Numerical investigation of a plasma-dielectric-plasma waveguide with tunable Fano resonances

Abstract

Resonance and interference phenomena in waveguide systems are remarkable for control of electromagnetic wave propagations, with extensive applications in many areas. This paper introduces a plasma-dielectric-plasma (PDP) waveguide supporting multiple Fano resonances, made of a tooth cavity directly connected to a straight waveguide and a rectangle cavity with plasma holes. Different from metal-insulator-metal (MIM) waveguides at the near-infrared band with nanoscales, the PDP works in the microwave regime and with centimetre dimension. Furthermore, it has a prominent advantage in tunability due to inherent properties of gaseous discharge plasmas. A finite element method is adopted to study transmission responses and field distributions in details. Also, coupled mode and standing wave theories are applied to confirm the validity of numerical results and theoretically analyze Fano spectra, respectively. Results indicate that the number and position of Fano resonances can be modulated by adjusting the number of plasma holes and altering the plasma frequency, respectively. Also, the independent tunability of multiple Fano resonances can be verified by the additional structure. The numerical simulations provide a reference for plasma to modulate electromagnetic waves and may open up a new path for developing tunable microwave devices, especially in the parallel processing of microwave signals.