Fluctuations in the signal of optical coefficients of propagative electromagnetic (EM) waves in plasma, can cause problems in phase analysis, especially in microwave diagnostic systems which are based on the reflection, and transmission of EM waves in the vicinity of cut-off layer of the plasma. In this study, optical properties of EM wave propagation in a single layer, homogeneous, and partially ionized plasma slab are investigated. For realistic analysis of propagation characteristics of the EM wave in the plasma slab, multiple reflections of the EM wave from plasma-vacuum boundaries, known as incoherent internal reflections (IIR) are considered. Optical coefficients of the EM wave are numerically simulated in terms of the plasma parameters and wave frequency, with and without consideration of the incoherent internal reflections effect. It was found that in the low-loss collision regime, the cut-off fluctuations of the optical coefficients can be filtered considering the incoherent internal reflections of the EM wave. Such analysis of the EM wave propagation in plasma slab can be considered the primary physical design of diagnostic facilities and EM wave absorbing structures operating in the cut-off frequency ranges.

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In this study, nanoparticles of neodymium oxide were deposited on NaX zeolite powder using a 5.3 kJ Mather‒type plasma focus device. The NaX zeolite samples were exposed to the 10, 15, and 20 shot numbers of the plasma focus device at a distance of 14 cm from the anode tip and 0 angular positions with respect to the anode axis. Parent NaX zeolite and NaX:Nd composites with different Nd2O3 percent weights were characterized using different techniques such as; XRF, XRD, SEM, FT‒IR, and UV‒vis. It was shown that the amount of Nd2O3 in the samples increases with increase of the shot number. It was also found from the results that variations in amount of Nd2O3 can have significant effects on the degree of the crystallinity and optical properties of final products such as refractive index, band gap energy, dielectric constant, and absorption coefficients.