Design of a single-channel millimeter-wave interferometer system for Korea Superconducting Tokamak Advanced Research

Abstract

A simple single-channel horizontal millimeter-wave interferometer has been designed for plasma electron density measurements on the Korea Superconducting Tokamak Advanced Research (KSTAR). To measure line integrated plasma densities of 2×1019 m−2 in the initial phase of the KSTAR, Gunn oscillator frequency of 280 GHz has been chosen to optimize errors due to both vibration on the beam path and refraction in the plasma. To reduce the free propagation length of the probing beam and to obtain small beam width on the vacuum windows, a retractable cassette system for deep positioning of the diagnostic system has been designed, where microwave parts are located as close as possible to the tokamak with a shielding box. A beam focusing system with concave reflecting mirrors has been designed on the cassette and on the inner wall of the tokamak to reduce beam losses and to minimize beam width in the plasma. The estimated total transmission loss is about 25 dB, and beam widths are reduced significantly in the range of 20–50 mm.