Characteristics of electromagnetic wave propagation in time-varying magnetized plasma in magnetic window region of reentry blackout mitigation

The “magnetic window” is considered a promising means to eliminate reentry communication blackout. However, the turbulence of plasma sheath results in phase jitter and amplitude turbulence of electromagnetic (EM) wave and may influence the eliminating effect. Therefore, the effect of fluctuating property of reentry plasma sheath on EM wave propagation when a magnetic field is used for eliminating blackout is investigated. For this purpose, a time-varying electron density model, which includes both temporal variation and spatial turbulence, is proposed. Hybrid matrix method is also employed to investigate the interaction between time-varying magnetized plasma and EM wave. The EM wave transmission coefficients in time-varying magnetized and unmagnetized plasmas are likewise compared. Simulation results show that amplitude variation and phase jitter also exist on transmitted EM wave, and the turbulent deviation increases as the degree of plasma fluctuates. Meanwhile, the fluctuation of transmitted EM wave attenuates at low-frequency passband and increases at high-frequency passband with the increasing magnetic field. That is, comparing with unmagnetized time-varying plasma, the fluctuation effect can be mitigated by using a magnetic field when the EM wave frequency is at low-frequency passband. However, the mitigating effect can be influenced by the nonuniformity of magnetic field.