Numerical simulation of high-power microwave pulse propagation through the atmosphere

A set of self-consistent equations are used to study the nonlinear interaction of high power microwave pulse with the atmosphere in this paper. Both long and short pulses are investigated in our research. Electrons are treated as a fluid and their effects on the passing microwave pulse are determined by means of the simultaneous solution of Maxwell's equations and the electron fluid equations. Our one-dimensional fluid-model calculation shows that when the field strength of high power microwave pulse is above the threshold for air breakdown, large portions of the initial energy are absorbed by the electrons in the plasma region which are created by the avalanche process. Nevertheless, a significant amount of energy is still able to propagate very long distance. The amount of energy transmitted through the air to the targets depends very strongly on the initial energy of the pulse, its frequency, shape and length as well. In addition, we also calculate the electron density, conductivity and the characteristic frequency of plasma.