Numerical simulation of nonlinear behavior in plasma based photonic crystals and metamaterials using a multi-fluid plasma model

Plasma photonic crystals and metamaterials (PC/MMs) have the potential to significantly expand the capabilities of current microwave filtering and switching technologies by providing high speed (μs) control of energy bandgap/pass characteristics in the GHz through low THz range. While photonic crystals consisting of dielectric, semiconductor, and metallic matrices have been thoroughly investigated over the last several decades, plasma-based PC/MMs remain a relatively unexplored field. Numerical modeling efforts so far have largely used the standard methods of analysis for photonic crystals (the Plane Wave Expansion Method, Finite Difference Time Domain, and Drude model simulations), which do not capture nonlinear plasma-radiation interactions. In this study, a fully coupled Maxwell 5N-moment multi-fluid plasma model is implemented within the WARPXM finite element code to investigate the nonlinear deformation of plasma structures under intense radiation. Transmission spectra of the deformed structures are compared with experimental data and ANSYS HFSS calculations. It is proposed that observed bandgap broadening could be harnessed for plasma-based adjustable power modulators.