Non-thermal plasma potentialities for microwave device reconfigurability

Three examples of results achieved from cooperative works with microwave and plasma research groups in Toulouse (France) are presented in this paper. They are focused on the use of few non-thermal plasmas to make a microwave device reconfigurable. The relative permittivity of such a plasma medium can be tuned from unity to negative values. This special feature appears to be very attractive, although the electromagnetic losses are significant. The use of plasmas with planar waveguides and within metamaterials is discussed. In addition, the basic principles of a scanning antenna built with a leaky wave in a plasma layer are presented.