Tokamak Diagnostics Research Articles

Energy-resolved x-ray and neutron diagnostics in tokamaks: Prospect for plasma parameters determination

Energy-resolved x-ray and neutron diagnostics in tokamaks: Prospect for plasma parameters determination

Verification, validation, and uncertainty quantification for electron-density diagnostics of polarimeter/interferometer system on experimental advanced superconducting tokamak

The verification, validation, and uncertainty quantification (VVUQ) analysis is a systematic method for identifying and quantifying uncertainties in complex engineering projects. This method has been used by the International Atomic Energy Agency as a critical assessment method in the field of high-precision plasma diagnostics in tokamaks. Starting from the basic theory to the final results, it assesses every process to obtain the uncertainties, system confidence level, and similarity between the model and experimental assessments. In this study, we evaluated the electron-density diagnosis of the polarimeter/interferometer system on an experimental advanced superconducting tokamak using a cylindrical simulation model. This study applied the VVUQ to an entire plasma diagnostic system for the first time, coupled with the statistical concepts of confidence and similarity. Through the VVUQ process, the uncertainty from the simulation code, diagnostic code, and engineering errors were identified, quantified, and minimized.

A synthetic diagnostics platform for microwave imaging diagnostics in tokamaks

Interpreting experimental diagnostics data in tokamaks, while considering non-ideal effects, is challenging due to the complexity of plasmas. To address this challenge, a general synthetic diagnostics (GSD) platform has been established that facilitates microwave imaging reflectometry and electron cyclotron emission imaging. This platform utilizes plasma profiles as input and incorporates the finite-difference time domain, ray tracing and the radiative transfer equation to calculate the propagation of plasma spontaneous radiation and the external electromagnetic field in plasmas. Benchmark tests for classical cases have been conducted to verify the accuracy of every core module in the GSD platform. Finally, 2D imaging of a typical electron temperature distribution is reproduced by this platform and the results are consistent with the given real experimental data. This platform also has the potential to be extended to 3D electromagnetic field simulations and other microwave diagnostics such as cross-polarization scattering.

Development of a D–D neutron spectrum detector based on helium-3 proportional counter

Deuterium–deuterium (D–D) neutron spectrum diagnostics in tokamaks are a challenging task with current technologies. To address this issue, we designed and tested a fast and compact helium-3 proportional counter with a diameter of 2.5 cm and an effective length of 15 cm and using Kr as a stopping gas. The detector achieved a resolution of 96 keV for 2.406 MeV neutrons with a pulse shaping of 2 µs. Test results indicate that this detector has the potential to form a D–D neutron spectrometer for tokamaks, composed of detector arrays.

Disruption prediction based on fusion feature extractor on J-TEXT

Predicting disruptions across different tokamaks is necessary for next generation device. Future large-scale tokamaks can hardly tolerate disruptions at high performance discharge, which makes it difficult for current data-driven methods to obtain an acceptable result. A machine learning method capable of transferring a disruption prediction model trained on one tokamak to another is required to solve the problem. The key is a feature extractor which is able to extract common disruption precursor traces in tokamak diagnostic data, and can be easily transferred to other tokamaks. Based on the concerns above, this paper presents a deep feature extractor, namely, the fusion feature extractor (FFE), which is designed specifically for extracting disruption precursor features from common diagnostics on tokamaks. Furthermore, an FFE-based disruption predictor on J-TEXT is demonstrated. The feature extractor is aimed to extracting disruption-related precursors and is designed according to the precursors of disruption and their representations in common tokamak diagnostics. Strong inductive bias on tokamak diagnostics data is introduced. The paper presents the evolution of the neural network feature extractor and its comparison against general deep neural networks, as well as a physics-based feature extraction with a traditional machine learning method. Results demonstrate that the FFE may reach a similar effect with physics-guided manual feature extraction, and obtain a better result compared with other deep learning methods.

