Feasibility of a Plasma-Based Intelligent Reflective Surface

Gaseous Plasma Antennas are devices in which an ionized gas (i.e., plasma) is exploited to transmit and receive Electro-Magnetic waves. Their main advantage over metallic systems is the possibility to reconfigure the antenna performance (e.g., radiation pattern) by electronically varying the plasma parameters (e.g., density). Recently, Intelligent Reflecting Surfaces (IRSs) have been proposed to control the environment between transmitting and receiving antennas manipulating the signals reflected. In this work, the feasibility of a plasma-based IRS is investigated. A theoretical model has been developed to assess the use of plasma as a reflecting medium. Numerical simulations have been performed to preliminary design plasma-based IRSs. Two designs of IRSs, relying on plasma properties consistent with the technology at the state-of-the-art, are proposed. The former enables beam steering operations depending on the continuous control of the phase of the reflected wave. The latter exploits a 1-Bit coding strategy to produce specific diffraction patterns. The main advantage of a plasma-based IRS with respect to the metallic counterpart is the possibility to control the phase of the reflected wave, maintaining the magnitude of the reflection coefficient close to the unit. The main drawback of plasma-based systems is the necessity of using thick plasma elements (in the order of the wavelength in the air) to control the phase of the reflected wave over 360 deg. This constraint can be relaxed if digital plasma elements are adopted.