Frankly, Zhong Cheng didn't have a deep impression of the paper by Ye Changsi, and at the time, it didn't seem necessary to delve into it.
The idea of using plasma as a reflective mirror was a general statement; the real principle was much more complex.
The foundation of this technology was that plasma, already imbued with extremely high energy, couldn't be further damaged by high-intensity lasers, nor could it absorb more energy, which is why it could nearly perfectly reflect the laser.
When the laser beam hit the plasma, electrons were accelerated and began oscillating along the wave's electric field of the light beam, causing the electrons to absorb the energy of the beam and emit it in the opposite direction, much like light reflecting off a shiny chrome metal surface.