EM wave propagation in non-parallel plasma sheath using complex ray tracing algorithm

This paper introduces a complex ray tracing algorithm based on the complex Snell law to investigate the electromagnetic wave propagation in Reentry Plasma Sheath with non-uniform and non-parallel stratification. The algorithm takes the non-uniform electromagnetic complex rays (including propagation ray of equal-amplitude plane and equal-phase plane) into account, traces the path of complex rays in every layer and the refract rays in each interface. The attenuation is calculated along the direction of equal-amplitude plane in each layer and the total attenuation through the entire propagation path can be obtained by accumulate the attenuation in each layer. This paper further analyzes non-parallel stratified plasma sheath model with the complex ray tracing algorithm. Numerical results show that the attenuation sharp decreases from the top of aircraft to the tail. There exists a specific incident angle with minimum attenuation in non-parallel stratification layer.