Kinetic model of the propagation of intense subnanosecond electromagnetic pulse through the lower atmosphere

Author

Golubev, Alexander I. ; Sysoeva, Tatyana G. ; Terekhin, Vladimir A. ; Tikhonchuk, Vladimir T. ; Altgilber, L.L.

Author_Institution

Fed. Nucl. Center, All-Russian Sci. Res. Inst. of Exp. Phys., Sarov, Russia

Volume

28

Issue

1

fYear

2000

fDate

2/1/2000 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

303

Lastpage

311

Abstract

The propagation of high-amplitude electromagnetic pulses (EMP´s) having a pulse length of nanoseconds through the lower atmosphere is studied by using a kinetic model for free electrons. It is shown that an EMP with an amplitude above 1 MV/m can be transported to altitudes of 50 km from the ground without significant energy loss due to the shortness of its pulse length. The distortion of these pulses due to air breakdown and the energy distribution of the electrons in the plasma in the tail of the pulse will also be characterized

Keywords

atmospheric electromagnetic wave propagation; electromagnetic pulse; 50 km; EM pulse tail; air breakdown; altitudes; atmospheric electromagnetic pulse propagation; distortion; energy distribution; energy loss; high-amplitude electromagnetic pulse propagation; intense subnanosecond electromagnetic pulse propagation; kinetic model; lower atmosphere; plasma electrons; Atmosphere; Atmospheric modeling; EMP radiation effects; Electric breakdown; Electromagnetic modeling; Electromagnetic propagation; Electromagnetic transients; Electrons; Energy loss; Kinetic theory;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Plasma Science, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0093-3813

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/27.842926

Filename

842926