Study on Tunable Magnetized Plasma Frequency Selective Surface Using JEC-FDTD Method

The tunability of traditional frequency selective surfaces (FSSs) is inconvenient using metal material patch as periodic element, utilizing genetic algorithms to model FSS layers obtaining desired filtering electromagnetic waves effect. However, plasma tube is used as an element of the frequency selection surfaces substituting traditional metal patch in this article. A 3-D finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) formulation for dispersive media called the JE convolution (JEC) method is derived using the convolution relationship between the current density J and the electric field E to simulate the interaction of incident wave and magnetized plasma FSS. Numerical experimental results show that the electron number density of magnetized plasma has a significant effect on the resonance frequency, which can be modulated to the desired filtering by varying the density in the magnetized plasma elements. Whereas the magnetized plasma FSSs behave exactly like a perfect electric conductor (PEC) increasing the electron number density to a certain degree. Thus, modulation based on the ionized electron number density of the magnetized plasma can be designed into a tunable plasma FSS. Both the collision model and the noncollision model of the magnetized plasma are proposed to research electromagnetic transmission characteristics of FSS. It shows that the collision frequency only affects the reflectivity while has no effect on the resonance frequency in the following numerical experiments. In addition, magnetization intensity of the plasma FSS is also taken into consideration. The users obtaining the desired resonance frequency and transmission characteristics of plasma FSS by simply tuning the plasma's electron number density, collision frequency, and magnetization intensity. So the magnetized plasma FSS can not only improve the electromagnetic shielding effect but also facilitate the modulation and rapid response to achieve the desired filtering effect. What is more, the magnetized plasma FSS can be turned off to achieve transparency, which greatly expands the universality of magnetized plasma FSS.