intensive collisions between electrons and neutral particles in partially ionized plasmas generated in atmospheric/sub-atmospheric pressure environments can sufficiently affect the propagation characteristics of electromagnetic waves,particularly in the sub-wavelength regime.To investigate the collisional effect in such plasmas,we introduce a simplified plasma slab model with a thickness on the order of the wavelength of the incident electromagnetic wave.The scattering matrix method (SMM) is applied to solve the wave equation in the plasma slab with significant nonuniformity.Results show that the collisions between the electrons and the neutral particles,as well as the incident angle and the plasma thickness,can disturb the transmission and reduce reflection significantly.     

High-power microwave propagation properties in the argon plasma array

The argon plasma induced by the L-/C-band high-power microwave(HPM) is investigated theoretically and experimentally. Influences of the microwave power, pulse width, polarization and the plasma electron density on the protection performance of the plasma array against HPM are studied. The results show that the effect of HPM is caused by energy accumulation, with the gas breakdown emerging only after a short time. The attenuation of the wave by the plasma array with the tubes off can reach approximately 23 dB at 1.3 GHz. It can also be obtained that the protection performance of the plasma array against the TE wave is better than that against the TM one. The plasma array shows better protection performance in the L-band than in the C-band. In addition,the attenuation of 5.6 GHz HPM can reach 30 dB when the tubes are turned on in the experiment.The research shows that the plasma array has protection ability against HPM.