The RCS of the 3-D conductor sphere calculated in THz band and the homogeneous magnetized dense plasma sheath

Abstract

The reentry vehicle of high speed has serious friction with the gas surrounding themselves which leads to a high temperature and high level of ionized of neutral particles thus forming a plasma sheath with a high plasma frequency and collision frequency. Microwave can’t penetrate it and arrive at the vehicle, correspondingly, the communication is cut off. Therefore, the radar cross section (RCS) of the conductor sphere in THz band is calculated to illustrate the strong penetration ability of the THz wave in a dense plasma sheath. The scattering characteristics in dense, magnetized plasma sheath is studied using the Finite-Difference Time-Domain method based on the Runge-Kutta Exponential Time Differencing formulation (RKETD-FDTD). 3-D conductor sphere model is established and the amount of the bistatic RCS is displayed in the polar coordinates. Influences on it caused by the direction of the magnetic field, the collision frequency, the frequency of plasma, the included angle between the incident wave and z coordinate axis and the polarized direction are discussed in detail. By comparing with the RCS in the no coating simulation conditions, it demonstrates that THz wave have a better penetration effect and may be chosen as an effective solution to the ‘black out’ problem.