Studies of terahertz wave propagation in non-magnetized plasma

Abstract

The space crafts, such as spaceship, space shuttle and so on, will face a famous blackout problem when they re-enter the earth's atmosphere at high velocity. The plasma sheath severely affects the propagation of the incident electromagnetic wave and causes severe electromagnetic wave attenuation, which results in the communication failures between the space crafts and the ground control center. It is important to study the properties of terahertz wave propagation in non-magnetized plasma, for using the terahertz wave communication is an alternative method to solve the reentry blackout problem. The terahertz wave propagation characteristics in non-magnetized plasma are studied in this paper. The variations of the terahertz wave propagation properties with the terahertz wave frequency, plasma density, plasma collision frequency and the thickness of the plasma are acquired. Some new phenomena are found i.e., there appears periodic oscillation on the reflectivity curve with the increase of terahertz wave frequency, and the period of oscillation is 0.03THz. The oscillation amplitude increases with the increase of terahertz frequency, decreases with the increase of plasma density, and increases with the increase of plasma collision frequency. The oscillation is attributed to the multiple reflections of the electromagnetic wave at the interfaces at z=0 and z=-d. The terahertz wave propagation properties in plasma are studied experimentally with the shock tube, and the experimental results match well with the theoretical ones. Both the theoretical and experimental results indicate that using terahertz wave communication is an effective way to solve the reentry blackout problem.