Full-wave Simulation of Doppler Reflectometry in the Presence of Turbulence

Doppler reflectometry is a microwave plasma diagnostic well suited for density fluctuation measurement. A meaningful interpretation of Doppler reflectometry measurements necessitates the analysis of the wave propagation in the plasma using simulations methods. While the beam path can usually be reconstructed with beam tracing methods, the modeling of the scattering process demands the use of wave simulation codes. Furthermore, in the presence of strong density fluctuations, the response from the plasma is dominated by dispersion and multiple scattering, and hence becomes non-linear. IPF-FD3D is the finite difference time domain code used to investigate the dependence of the scattering efficiency on the various plasma conditions. It uses the full set of Maxwell equations and the electron equation of motion in a cold plasma. First results in slab geometry indicate a strong dependence of the scattering efficiency on the density gradient, the incident angle, and the wave polarisation. Further complications arise with the introduction of broadband turbulent fluctuations, where additional knowledge of the radial spectrum is necessary to reconstruct the full fluctuation spectrum from Doppler reflectometry measurements. This paper presents the reconstruction of the turbulent fluctuation spectrum from simulated Doppler reflectometry measurements in slab geometry. Two cases of analytical turbulence in slab geometry are presented where the fluctuation wavenumber spectrum was recovered. It is planned to extend these investigations to X mode polarization and to supplement actual fusion experiments