| Summary: | This paper introduces an innovative method for quantitatively determining plasma density in plasma columns, with particular applicability to reconfigurable antennas. This method significantly enhances the speed of capturing density variations, particularly in surface wave-excited antennas. By utilizing images of excited plasma tubes, the proposed approach extracts a light intensity versus plasma density (LIVPD) graph, creating a direct correspondence between visible light intensity and plasma density. The methodology, encompassing LIVPD graph extraction and plasma density evaluation, is comprehensively elucidated. Rigorous analytical and experimental validations confirm a minor deviation of approximately 8.5%. The versatility of the method is demonstrated through two practical applications, reaffirming its accuracy in challenging scenarios. Additionally, this study includes a comparative analysis that highlights the superiority of the method in terms of sampling rate, measurement points, and non-intrusiveness over conventional techniques. This paper thus presents a robust method with promising potential for accurate plasma density determination in diverse antenna applications. © 2013 IEEE.
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