Analytic results in the theory of reflectometry in multidimensional plasma (abstract)a

Whereas earlier efforts to model reflectometry have concentrated on 1D models of plasmas, their success in matching experimental signatures has been limited.a) Recent careful measurements of reflectometry signals from controlled plasmas reveal the extent of these discrepancies quite clearly.b) In an attempt to assess the role played by multidimensional effects on these measurements, we have developed analytical models that allow the density fluctuations as well as the microwave field to have 2‐ and 3D structure. In addition, the background plasma is allowed to have inhomogeneity in more than one dimension. Green’s function techniques are used to evaluate the reflected field due to density fluctuations in first Born approximation. Attempts will also be made to compare these theoretical results to UCLA/UCD experiments and numerical simulations of the full wave equations.