doi:10.1016/j.cpc.2007.02.056
Copyright © 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Reflection, absorption and transmission of TE electromagnetic waves propagation in a nonuniform plasma slab
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H.C. Kima and J.P. Verboncoeur
, a, 
aDepartment of Nuclear Engineering, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-1730, USA
Available online 23 February 2007.
Abstract
A numerical scheme is described to compute the reflection, absorption, and transmission coefficients of TEm,0 and plane electromagnetic waves propagating in a nonuniform plasma slab. The numerical solutions are in good agreement with theoretical solutions for two different kinds of electron density profiles. The solutions for various electron density profiles will be shown in TEm,0 mode. The method has applications to predicting the fields in plasmas where the density is profile is known, such as in microwave breakdown in a waveguide.
Keywords: Electromagnetic waves; Reflection, absorption, and transmission; Plasma; Nonuniform
Fig. 1. Real (r) and imaginary (i) parts of kz,2/kgas as a function of the electron density in a rectangular waveguide without any background gas and with argon gas of 1 atm. w/2π=2.85 GHz and γm,n/kgas=0.73.
Fig. 2. Reflectance (R), transmittance (T), and absorbance (A) as a function of the uniform electron density under argon gas of 1 atm in a rectangular waveguide. w/2π=2.85 GHz, z2−z1=100 μm, k1=kgas=k3=w/c, and
.
Fig. 3. Magnitudes of reflection and transmission coefficients for a plane wave as a function of the ramp width z2−z1. k1=k2,gas=k3,gas=w/c.

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