Propagation of radio frequency waves through density filaments

In tokamak fusion plasmas, coherent fluctuations in the form of blobs or filaments are routinely observed in the scrape-off layer. In this paper we develop an analytical formalism for the scattering of radio frequency waves by filaments which are cylindrical with their major axis aligned along the toroidal magnetic field lines. Since the magnitude of the ratio of the density inside the filaments to the background density is generally of order 1, the geometric optics approximation cannot be used to describe the scattering. A full-wave model is formulated which assumes that the plasma is cold and that the plasma in the cylindrical filament has uniform density. The background plasma, in which the filament is present, is also assumed to be cold and uniform. The theoretical framework applies to the scattering of any plasma wave.