Deflection of Interferometry Beams due to Transverse Refractive Index Gradient in SST-1

Abstract

Far Infrared interferometry is the main diagnostics method for electron density measurements in medium sized tokamaks. The transverse density gradients of plasma produce refractive effect, and the probing radiation does not propagate along a straight line and gets deflected. Therefore, it is necessary to evaluate the plasma effect on beam direction to verify if the used wavelength is compatible with the machine geometry. This paper presents the analytical results of refractive bending of THz beam due to transverse density gradients for circular and elliptical cross section plasma. The results from ray tracing integration to calculate refractive bending in D-shaped plasmas are also presented.