Experimental investigation on radiation characteristics of RF electromagnetic pulse from atmospheric spark discharge plasma

RF electromagnetic pulses (EMPs) generated from gas discharge can not only cause serious interference or damage to electronic equipment but also be utilized in many new applications. In this paper, we establish an experimental platform for studying radiation characteristics of RF EMP from spark discharge plasma at atmospheric pressure. The influences of discharge voltage, electrode configuration, and storage capacitance on the amplitude-frequency characteristics of RF EMP are analyzed. A combined dipole-loop antenna model is proposed to describe the radiation process of EMP from spark discharge plasma. The results show that the frequency spectrum of RF EMP from spark discharge plasma mainly focuses on three intervals, namely, (0–50) MHz, (50–100) MHz, and (100–200) MHz. The radiated electric field intensity of EMP in all frequency bands enhances with the increase in discharge voltage or storage capacitance. Because of the polarization mismatch, the received field intensity in the ball-plate electrode configuration is the weakest compared to the plate-plate and ball-ball electrode. The whole radiation process of EMP from spark discharge plasma can be simulated by a combined dipole-loop antenna model well. The dipole antenna and loop antenna models are used to depict the radiation process of EMP during the discharge transient process and subsequently the energy releasing process, respectively. These results provide some fundamental knowledge for further study of RF EMP from gas discharge.