Active correction of window Faraday effects for ITER laser diagnostics

Abstract

Measurement of the change in polarization of a laser beam traversing a magnetized plasma is a standard diagnostic technique for extracting key plasma parameters, including density and current profile. Depending on the polarization orientation of the incident laser beam relative to theplasma magnetic field, the polarization change is denoted as either Faraday rotation or Cotton-Mouton effect. On ITER three laser diagnostics will make use of this effect to make their measurements. Unfortunately, this effect is also evident when the laser beam passes through the vacuum window. The large magnetic field and finite verdet constant of the window material mean that on ITER this effect — in particular faraday rotation — is non-negligible, and needs to be disentangled from the desired measurement parameter. The Toroidal Interferometer-Polarimeter (TIP) and Density Interferometer-Polarimeter (DIP), in particular, are affected. Both diagnostics use lasers in the 5–10 μm range, and will use zinc-selenide (ZnSe) as the vacuum window material. In order to compensate for the unwanted window distortion a sensor is being developed to monitor the magnetic field perpendicular to the window and activelycorrectfor the faraday rotation in real time. The sensor consists of an inductive coil closely fitted just in front of the window disc. It comprises several turns of fine wire in center-tap configuration. Both the raw voltage signal, as well as the integrated signal, will be monitored to estimate the magnetic field through the window disk. The system is designed to measure fields up to B <1 T with an accuracy of 0.01 T, at frequencies of D.C. to 1 kHz. The backend electronics will leverage off similar technology developed for other ITER magnetics systems. Using the real-time magnetic field information, in conjunction with published and/or measured data on the verdet constant of the ZnSe window material, in-house developed software will estimate the faraday rotation induced by passing through the window.An initial prototype of the sensor has been fabricated and results from preliminary characterization trials of the system are presented. Detailed testing is planned for the future using the DIP system prototype currently under development.