Multiple parameter space bandgap control of reconfigurable atmospheric plasma photonic crystal

Abstract

A plane wave expansion method is used to simulate the bandgaps for a square lattice plasma photonic crystal over a parameter space of five independent variables, characteristic of a reconfigurable atmospheric discharge (plasma frequency: 0.056–5.6 × 1012 rad/s, collision frequency: 1–6 × 1012 rad/s, plasma column radius: 0.2–0.4 mm, lattice constant: 1–2 mm, and background dielectric: 1–10). The trends of the first and second bandgaps allow for five-dimensional 4th order polynomial equations to be fitted to the data, defining the boundaries of the first and second bandgaps with 8% and 2% error, respectively. Performance metrics (operational frequency range and frequency sensitivity) of the plasma photonic crystal are defined and evaluated for each controlling variable. The results show that, within the variable space investigated here, the column radius and background dielectric are the most effective controlling variables for the bandgap bandwidth and center frequency, respectively. The maximum frequency range provided by the variable ranges investigated here is 25–400 GHz and 0–250 GHz for the TE1 and TE0 bandgaps, respectively.

The Application of Microplasma in the Terahertz Field: A Review

“…What is more, Matthew et al investigated the effects of plasma frequency, collision frequency, plasma column radius, lattice constant, and background dielectric permittivity on the subterahertz wave propagation with the plane wave expansion method. It is found that the radius of the microplasma cylinder and the background dielectric are the most effective control variables for the THz bandgap and its center frequency, respectively [54].…”

An active tunable Fano switch in a plasma-filled superlattice array

“…This means that plasma-filled tunable devices can be designed without a dependency on changes in geometric parameters. Active and reconfigurable plasma-filled devices have been realized by controlling the physical characteristics of the external magnetic field [6], voltage [7], current [8], gas pressure and other parameters [9]. Consequently, plasma photonic crystals (PPCs) have attracted increased research interest in the case of one-, two-and threedimensional systems [3,[10][11][12][13].…”