Experimental study of a tunable sub-wavelength plasma-based VHF-UHF resonator

Abstract

In this paper, a tunable sub-wavelength resonator using a hemispherical plasma discharge is investigated at VHF-UHF frequencies. The overall setup is detailed. The resonance is experimentally investigated with an indirect method which consists in studying the influence of the plasma hemisphere on the transmission between two near-field monopole probes. The design presented here opens new perspectives for the realisation of plasma-based electrically small antennas thanks to a non-intrusive and adequate integration of the whole plasma control system below a ground plane.