Plasma-Enabled Wideband Matching of Electrically Small Antennas
Abstract
This paper presents a plasma-based approach for wideband impedance matching of electrically small antennas (ESAs). By exploiting the negative permittivity of a capacitively coupled plasma (CCP), the plasma is shown to function as a wideband negative capacitor that effectively compensates for the large and frequency-dependent reactance inherent to ESAs. A VHF/UHF electrically small capped dipole antenna is used as a proof-of-concept platform to demonstrate the proposed technique. Theoretical analysis, Multiphysics simulations, and experimental measurements confirm broadband impedance matching, with -6 dB fractional bandwidth that can exceed 100\%, using only a few watts of plasma power. The matching bandwidth can be dynamically tuned by adjusting the plasma operating conditions, gas pressure, and electron density, enabling control over the trade-off between bandwidth and radiation efficiency. This plasma-enabled matching paradigm provides a physically robust and scalable solution for wideband ESAs, particularly attractive for low-frequency and high-power applications where conventional matching techniques are fundamentally limited.
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BibTeX
@misc{singhal2026plasmaenabled,
title = {{Plasma-Enabled Wideband Matching of Electrically Small Antennas}},
author = {Kushagra Singhal and Abbas Semnani},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2610.22095},
eprint = {2610.22095},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.22095},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Plasma-Enabled Wideband Matching of Electrically Small Antennas
AU - Kushagra Singhal
AU - Abbas Semnani
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/15
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2610.22095
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.22095
AB - This paper presents a plasma-based approach for wideband impedance matching of electrically small antennas (ESAs). By exploiting the negative permittivity of a capacitively coupled plasma (CCP), the plasma is shown to function as a wideband negative capacitor that effectively compensates for the large and frequency-dependent reactance inherent to ESAs. A VHF/UHF electrically small capped dipole antenna is used as a proof-of-concept platform to demonstrate the proposed technique. Theoretical analysis, Multiphysics simulations, and experimental measurements confirm broadband impedance matching, with -6 dB fractional bandwidth that can exceed 100\%, using only a few watts of plasma power. The matching bandwidth can be dynamically tuned by adjusting the plasma operating conditions, gas pressure, and electron density, enabling control over the trade-off between bandwidth and radiation efficiency. This plasma-enabled matching paradigm provides a physically robust and scalable solution for wideband ESAs, particularly attractive for low-frequency and high-power applications where conventional matching techniques are fundamentally limited.
ER -