Study of ITER plasma position reflectometer using a two-dimensional full-wave finite-difference time domain code

The EU will supply the plasma position reflectometer for ITER. The system will have channels located at different poloidal positions, some of them obliquely viewing a plasma which has a poloidal density divergence and curvature, both adverse conditions for profile measurements. To understand the impact of such topology in the reconstruction of density profiles a full-wave two-dimensional finite-difference time domain O-mode code with the capability for frequency sweep was used. Simulations show that the reconstructed density profiles still meet the ITER radial accuracy specifications for plasma position (1 cm), except for the highest densities. Other adverse effects such as multireflections induced by the blanket, density fluctuations, and MHD activity were considered and a first understanding on their impact obtained.