Real-Time Magnetic Sensor Anomaly Detection Using Autoencoder Neural Networks on the DIII-D Tokamak

Magnetic diagnostics in tokamaks are key to plasma equilibrium control (plasma current, plasma shape, and position) and amelioration of plasma instabilities. Thus, real-time identification of the anomalous sensor is mandatory. A new real-time system based on autoencoder (AE) neural networks (NNs) for anomaly detection in magnetics signals, including both flux loops and magnetic probes, has been successfully implemented on the plasma control system (PCS) of the DIII-D tokamak. The AE NN is trained on over 4000 plasma discharges, with an optimized latent space representation of the input signals while minimizing the reconstruction loss. An algorithm determining anomalous sensors based on excessive deviations from accurate reconstruction from the trained NNs is constructed in a MATLAB/Simulink environment and is deployed on the real-time PCS using the embedded MATLAB coder (EMC) environment. The reconstruction performance of the algorithm is quantified in hardware-in-the-loop (HIL) simulation by injecting artificially common fault types, including stuck-at-zero fault, saturated fault, noise fault, and drift fault. The AE NN algorithm has been successfully commissioned on the DIII-D PCS.

Robust identification of multiple-input single-output system response for efficient pickup noise removal from tokamak diagnostics.

Electromagnetic pickup noise in the tokamak environment imposes an imminent challenge for measuring weak diagnostic photocurrents in the nA range. The diagnostic signal can be contaminated by an unknown mixture of crosstalk signals from coils powered by currents in the kA range. To address this issue, an algorithm for robust identification of linear multi-input single-output (MISO) systems has been developed. The MISO model describes the dynamic relationship between measured signals from power sources and observed signals in the diagnostic and allows for a precise subtraction of the noise component. The proposed method was tested on experimental diagnostic data from the DIII-D tokamak, and it has reduced noise by up to 20 dB in the 1-20kHz range.

Possibility of measuring the plasma main ion mass by plasma polarimetry in tokamak similarity experiments

In the context of tokamak diagnostics, and considering a geometry involving line of sights inserted in a poloidal plane, The polarimetry measurements, i.e. the Faraday rotation and Cotton-Mouton ellipticity are very useful because they give quantitative evaluations of the poloidal magnetic field and plasma density respectively. In certain conditions, i.e. in plasma similarity experiments, they can give information on the plasma ion mass and this could be surprising being the polarimetry derived by anisotropy of the index of refraction which is a property related mainly to the electron dynamics. These conditions are verified when similarity experiments are done changing the mass of the main ion. The subject of this paper is the demonstration that indeed the polarimetry measurements depend on the ion mass and this can be detected with the present technology.

Runaway electron diagnostics using silicon strip detector

We present a proof-of-principle measurement of runaway electrons in a small tokamak using a silicon strip detector. The detector was placed inside the diagnostic port of the tokamak vessel and detected the runaway electron signal directly. The measured signal was compared to the signal provided by other tokamak diagnostics, especially the hard X-ray scintillation detector, which detects secondary photons created by interaction of accelerated electrons with tokamak walls (indirect detection of runaway electrons). The preliminary results show that when not saturated, direct detection with a segmented silicon strip detector provides promising new diagnostic information including spatial and temporal distribution of the runaway electron beam, and the measurement results are in good agreement with hard X-ray measurements with a scintillation detector.

Simulation and Design of Beta Filter for Tokamak Diagnostics

Simulations of H-beta filter based on thin films is proposed and demonstrated in this paper. The -beta filter is optical thin film pass band filter of having the wavelength of 486.13nm.H-beta filter is used to reduce the transmittance of H-beta wave. This H-beta filter is used in Aditya Tokamak which is a plasma reactor. when the plasma ring in the plasma breaks and releases ionized gases. H-beta is one of them. In order to reduce the transmittance of the H-beta wave this filter is used in the reactor. The H-beta filter consists of thin films on the substrate. The thin films are the substance having the optical properties. The thin film consists of low and high refractive index. The simulation of the H-beta filter program was done by using matlab.

