Propagation of an Ultrawideband Electromagnetic Pulse Along a Plasma-Filled Coaxial Line

The propagation of an ultrawideband (UWB) electromagnetic pulse along a coaxial line filled with a cold isotropic plasma is considered. The pulse shape evolution is studied both in the frequency domain through the Fourier transform analysis and in the time domain using either the high-frequency approximation or the finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) approach. The emphasis is placed on the behavior of the pulse shape for various values of the plasma density in the coaxial line. It is shown that transmission of a nanosecond TEM pulse in a plasma-filled coaxial line can serve for revealing the basic features of changes in the shape of such signals during their propagation in an unbounded plasma medium.