Abstract
One of the problems encountered in the application of reflectometry to fusion plasmas is that the transmit antenna must be aligned such that the reflected wave form is successfully collected by a suitably arranged receive antenna. This task is made even more difficult in the case of shaped plasmas, or when plasma motion is such that the incident wave is no longer normal to the plasma surface. One would ideally like to have antennas which may be steered in real time to compensate for changes in plasma shape and/or position. A program has been initiated at U.C. Davis to address this problem, and microwave beam steerers suitable for electronically scanned reflectometers have been developed. The approach taken has been to develop phased antenna array (PAA) concepts which operate over broad bandwidths. Laboratory test results of a proof-of-principle PAA system will be presented, along with a description of ongoing research activities by U.C. Davis in this field.
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