Calibration and initial operation of the HIBP on the MST

Abstract

For the first time, a heavy ion beam probe (HIBP) has been installed on a reversed field pinch, i.e., Madison symmetric torus (MST), to measure the plasma potential profile, potential, and electron density fluctuations, etc. The application of a HIBP on MST has presented new challenges for this diagnostic. The primary sources of difficulty are small access ports, high plasma, and, ultraviolet (UV) flux and a confining magnetic field produced largely by plasma currents. The requirement to keep ports small so as to avoid magnetic field perturbations led to the development of the cross-over sweep system. The effectiveness and calibration of this sweep system will be reported. In addition, this diagnostic is now operating with greater plasma/UV loading effects than most previous Rensselaer HIBPs. The plasma flux is reduced by using a magnetic suppression structure. The UV flux appears to be the dominant cause of the remaining loading, which is substantial. The magnetic field being largely produced by the plasma makes determination of measurement locations exclusively from trajectory calculations difficult. Initial operation results have shown that the magnetic field model we are using to calculate our ion trajectories has an inaccuracy of about 10%, and thus subsequent development of improved confining field models is important. Secondary signals have been detected, and the levels are smaller than that from the UV induced noises. Methods to increase the signal levels are discussed. A very rough estimation of the potential at a typical MST core location is 0.8–2 kV. Fluctuations in the frequency range 100–20 kHz have also been observed.