A radiometer to diagnose parametric instabilities during linear excitation of electron Bernstein waves in the Mega Amp Spherical Tokamak (MAST) Upgrade.

Abstract

Highly overdense magnetically confined fusion plasmas, such as the Mega Amp Spherical Tokamak (MAST) Upgrade, cannot easily be heated using conventional electron cyclotron resonance heating because high density cutoffs block microwave access to the plasma core. Instead, electromagnetic waves can be coupled to electron Bernstein waves (EBWs) through the O-X-B mode coupling scheme, and the EBWs can then be absorbed at higher densities. The excitation of EBWs occurs at the upper hybrid (UH) layer where nonlinear wave interactions, called parametric decay instabilities (PDIs), are known to occur at reduced power thresholds. We present a design for a radiometer to detect PDIs during O-X-B in MAST Upgrade. The radiometer will aid in determining at what power levels PDIs become important as well as inferring various parameters about both electrons and ions near the UH layer. We estimate a gyrotron power density threshold for PDI and expected frequency shifts to be produced in them. The design allows for shifts from several decays involving lower hybrid (LH) waves to be observed.