X-ray transmittance characteristics and potential communication in re-enter plasma sheath

Abstract

X-ray communication has a broad application prospect since it was introduced by NASA in 2007. Combination with modern digital X-ray source, X-ray communication shows a promising prospect in the further spatial communication, especially on harsh condition. In this paper, to begin with, transmission co-efficiency of X-ray signal penetrate in plasma sheath were analysised theoretically and experimentally. Simulation results indicate that X-ray signal was not influenced by the re-enter plasma sheath. Then a glow discharge plasma source was used to analysis the transmission characteristics. When the plasma electron density ranges from 6 × 1016/m3 to 1.2 × 1016/m3, the thickness of plasma medium is 18 cm, transmission co-efficiency of X-ray signal increases with the rise of photon energy and flux. For example, a 2.4Mcps X-ray flux with 20 kV anode voltage can achieve more than 95% transmission co-efficiency. Finally, a Monte Carlo simulation was used to analysis the feasibility of X-ray communication in re-enter condition, which indicates 1.3Mbps transmitting speed could be achieved in the re-enter condition theoretically. These results pointed out that X-ray communication can mitigate the effects of plasma sheath and open a novel way to solve this problem.