Study on Rapid Response Characteristics of Plasma Limiter Under High Power Microwave

Abstract

Studying the rapid response of plasma limiters under high power microwaves is of great significance for the study of plasma protection technology. In this paper, the wave equation, electron drift-diffusion equation and heavy particle transfer equation in plasma are used to characterize the interaction between electromagnetic wave and plasma. The plasma formation process of argon and the factors affecting the plasma formation time were analyzed by finite element software. Studies have shown that in the microwave irradiation, the high electron density region in the plasma is first formed in the region where the electric field is concentrated, and moves toward the incident wave direction with time. The formation time of the plasma decreases with the increase of the incident electromagnetic wave power and the initial electron density, and decreases first and then increases with the increase of the argon gas pressure. The optimum gas pressure is 8 Torr in X band. In X band, 8 Torr argon gas is filled, the initial electron density is 1013 m−3, the incident electromagnetic wave power is 1000 W, and the attenuation of electromagnetic wave by the plasma limiter can reach 30 dB at 3 ns. The fast response plasma limiter provides effective protection against high power microwaves.