242 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INSTRUMENTATION AND MEASUREMENT, VOL. 57, NO.
2, FEBRUARY 2008
Measurement of the Properties of a Plasma
Column Used as a Radiating Element
Graziano Cerri, Member, IEEE, Roberto De Leo, Valter Mariani Primiani, Member, IEEE,
and Paola Russo, Member, IEEE
Abstract—This paper presents two test benches for the char-
acterization of a plasma column used as a radiating element. In
particular, the main parameters to be quantified are the efficiency
of the plasma antenna, the turn-on time of the column, and the
conductivity of the plasma. The first two parameters are evaluated
by measuring the field radiated by the plasma antenna compared
with that of an equivalent copper antenna. For the conductivity,
a reflectometric technique is used, wherein the plasma column is
inserted inside a waveguide. The accuracy of the method is limited
by the ill-conditioned relationship between the reflection coeffi-
cient and the plasma conductivity; nevertheless, it is sufficient to
subdivide the range of the conductivity values into three regions
(i.e., low, medium, and high conductivities) to determine the best
operating conditions of the antenna.
Index Terms—Dielectric parameters, plasma antenna, switch-
ing time.
I. I NTRODUCTION
P LASMA antennas use plasma elements instead of metal
conductors. It is possible to create plasma elements start-
ing from a gas or a semiconductor. In the literature, some
examples of semiconductor plasma antennas are proposed [1],
[2], based essentially on the concept of reconfiguration that
is obtained by changing the characteristics of the plasma.
Unfortunately, very few papers, with little information about
gas plasma antennas, are available. This is probably because
most studies are covered by patents [3], [4]. Plasma antennas
are mainly constructed using an insulating tube filled with low
pressure gases: the plasma is rapidly created and destroyed
by applying proper radio frequency (RF) power pulses to the
discharge tube so that the antenna is switched on and off.
In this paper, a gas plasma antenna fed by a single electrode
is considered. An intense electric field is axially applied to one
end of the gas column. The field, which is propagating along the
column, ionizes the gas and is sustained by the newly created
plasma. This mode of creating the plasma is based on a surface
wave discharge, which is a well-known mechanism since the
1950s [5].
When the plasma is on, it exhibits a high conductivity for
signals at frequencies below the plasma frequency, providing
a conducting medium for the applied RF signal. When the
Manuscript received July 15, 2006; revised September 21, 2007.
The authors are with the Dipartimento di Elettromagnetismo e
Bioingegneria, Università Politecnica delle Marche, 60131 Ancona, Italy
(e-mail: r.deleo@univpm.it).
Color versions of one or more of the figures in this paper are available online
at http://ieeexplore.ieee.org.
Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/TIM.2007.909503
0018-9456/$25.00 © 2008 IEEE
antenna is off, the plasma is nonconducting, and therefore, the
tube is practically transparent, so if the antenna is used in an
array configuration, its presence does not affect the radiation
pattern of the other elements.
The main advantage of using plasma antennas instead of
metallic elements is that they allow electrical rather than me-
chanical control. In particular, for military applications, the
possibility of having conducting elements only when the useful
signal needs to be transmitted makes antenna detection by
hostile radars difficult. Moreover, a plasma antenna array can
be rapidly reconfigured, to change the radiation pattern, without
suffering perturbation from the unused element. Finally, the
effective length of the antenna can be changed by controlling
the applied RF energy, allowing its resonance frequency to be
varied and therefore the useful bandwidth to be increased.
The physical properties of plasma antennas have recently
been investigated [6], showing the relationship between plasma
density and applied power. Noise generation has also been
investigated.
In this paper, a plasma antenna is characterized for appli-
cation in the very high frequency (VHF) range. A test bench
is set up to control both the delivered power at the exciting
frequency and the power used to transmit the useful signal.
The problem related to the load change passing from the “on”
to the “off” condition is highlighted, together with the issue
of the crosstalk between the pump and the signal circuits.
The efficiency of the antenna is determined by comparing its
radiation pattern with that of a metallic antenna. Finally, a
procedure is presented for the determination of the conductivity
of the plasma column, which is inserted inside a waveguide as a
reflecting element. The plasma conductivity is recovered from
the reflection coefficient measurement.
II. P LASMA A NTENNA G ENERATION : M EASUREMENTS
A commercially available tube, which was designed for light-
ing purposes, was used to create the plasma column (Fig. 1).
The tube was inserted inside a metallic box that is placed under
a ground plane. A copper ring was placed around the tube and
soldered to an N-type connector (Suhner model 13N-50-0-23
for panel mounting) to pump the excitation RF energy. A strong
electric field is created between the ring and the ground plane,
so that the electric lines penetrate inside the tube, exciting the
plasma column. Another copper ring was mounted to apply the
useful signal, using the same capacitive coupling.