Overview of operation and experiments in the ADITYA-U tokamak

The first Indian tokamak, ADITYA, operated for over two decades with a circular poloidal limiter, has been upgraded to a tokamak named ADITYA Upgrade (ADITYA-U) to attain shaped-plasma operations with an open divertor in single and double-null configurations. Experimental research using ADITYA-U has made significant progress since the last FEC in 2016. After installation of a plasma facing component and standard tokamak diagnostics in ADITYA-U, the Phase-I plasma operations were initiated in December 2016 with a graphite toroidal belt limiter. Ohmically heated circular plasmas supported by filament pre-ionization with plasma parameters Ip ~ 80–95 kA, duration ~80–180 ms, with a maximum toroidal field ~1 T and chord averaged electron density ~2.5 × 1019 m−3, have been obtained. The runaway electron (RE) generation, transport and mitigation experiments, along with magneto hydrodynamic (MHD) activities and density enhancement with H2 gas puffing experiments were carried out in Phase-I, which was completed in March 2017. Preparation for the Phase-II operation in ADITYA-U includes calibration of magnetic diagnostics followed by commissioning of major diagnostics and installation of a baking system. After repeated cycles of baking the vacuum vessel up to ~135 °C, the Phase-II operations resumed in February 2018 and are continuing to achieve plasma parameters close to the design parameters of circular limiter plasmas, using real-time plasma position control. The plasma current has been raised to ~135 kA in Phase-II, with a maximum chord averaged electron density of ~4 × 1019 m−3. Hydrogen gas breakdown has been observed in more than 2000 discharges, including Phase-I and Phase-II operations, without a single failure. Several experiments have been carried out, including the control of REs with the fuelling of supersonic molecular beam injection as well as sonic H2 gas puffing during current flat-top, MHD mode studies using multiple periodic gas puffs, and radiative improved modes using neon gas puffs. The experimental results from Phase-I and Phase-II operations of the ADITYA-U tokamak are discussed in this paper.

Effect of rotation zero-crossing on single-fluid plasma response to three-dimensional magnetic perturbations

In order to understand the effect of rotation on the response of a plasma to three-dimensional magnetic perturbations, we perform a systematic scan of the zero-crossing of the rotation profile in a DIII-D ITER-similar shape equilibrium using linear, time-independent modeling with the M3D-C1 extended magnetohydrodynamics code. We confirm that the local resonant magnetic field generally increases as the rotation decreases at a rational surface. Multiple peaks in the resonant field are observed near rational surfaces, however, and the maximum resonant field does not always correspond to zero rotation at the surface. Furthermore, we show that non-resonant current can be driven at zero-crossings not aligned with rational surfaces if there is sufficient shear in the rotation profile there, leading to amplification of near-resonant Fourier harmonics of the perturbed magnetic field and a decrease in the far-off-resonant harmonics. The quasilinear electromagnetic torque induced by this non-resonant plasma response provides drive to flatten the rotation, possibly allowing for increased transport in the pedestal by the destabilization of turbulent modes. In addition, this torque acts to drive the rotation zero-crossing to dynamically stable points near rational surfaces, which would allow for increased resonant penetration. By one or both of these mechanisms, this torque may play an important role in bifurcations into suppression of edge-localized modes. Finally, we discuss how these changes to the plasma response could be detected by tokamak diagnostics. In particular, we show that the changes to the resonant field discussed here have a significant impact on the external perturbed magnetic field, which should be observable by magnetic sensors on the high-field side of tokamaks but not on the low-field side. In addition, TRIP3D-MAFOT simulations show that none of the changes to the plasma response described here substantially affects the divertor footprint structure.

Surface temperature measurement of the plasma facing components with the multi-spectral infrared thermography diagnostics in tokamaks

For the long-pulse high-confinement discharges in tokamaks, the equilibrium of plasma requires a contact with the first wall materials. The heat flux resulting from this interaction is of the order of 10MW/m2 for steady state conditions and up to 20MW/m2 for transient phases. The monitoring on surface temperatures of the plasma facing components (PFCs) is a major concern to ensure safe operation and to optimize performances of experimental operations on large fusion facilities. Furthermore, this measurement is also required to study the physics associated to the plasma material interactions and the heat flux deposition process. In tokamaks, infrared (IR) thermography systems are routinely used to monitor the surface temperature of the PFCs. This measurement requires an accurate knowledge of the surface emissivity. However, and particularly for metallic materials such as tungsten, this emissivity value can vary over a wide range with both the surface condition and the temperature itself, which makes instantaneous measurement challenging. In this context, the multi-spectral infrared method appears as a very promising alternative solution. Indeed, the system has the advantage to carry out a non-intrusive measurement on thermal radiation while evaluating surface temperature without requiring a mandatory surface emissivity measurement.In this paper, a conceptual design for the multi-spectral infrared thermography is proposed. The numerical study of the multi-channel system based on the Levenberg-Marquardt (LM) nonlinear curve fitting is applied. The numerical results presented in this paper demonstrate the design allows for measurements over a large temperature range with a relative error of less than 10%. Furthermore, laboratory experiments have been performed from 200°C to 740°C to confirm the feasibility for temperature measurements on stainless steel and tungsten. In these experiments, the unfolding results from the multi-channel detection provide good performance on temperature measurement, which supports our numerical evaluation and demonstrates the potential feasibility for metallic surface high temperature measurement with this method.

