Influence of plasma turbulence on microwave propagation. (31st August 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Köhn, A; Holzhauer, E; Leddy, J; Thomas, M B; Vann, R G L
• Is Part Of: Plasma physics and controlled fusion. Volume 58:Number 10(2016:Oct.)
• Publication Date: 2016-08-31
• Subjects: full-wave simulations -- plasma turbulence -- scattering of electromagnetic waves -- magnetized plasmas -- plasma-microwave interaction -- FDTD; Plasma (Ionized gases) -- Periodicals; Controlled fusion -- Periodicals; 530.44
• DOI: 10.1088/0741-3335/58/10/105008
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0741-3335

Abstract

Abstract: It is not fully understood how electromagnetic waves propagate through plasma density fluctuations when the size of the fluctuations is comparable with the wavelength of the incident radiation. In this paper, the perturbing effect of a turbulent plasma density layer on a traversing microwave beam is simulated with full-wave simulations. The deterioration of the microwave beam is calculated as a function of the characteristic turbulence structure size, the turbulence amplitude, the depth of the interaction zone and the size of the waist of the incident beam. The maximum scattering is observed for a structure size on the order of half the vacuum wavelength. The scattering and beam broadening was found to increase linearly with the depth of the turbulence layer and quadratically with the fluctuation strength. Consequences for experiments and 3D effects are considered.