When the plasma is excited, a strong coupling is expected
between the two circuits: this determines a change in the load
CERRI et al.: MEASUREMENT OF THE PROPERTIES OF A PLASMA COLUMN USED AS A RADIATING ELEMENT
Fig. 1. Excitation box geometry.
Fig. 2. Coupling between the two ports with (black) and without (gray) the
conducting medium.
seen by the signal generators. This aspect was investigated
by measuring (using a network analyzer Agilent E5071B) the
scattering parameter S21 [7] between the exciting port and
the signal port (Fig. 2), simulating the presence of the plasma
column by means of a copper tube.
Fig. 2 shows a significant change in the crosstalk in the
presence of a high conductivity column, which couples the two
ports. The results obtained suggest the need to insert a proper
decoupling network between the two lines, in order to avoid
hazards for the signal generator due to the RF power coming
from the pump amplifier.
Similarly, the reflection coefficient of each port is also
strongly influenced by the presence of the plasma column. As
an example, Fig. 3 shows the scattering parameter S11 [7]
measured under the same conditions as Fig. 2.
The strong change in the S11 highlights two important issues
for the final antenna feeding network. First, the useful signal
line must be matched with the plasma excited. Second, the
same heavy input load variation occurs for the pump line. In
this case, the need to create an electric field sufficient to start
up the plasma excitation and subsequently to deliver all the
amplifier power when the plasma is excited suggests the use
of an adaptive network. Considering the geometry of the box
with its copper rings, the two applicators can be represented by
the equivalent circuit in Fig. 4. When the plasma is “off,” the
load Z can be neglected, and the load seen by the excitation
243
Fig. 3. Reflection coefficient of the signal port with (black) and without (gray)
the plasma.
Fig. 4. Applicator equivalent circuit.
circuit is essentially a series RLC circuit. This suggests the use
of a frequency corresponding to the circuit resonance for the
plasma excitation (up to 30 MHz) in order to obtain a strong
current flowing into the high capacitance reactance. In this way,
a strong electric field is achieved with a small incident power
(typically 1 W) to start up the plasma column.
On the other hand, the use of an exciting frequency lower
than the signal frequency (in the VHF range in the present case)
could create noise problems, because the noise of the amplifier
(both the thermal noise and the harmonics) used to pump the
plasma falls within the useful transmitted signal. This is the rea-
son why in our study a higher frequency was chosen (433 MHz)
with respect to the useful signal frequency (227 MHz), even
if a higher incident power is required to start up the plasma
and a matching network is needed to better transfer this power.
The used exciting frequency is assigned in Italy for industrial,
scientific and medical applications, and no restrictions are given
for the radiated signal [8]. The parameters for the box built
according to the circuit in Fig. 4 are given as follows: C = 5 pF,
L = 21 nH, Fres = 490.5 MHz for the excitation line and C =
4.1 pF, L = 23 nH, Fres = 513.3 MHz for the signal line. The
antenna load Z is related to the presence of plasma and varies
according to the plasma column length, i.e., with the applied
power, and therefore, a matching network is necessary in both
lines to optimize the power transfer.
III. E FFICIENCY AND S WITCH -O N T IME M EASUREMENT
The considerations mentioned in Section II, concerning the
port coupling and matching, led to the setup shown in Fig. 5,
which was effectively used with a plasma column.
A 433-MHz signal is amplified up to the power level able
to ionize the gas. A wattmeter is inserted to monitor this input
power. The antenna is matched to this network using a triple
stub [7]. The 227-MHz signal is coupled to the antenna using
244 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INSTRUMENTATION AND MEASUREMENT, VOL. 57, NO. 2, FEBRUARY 2008
Fig. 5. Complete measurement setup.
another similar metallic ring. The signal is amplified before
arriving at the antenna with a 10-W amplifier; a directional
coupler is used to measure the reflected power. Even in this
case, the antenna is matched to the feeding network by a triple
stub. Because of the high power used for the ionization of
the gas, a notch filter is used to prevent this high power from
arriving at the signal generator through the coupling between
the two ports (feeding and ionizing ports).
