Analysis of the Electromagnetic Wave Transmission Characteristics in Inhomogeneous Plasma Based on an Equivalent Circuit Model

In this article, a method based on the equivalent circuit model (ECM) is proposed to study the propagation characteristics of electromagnetic waves in inhomogeneous plasma. First, a homogeneous plasma is studied. The equivalent circuit component parameters are obtained by inverting the transmission characteristic curve of the plasma based on full-wave simulation. Second, the ECM is extended to inhomogeneous plasma, such as three-layer inhomogeneous distribution plasma or double Gaussian distribution plasma. The circuit component parameters were extracted under different plasma distribution parameters, and the sufficient convergence of the genetic algorithm verified the accuracy of the proposed equivalent circuit structure. Finally, the relationships between the plasma distribution parameters and equivalent circuit component parameters of the plasma are revealed, and an example of using the proposed ECM to predict the transmission characteristics of electromagnetic waves in plasma is provided. Compared with the full-wave simulation of plasma, the ECM of plasma reveals the physical mechanism and influencing factors of electromagnetic wave transmission in plasma.