FDTD analysis of a plasma column antenna

Plasma´s conductive and dielectric properties are discussed in this paper. Plasma has properties very different from those of metallic conductors. In physical experiments, the flexibility of the apparatus is often limited. For example, if one wishes to experiment with different dimensions and shapes of plasma columns, those must be built beforehand. Numerical simulation can ease these difficulties, serving as a tool to evaluate the potentials of plasma antennas at low cost and with flexibilities in selecting various complex geometries. It is also useful for analyzing the antenna characteristics by varying plasma properties such as the dimensions of the column, the plasma density, the collision frequency, etc. There are many different ways to simulate the electromagnetic interactions in plasma. Two major schemes that are used in FDTD simulations are the direct integration (DI) and the recursive convolution (RC) methods