A uniform integral representation for geometric optics solutions near caustics

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Abstract
Generalized Fourier integral (GFI) representation of geometric optics solutions for the field of dressed particles in inhomogeneous plasmas is applied to the problem of wave propagation near caustics: GFI is based on the replacement of plane waves, conventionally used in Fourier integrals for homogeneous plasmas, by a complete orthogonal set of ‘‘quasiplane’’ waves for the case of an inhomogeneous plasma. It is shown that the resulting integral provides a uniform asymptotic approximation to the exact solution of the wave equation.