Terahertz wave propagation characteristics in SMM-based three-dimensional plasma fluid

Abstract

During the return to the atmosphere of a hypersonic vehicle in adjacent space, a plasma sheath forms on the surface of the vehicle, which blocks normal electromagnetic communications. The ‘blackout’ phenomenon caused by plasma sheaths has received much attention. This paper focuses on the American RAM-C vehicle as the research object, and utilizes the fluid simulation software USim to numerically simulate the pressure, temperature, and electron density under different flight conditions, and based on the simulation results, selects the appropriate electron density and plasma collision frequency, introduces the terahertz (THz) wave, and adopts the scattering matrix method (SMM) to study the propagation characteristics of the vertically incident non-uniform magnetized plasma with the terahertz wave. Among other things, the transmission characteristics of terahertz waves in the plasma are affected by the flight altitude and flight angle of attack of the vehicle. The conclusions indicate that the transmissivity of terahertz wave transmission in plasma increases, and the reflectivity and absorptance decrease with increasing flight altitude and flight angle of attack. Under the condition of controlling other flight parameters unchanged, the plasma frequency and collision frequency decrease with the increase of flight altitude. The larger the flight angle of attack is, the larger the plasma frequency and collision frequency are. The electron density on the wall surface of the vehicle was also tested, and it was found that the lowest electron density was found at the tail end of the leeward surface. This study can provide some theoretical references for mitigating the ‘blackout’ phenomenon of re-entry vehicles.