Terahertz waves propagation in an inhomogeneous plasma layer using the improved scattering-matrix method

ABSTRACT

The interaction between electromagnetic (EM) waves and plasma has been extensively investigated by the scattering-matrix method (SMM), but this method encounters the singularity problem, which is a numerical issue when the plasma density is considerable. In this study, the improved scattering-matrix method (ISMM) is applied to eliminate these singularities by adjusting the reference point in the calculation of the reflection coefficient and transmission coefficient. In addition, both the robustness and accuracy of the proposed method have been studied for the first time. The simulation results demonstrate that the ISMM not only inherits the superiority of SMM in terms of high efficiency but also exhibits stronger robustness and higher accuracy in dealing with different plasma characteristics, especially for high plasma densities. The reflectance, transmittance, and absorbance of terahertz waves propagation in an inhomogeneous plasma layer with different parameters, such as plasma density, thickness, collision frequency and external magnetic field, are then analyzed by the ISMM. These results are helpful in analyzing the effects of plasma on terahertz waves propagation and also provide a fundamental theoretical basis for the development of plasma physics.

Keywords:

• Terahertz wave
• inhomogeneous plasma
• propagation properties
• improved scattering-matrix method

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported in part by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (under Grant No. 61801181, 61831008, 61771197), the Open Research Fund of Key Laboratory for Information Science of Electromagnetic Waves (MoE), Fudan University (EMW201902), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities, and is also supported by the project “The Verification Platform of Multi-tier Coverage Communication Network for Oceans (LZC0020)”.