Simulation of Electromagnetic Wave Propagation in Plasma Under High-Power Microwave Illumination

Abstract

This letter focuses on the propagation characteristics of the electromagnetic wave in the plasma under high-power microwave (HPM) illumination. A multiphysical method coupling the electromagnetic field and plasma fluid field is proposed as the dynamic Drude model. The differences between the method based on dynamic Drude model and traditional static Drude model are discussed theoretically for the first time. Unlike the static Drude model, the dynamic Drude model fully considers the motion of electrons in plasma driven by electromagnetic field. Numerical examples demonstrate that both the dynamic Drude model-based and static Drude model-based method are consistent with each other under low power microwave illumination, where the plasma can be considered as a static media. While under HPM illumination, electrons gradually gather together to hinder the propagation of electromagnetic waves. Hence, the proposed dynamic Drude model is more logical to analyze the characteristics of electromagnetic wave in plasma than the traditional static Drude model under HPM illumination.