A Highly Reflecting Microwave Plasma Mirror

Abstract

Lately there has been a strong interest in developing efficient plasma mirrors to reflect microwave beams¹. This interest has arisen mostly from the possibility to redirect radar and satellite signals by the interaction with a plasma grating created in the ionosphere. Since the index of refraction of a plasma medium can be considerably less than 1, high reflectivities should be expected. The excitation of these gratings, however, depends on the efficiency of coupling between the plasma and the interference pattern of the two pump waves that are writing the grating. An efficient coupling is in most cases difficult to achieve which results in a low efficiency reflecting grating.