Optimization of magnetic field system for glass spherical tokamak GLAST-III

Abstract

GLAST-III (Glass Spherical Tokamak) is a spherical tokamak with aspect ratio A = 2. The mapping of its magnetic system is performed to optimize the GLAST-III tokamak for plasma initiation using a Hall probe. Magnetic field from toroidal coils shows 1/R dependence which is typical with spherical tokamaks. Toroidal field (TF) coils can produce 875 Gauss field, an essential requirement for electron cyclotron resonance assisted discharge. The central solenoid (CS) of GLAST-III is an air core solenoid and requires compensation coils to reduce unnecessary magnetic flux inside the vessel region. The vertical component of magnetic field from the CS in the vacuum vessel region is reduced to 1.15 Gauss kA−1 with the help of a differential loop. The CS of GLAST can produce flux change up to 68 mVs. Theoretical and experimental results are compared for the current waveform of TF coils using a combination of fast and slow capacitor banks. Also the magnetic field produced by poloidal field (PF) coils is compared with theoretically predicted values. It is found that calculated results are in good agreement with experimental measurement. Consequently magnetic field measurements are validated. A tokamak discharge with 2 kA plasma current and pulse length 1 ms is successfully produced using different sets of coils.