1D photonic crystal filled with low-temperature plasma for controlling broadband microwave transmission

A 1D plasma photonic crystal (PPC) is filled with plasmas and slab dielectrics in a large volume cylindrical glow discharge device. The parameters of the PPC are designed to meet the transmission condition of broadband microwave (1.5GHz-12GHz) according to the photonic crystal theory in which the thickness of the plasma is comparable to the wavelength. The transmission characteristics of broadband microwave in this plasma photonic crystal are demonstrated experimentally. The experiments show some unique characteristics of microwave in the PPCs, and the physical explanations for the phenomenon have been given based on the photonic crystal theory. And then, the features of the PPCs are compared to the corresponding photonic crystals (PCs) through both experiments and simulations. The results show that plasma slabs in PCs can change the band structure and influence the transmission of microwaves, which can be useful to the design of microwaves devices with PPCs.