A key parameter of plasma antennas is their efficiency com-
pared with traditional wire metallic antennas. The aforemen-
tioned setup allows this quantity to be determined due to the
measurement of the antenna radiated field as a function of the
power delivered to pump the plasma. In particular, the triple
stub is used to adapt the exciting line at 433 MHz for various
incident power levels. For each value of the power delivered to
the plasma, the signal line is matched in order to give 1 mW
to the column at 227 MHz. The field is then monitored and the
pump power is increased for a successive stub adjustment and
field reading. The plasma column was finally removed and sub-
stituted with a copper tube of the same length, switching off the
pump amplifier. The signal line was matched to deliver 1 mW
to the copper tube, and the achieved field level was used as a
reference for the efficiency calculation (Fig. 6). The copper an-
tenna was considered as 100% efficient (0-dB line in Fig. 6); the
efficiency of the plasma antenna was computed by taking the
ratio (in decibels) between its radiated field (depending on
the pump power) and the field radiated by the copper antenna.
It can be noted that with 100 W (the maximum available in
our case) a performance degradation of about 3 dB is obtained
with respect to the copper antenna. It is also noticeable that
the efficiency exhibits a nonlinear behavior when the column is
filled with the plasma (power higher than 50 W). As previously
mentioned, the antenna input impedance changes with the
plasma density variations. As an example, at the maximum
pump power, the 227-MHz signal is loaded by an impedance
equal to 190 + j361 Ω. The load nature is capacitive as ex-
pected, because the feeding circuit works below its resonance.
To carry out the impedance measurement, a dual channel os-
cilloscope was connected to the directional coupler to read the
Fig. 6. Plasma antenna efficiency as a function of the net pump power.
incident and reflected signals. Using the math functions of the
oscilloscope, the phase difference between the two signals was
also calculated in order to recover the reflection coefficient and
the impedance, the cable length being compensated by an initial
calibration through a short circuit. It must be noted that the
presence of the notch filter is essential in this measurement
because the 433-MHz signal is high at this point and hides
the low 227 MHz to be measured by the oscilloscope. Finally,
the adopted setup also allows the plasma switch-on time to
be measured. This parameter is very important because it
establishes the time necessary to create the conductive element
(i.e., the antenna): after this time delay, the useful signal can be
applied to the antenna for its correct transmission. Furthermore,
in antenna array, this is the time required to change the array
configuration (some plasma columns must be activated and
other deenergized), and therefore, this is the time necessary to
vary the array radiation pattern.
The switch-on time was measured by triggering the oscillo-
scope (Tektronix TDS 7004) with the pump signal. One channel
of the oscilloscope was connected to the forward output of the
directional coupler that is now placed in the 433-MHz line. The
second channel was connected to the field sensor that is placed
near the antenna: the cable and the propagation delays, which
were measured with the copper antenna inserted instead of the
CERRI et al.: MEASUREMENT OF THE PROPERTIES OF A PLASMA COLUMN USED AS A RADIATING ELEMENT
Fig. 7. Plasma switch-on time.
Fig. 8. Conductivity measurement setup.
plasma column, were compensated. Fig. 7 shows an example of
the recorded signals: the sought rise time in this case is about
100 µs. It strongly depends on the peak power applied to the
tube and, therefore, on the power delivered when the plasma is
not yet formed. Increasing the power reduces the rise time. This
suggests the use of an adaptive matching network to transfer the
maximum available power to the column both when the plasma
is switched on and when it is switched off.
IV. C ONDUCTIVITY M EASUREMENT
The efficiency of the plasma column as a radiating element is
directly related to the plasma conductivity. Its value influences
the antenna losses, and it is a function of the pump power. In
particular, the conductivity decreases with the distance from
the excitation point, and its value rapidly goes down when the
plasma vanishes. In this sense, the conductivity profile of the
column is important to establish its effective length, i.e., the ef-
fective length of the antenna, which determines the resonance
frequency. A method to measure the conductivity profile is
shown in Fig. 8.
The plasma column is inserted in a waveguide through two
holes. The column is excited by a box similar to that described
in the previous paragraph: a moving mechanism allows the
distance of the box from the waveguide to be varied in order
to measure the conductivity profile of the column.
Knowing the relationship between the conductivity of the
plasma column and the reflection coefficient at the input port
of the waveguide, it is possible to determine the conductivity
245
Fig. 9. Simulated structure for the numerical evaluation of the σ = f (ρ)
function.
Fig. 10. Conductivity of the dielectric inside the tube versus the reflection
coefficient.
profile of the tube by measuring the S11 of the waveguide.
Unfortunately, the presence of the feed-through tube does not
allow the application of an analytical approach [9] for the so-
lution of the reflection of a cylindrical post inside a waveguide.
Therefore, it is not possible to find a closed-form solution for
the relationship between the conductivity of the tube and the
reflection coefficient at the input port of the waveguide.
