Our LLNL collaborator Dr. Bruce Cohen has performed 1-D and 2-D computations of ultrashort-pulse reflectometry with codes that resolve the fast electromagnetic oscillation timescale. An ultrashort electromagnetic pulse (containing frequency components that span a large fraction of the density profile) propagates into and is reflected by a plasma. The density profile is then reconstructed via Abel inversion of the reflected signal. Our studies have shown that even in the presence of large density perturbations (
= 0.25), density profile reconstruction can be performed successfully.
