ONERA Centre de Toulouse (F. Christophe, S. Bolioli, X. Ferrières, J-F. Roussel, F. Rogier): coordinator
Institut de Mathématiques de Toulouse (Pierre Degond, Fabrice Deluzet, Marie-Hélène Vignal)
Laboratoire micro-Ondes et électromagnétisme (Olivier Pascal)
LAPLACE (JP Boeuf, L. Pitchford, L. Garrigues, G. Hagelaar)
The interactions of cold plasmas with microwaves play an important role for the operation of various equipments in aerospace environment: for example, the power handling of antennas at high altitudes is limited by breakdown mechanisms, which are quite well documented for continuous wave operation, but not for short pulses. Antennas for spacecraft are also influenced by new ionic propulsion environments. On the other hand, controlled density plasma could allow for adapting the behaviour of new microwave devices leading to improved functionalities.
Design and performance prediction of such equipments rely on accurate and validated models taking into account the various aspects of plasma/microwave interactions, many of them being presently unavailable.
The merging into this project of experienced teams working in microwave devices, electromagnetism, space environment, plasma physics, numerical solutions for the equations of fluids or particles, electromagnetism, and their coupling, with the added value of selected experts, will create conditions for a breakthrough towards many new applications.
Quasineutral limit in plasmas: follow this link
Strongly anisotropic diffusion problems ; application to large magnetic fields in plasmas: follow this link