For this reason, a numerical approach is proposed. The
function σ = f (ρ), where ρ is the reflection coefficient, is
numerically obtained in the form of a tabulated function.
The numerical tool (CST Microwave Studio [10]) is applied
to the waveguide WR340 in Fig. 9, where a 16-mm-diameter
glass tube passes through two 19-mm-diameter holes. The tube
wall has a thickness of 0.5 mm and is filled with a lossy
dielectric. The two metallic caps are inserted to better simulate
the commercial neon tube that we use for the measurements.
The waveguide is matched at port 2 (see Fig. 9), and the S11
of the structure is calculated at port 1.
When the characteristics of the dielectric inside the tube
are changed, the S11 changes in consequence, giving us the
behavior of the reflection coefficient versus the conductivity.
The results of the simulation are converted into 2-D graphs as
shown in Fig. 10, where for convenience the conductivity σ is
plotted versus the S11 at port 1.
The conductivity value range is subdivided into three regions,
according to a rule based on the ratio between the radiated
and the dissipated powers. More precisely, our simulations
highlighted that a wire antenna with conductivity higher than
100 S/m exhibits a dissipated power of less than a quarter of
the radiated power [11]. This result is acceptable for typical
antenna applications, and consequently, we assume that this
conductivity value is high enough to limit the antenna losses.
246 IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INSTRUMENTATION AND MEASUREMENT, VOL. 57, NO. 2, FEBRUARY 2008
Fig. 11. Conductivity of the plasma tube versus the axis coordinate, recovered
from the reflection measurements.
On the other hand, for conductivity values of less than
20 S/m, the dissipated power is greater than the radiated power
and is, therefore, not useful for antenna application.
In the intermediate range, an accurate determination of the
losses is necessary for correct antenna design.
Using Fig. 10, together with the results of the measurements
described in Fig. 8, it is possible to obtain the conductivity of
the plasma column. The measurements are made by vertically
moving the tube in Fig. 8. This is necessary because the
conductivity of the column is not uniform along the tube. To
have the profile of the conductivity, the tube is measured in
ten different positions, with a distance of 1 cm between each,
starting from a distance of 3.43 cm between the ionizing box
and the guide. This minimum distance is necessary to reduce
the loading effect produced by the waveguide body on the
exciting circuit. For each position, a different portion of the
tube is present inside the waveguide, which is 43.3 mm high.
By combining the results of the ten positions, it is possible to
obtain a profile for the conductivity.
The measurements are also made by changing the power
of the ionization signal in order to see how the conductivity
changes. The results of the postprocessing of the measurements
are shown in Fig. 11.
The following empirical relation is calculated from these
results and shows the dependence of the conductivity on the
pump power P and the axis position h:

h−3.43 h−3.43

σ(h, P ) = (0.81P 2 − 13P + 62) · e− 1.2 + e− 3.8 . [1] A. E. Fathy et al., “Silicon-based reconfigurable antennas—Concepts,
(1)
This relation is only valid for the range considered, i.e.,
8 W ≤ P ≤ 15 W and 3.43 cm ≤ h ≤ 14.87 cm, and for a 15-mm-
diameter tube. Equation (1) allows the correct evaluation of
the antenna current distribution and related parameters (losses,
radiation pattern, impedance), when numerical tools are used
for antenna design [11].
The results of the measurements are affected by the un-
certainties of the measuring instrument. From the declared
uncertainties of the network analyzer, it is also possible to
obtain the uncertainties of the conductivity value recovered.
Unfortunately, considering the curves in Fig. 10, it is clear that
as the conductivity increases, the slope of these curves increases
accordingly, and therefore, a small uncertainty in the reflection
coefficient measurement will result in a large uncertainty in the
recovered conductivity values. Fig. 12 shows the error of the
conductivity value versus the reflection coefficient measured.
Fig. 12. Error of the conductivity value versus the reflection coefficient.
As we can see, the greatest errors are obtained for conductivity
values higher than 100 S/m, where it is not relevant to have the
exact value, because at this stage the behavior of the plasma is
similar to a good conductor.
V. C ONCLUSION
A plasma column has been characterized as an antenna.
The efficiency with respect to the corresponding metal antenna
depends on the plasma pump power, and in the present case, it
was about 65% for 100 W of pump power. Moreover, a turn-
on time of 100 µs has also been measured: this is important if
the plasma column works as a switching element in an array
antenna. Finally, the conductivity profile of a plasma column
has been recovered by applying a reflectometric method. The
relationship between the reflection coefficient and the plasma
conductivity has been numerically assessed using a commer-
cially available electromagnetic tool. The results obtained high-
light that the conductivity considerably varies along the column
and must therefore be considered for accurate antenna design.
