Simulation of a Thin Plasma Sheath by a Plane of Wires

This paper describes a method of simulating a thin plasma sheath, of the type encountered in some aero-space applications, by using a single plane of equally spaced wires. It is shown that the surface impedance of such a periodic structure can be made equal to that of a thin plasma sheath. In this treatment, the respective surface impedances are related through three dimensionless parameters. A simple technique for obtaining high losses is also discussed, whereby collision frequencies in the neighborhood of the operating frequency are realizable. Experimental data, including both the lossy and lossless cases, is compared with the theoretical model in the X-band region.