Comparison of techniques for solving the Laser Intensity Modulation Method (LIMM) equation

The Laser Intensity Modulation Method (LIMM) is a technique for the determination of polarization and/or space charge profiles in the thickness direction of ceramic and polymeric samples. The experimental data are analyzed by means of a Fredholm integral equation of the first kind. This equation admits to multiple and very different solutions. A number of techniques have been developed in order to obtain the most physically reasonable profile. Several techniques based on the regularization method have been proposed. A recent version, polynomial regularization, was developed by Lang. A completely different approach is the Monte Carlo method of Tuncer and Lang. Several sets of both simulated and experimental data are analyzed by the two methods in this paper. Conclusions concerning speed and accuracy are presented.