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CERRI et al.: MEASUREMENT OF THE PROPERTIES OF A PLASMA COLUMN USED AS A RADIATING ELEMENT
[10] Microwave Studio, CST—Computer Simulation Technology, Darmstadt,
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Prague, Czech Republic.
Graziano Cerri (M’93) was born in Ancona, Italy,
in 1956. He received the Laurea degree in electronic
engineering from the University of Ancona (now
Università Politecnica delle Marche) in 1981.
In 1983, after military service in the Engineer
Corps of the Italian Air Force, he became an As-
sistant Professor with the Department of Electronics
and Control, University of Ancona, where he be-
came an Associate Professor of microwaves in 1992.
He is currently a Full Professor of electromagnetic
fields with the Dipartimento di Elettromagnetismo e
Bioingegneria, Università Politecnica delle Marche. Since 2004, he has been
a Director of the Interuniversity Italian Center for the Study of the Interac-
tions Between Electromagnetic Fields and Biosystems (ICEmB). He is also a
member of the Administrative and Scientific Board of the Interuniversity Italian
Research Centre for Electromagnetic Compatibility (CIRCE), a member of the
Scientific Board of the Interuniversity National Centre for Telecommunications
(CNIT), and a member of the Scientific Board of the Italian Association of
Electromagnetics (SIEm). His research is mainly devoted to EMC problems,
analysis of the interaction between electromagnetic fields and biological bodies,
and antennas.
Mr. Cerri is a member of Italian Electrotechnical and Electronic Association
(AEI).
Roberto De Leo was born in Bari, Italy, in 1942. He
received the Laurea degree in electronic engineering
from the Politecnico di Torino, Turin, Italy, in 1965.
From 1966 to 1975, he was an Assistant Profes-
sor of electronics with the Faculty of Engineering,
University of Bari, where he was appointed as a
Full Professor of microwaves in 1976. In 1980, he
was appointed as a Full Professor of electromagnetic
field at the University of Ancona (now Università
Politecnica delle Marche), Ancona, Italy, where he
became a Full Professor of electromagnetic compat-
ibility in 1992. He is currently with the Dipartimento di Elettromagnetismo e
Bioingegneria, Università Politecnica delle Marche. Since 1976, he has been
a member of the Scientific Council of the Electromagnetic Group, Italian
National Research Council (CNR), and from 1989 to 1993, he was also the
President of this group. His scientific interests are devoted to theoretical and
experimental aspects of EMC.
Prof. De Leo is an Associate Editor of the IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON
ELECTROMAGNETIC COMPATIBILITY.
247
Valter Mariani Primiani (M’93) was born in Rome,
Italy, in 1961. He received the Laurea degree in elec-
tronic engineering from the University of Ancona,
Ancona, Italy, in 1990.
He is currently an Associate Professor of elec-
tromagnetic compatibility with the Dipartimento di
Elettromagnetismo e Bioingegneria, Università Po-
litecnica delle Marche, Ancona, Italy, where he is
responsible for the Electromagnetic Compatibility
Laboratory. His area of interest in electromagnetic
compatibility concerns the prediction of digital PCB
radiation, the radiation from apertures, the ESD coupling effects modeling, and
the analysis of emission and immunity test methods. More recently, he has
extended his research activity in the field of the application of reverberation
chambers for compliance testing and metrology applications.
Mr. Mariani Primiani is a member of the IEEE Electromagnetic Compat-
ibility Society, IEEE Instrumentation and Measurement Society, and Italian
Society of Electromagnetics (SIEM).
Paola Russo (S’98–M’00) received the Ph.D. degree
in electronic engineering from the Polytechnic of
Bari, Bari, Italy, in 1999.
In 1999, she was under a research contract with
Motorola Florida Research Laboratory, where she
developed a numerical tool for characterizing the
“Ferris wheel” exposure system employed in a long-
term study of RF exposure on mice. From 2000 to
2002, she was under a research contract with the
Department of Electronics, University of Ancona
(now Università Politecnica delle Marche), Ancona,
Italy, where she worked on the development of a numerical tool applied to
the coupling of electromagnetic field and biological tissue. From 2003 and
2004, she continued to work at the same university, developing numerical
tools applied to different EMC problems. Since January 2005, she has been
a Researcher with the Dipartimento di Elettromagnetismo e Bioingegneria,
Università Politecnica delle Marche, where she teaches EMC and antenna
design. Her main research topics are on the application of numerical modeling
to EMC problems, reverberation chambers, and new antenna design.