Potential Use of Cold Plasma Discharges for Frequency Reconfigurability in a Sievenpiper Mushroom Metasurface

Abstract

This article presents a parametric study using full-wave simulations about the potential use of cold plasma discharges to achieve frequency reconfiguration on a Sievenpiper mushroom metasurface. The study was done by inserting plasma tubes in between the patches of the mushroom structure, in three different positions with respect to the top of the metasurface, and varying the electronic density while keeping the plasma collision frequency. The obtained results show that it is possible to shift the stop-band generated by the metasurface around 25% towards lower frequencies for an electron density value inside the tubes of 1014 cm−3, when they are placed in between the top patches of the metasurface. Additional insertion losses are exhibited when operating near the plasma frequency.