Comparison of geometric and wave optics in an absorbing spherical plasma

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Abstract
The absorption of laser radiation by a spherical plasma is considered via geometric optics. In addition to the rays, the amplitude of the electric field is found, and absorption by inverse bremsstrahlung is modeled. The authors find resonance absorption in a domain outside the region where geometric optics is valid, assuming there a locally one-dimensional plasma-density variation and matching the geometric-optics solution with the solution of the wave equation. The total absorption coefficient obtained from the ray-tracing method is compared with the numerical results based on an exact solution of Maxwell's equation, and excellent agreement is found.