A Reconfigurable Monopole Antenna With Fluorescent Tubes Using Plasma Windowing Concepts for 4.9-GHz Application

This paper aimed at investigating the performance of plasma windowing concept in terms of radiation pattern, gain, and S-parameter. The antenna structure consists of 12 tubes of commercial fluorescent lamps that contain a mixture of mercury vapor and argon gas, which upon electrification, forms plasma. After getting sufficient voltage, the gas inside the fluorescent tube will ionize to plasma and form a plasma column. When all of the tubes surrounding the antenna are electrified, the radiation is trapped inside. By leaving one or more of the tubes in a nonelectrified state, apertures are formed in the plasma shield, which allow radiation to escape. The plasma frequency in this experiment is equal to 5.634e11 Hz. This antenna design is at 4.9 GHz. The designing of plasma antenna using fluorescent tubes has created advancement in antenna industry especially in reconfigurable antenna field.