Collective Thomson scattering with 77, 154, and 300 GHz sources in LHD

Abstract

Collective Thomson scattering (CTS) is one of attractive diagnostics for measuring locally and directly the fuel temperature and the velocity distribution of fast ions in fusion plasmas. A mega-watt class source of millimeter or sub-millimeter waves is required to detect a weak scattered radiation superimposed on background radiation owing to electron cyclotron emissions (ECEs) from plasmas. Based on electron cyclotron resonance heating (ECRH) system with the frequencies of 77 GHz and 154 GHz in the Large Helical Device (LHD), the CTS diagnostic system has been developed to measure bulk ion temperatures from a few keV to ∼10 keV and fast ions originated from 180 keV-neutral beam injection in the LHD. The measured CTS spectra and their time evolutions are analyzed with the electrostatic scattering theory. The bulk ion temperatures obtained from CTS spectra increase with the neutral beam injections and decrease with the heating terminated. The velocity map of simulated fast ions explains that the bumps on tail of measured CTS spectra are caused by the co- and counter- fast ions. A new prescription for anisotropic velocity distribution function is proposed. As for 154 GHz bands, the CTS spectrum broadenings for D and H plasmas are distinguished reasonably at the same temperature, and its ion temperatures are comparable to those of the charge exchange recombination spectroscopy. As reactor-relevant diagnostics, a 300 GHz gyrotron and a corresponding receiver system have been implemented in LHD to access high density plasmas with low background ECEs. The recent progress for CTS diagnostics and their spectrum analysis with the probe frequencies of 77 GHz, 154 GHz, and 300 GHz in the LHD experiments is described.