Metamaterial-inspired multilayered structures optimized to enable wireless communications through a plasmasonic region

Abstract

Radio frequency blackout is a well-known phenomenon that happens when a plasma forms around a plasmasonic vehicle traveling through an atmosphere. This paper examines an electromagnetic metamaterial-based approach to mitigate the communication losses through the blackout plasma. A paired epsilon- and mu-negative layered meta-structure is developed that is matched to the epsilon-negative plasma, creating a low-loss passband window through it. Its ideal performance is first characterized analytically. Metamaterial inclusions are then developed to attain the required single-negative layers. Numerical simulations of the resulting realizable meta-structure verify its efficacy, confirming the analytical results and the viability of using it to achieve reasonable signal strengths through representative plasma thicknesses.