TRANSMISSION AND REFLECTION OF ELECTROMAGNETIC WAVES AT A PLASMA BOUNDARY FOR ARBITRARY ANGLES OF INCIDENCE
Abstract
The interaction of a plane electromagnetic wave with a flat freespace-plasma interface has been considered for arbitrary angles of incidence. When a uniform, isotropic plasma is described by a complex dielectric coefficient, phase and attenuation constants for the waves in the plasma are functions of the dielectric coefficient and the angle of incidence. The plasma can support independent horizontally and vertically polarized waves. Expressions and graphical representations are given showing the amount of energy reflected and refracted at the interface as a function of angle of incidence and plasma parameters. The vertically polarized case shows a maximum in the energy entering the plasma at the Brewster angle. Lines of constant Brewster angle appear as concentric curves centered on the origin of the complex dielectric coefficient plane. The elliptical polarization of a plane wave reflected from the interface, when a wave with equal horizontally and vertically polarized components is incident on the interface, suggests the similarity of lossless plasmas to ordinary dielectrics and of lossy plasmas to metals. (Author)
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Mar 01, 1961
- Accession Number
- AD0260305
Entities
People
- K. Graf
- M.p. Bachynski