Analysis of terahertz wave penetration capacity to 2D conductive cylinder coated with steady-state parabolic distribution plasma media.

• A new method that using the penetration of terahertz wave to solve the blackout problem is described. • The backscattering RCS of two-dimensional conductive model coated with steady-state parabolic distribution plasma is calculated by the RKETD-FDTD method. • The WKB method is used to calculate the attenuation of electromagnetic wave. • The plasma density profile is assumed to be steady-state parabolic distribution instead of homogeneous is studied. • The variations of different parameters of homogeneous and inhomogeneous plasma is also discussed. Terahertz waves have long been considered as the most efficient of many solutions to solve the blackout problem for the reason that terahertz waves have much stronger penetration than microwaves. In this paper, we will raise the incident wave band to terahertz band to discuss the application of terahertz technology in solving blackout problem. The plasma sheath attached to the reentry is considered as steady-state parabolic distribution. The back scattering radar cross section is used as an index to illustrate the strong penetration of terahertz wave, which is calculated with the Runge-Kutta Exponential Time Differencing-Finite Difference Time Domain method. The attenuation of electromagnetic wave in uniform plasma is analyzed with Wentzel-Kramer-Brillouin method. Moreover, the variation of different parameters of homogeneous and inhomogeneous plasma including the plasma density, the thickness of plasma and collision frequency, is also studied in this paper. It can be concluded that all the calculations of back scattering radar cross section reveals that terahertz wave have a powerful potential to cope with blackout problem and can be widely applied in the field of communication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]