Plasma diagnostics in spherical tokamaks with silicon charged-particle detectors.

Detection of charged fusion products, such as protons and tritons resulting from D(d, p) t reactions, can be used to determine the position and time dependent fusion reaction rate profile in spherical tokamak plasmas with neutral beam heating. We have developed a prototype instrument consisting of 6 ion-implanted-silicon surface barrier detectors combined with collimators in such a way that each detector can accept 3 MeV protons and 1 MeV tritons and thus provides a curved view across the plasma cross section. The combination of the results from all six detectors will provide information on the spatial distribution of the fusion reaction rate. The expected time resolution of about 1 ms makes it possible to study changes in the reaction rate due to slow variations in the neutral beam density profile, as well as rapid changes resulting from MHD instabilities. Details of the new instrument, its data acquisition system, simulation results, and electrical noise testing results are discussed in this paper. First experimental data are expected to be taken during the current experimental campaign at NSTX-U.

Synthetic Fast Ion Diagnostics in Tokamaks: Comparing the Monte Carlo Test Particle Code ASCOT against Experiments

Measuring fast ions, most notably fusion alphas, in ITER and future reactors remains an issue that still lacks an adequate solution. Numerical simulations are invaluable in testing the potential and limitations of various proposed diagnostics. However, the validity of the numerical tools first has to be checked against results from existing tokamaks. In this contribution, various synthetic diagnostics for fast ions (collective Thomson scattering, neutral particle analyzer, neutron camera, infrared measurements, fast ion loss detector, and activation probe) from the orbit-following Monte Carlo code ASCOT are compared to measurements from several tokamaks (ASDEX Upgrade, DIII-D, and JET). Within the limitations of the physics included in the numerical model and availability of input data from experiments, the agreement between synthetic data and measurements is found to be quite good.

Compact, battery powered, wireless digitizers for in situ data acquisitions in the sino-united spherical tokamak.

Potential isolation and long cable drive are very important in acquiring certain signals from tokamak diagnostics. Compact, battery powered, wireless digitizers for in situ data acquisition have been developed and routinely used in the sino-united spherical tokamak to solve the problems of isolation and long cables. The wireless digitizers utilize the integrated analog to digital converters and the static random access memory of microcontrollers but transfer data wirelessly. They consist of simple and concise circuits but have considerable performances of 12-16 bit in resolution and 500-1000 kS/s in sample rate. Wireless triggering and energy saving are two major challenges of the wireless digitizers. Wireless transceivers in the data link layer are used as trigger and can reduce the trigger jitters to be smaller than 1 μs. In order to reduce the energy consumption, the wireless digitizers are waken only when the tokamak is about to discharge. After discharges, they turn to a periodic checking mode with current consumption smaller than 200 μA. Because of low duty cycle, the wireless digitizers have a battery life of up to four weeks. In general, the wireless digitizers have better performance than normal isolation amplifiers and can greatly simplify the cable connections. They are very suitable for the data acquisition of dangerous and/or susceptible analog signals in tokamaks.

Inversion technique to obtain local rotation velocity and ion temperature from line-integrated measurements for elongated tokamak plasma

An inversion technique is presented to calculate local toroidal and poloidal rotation velocity and ion temperature from line-integrated measurements of impurity lines by a matrix method. The effects of the rotation velocity on the ion temperature are analyzed in particular. An accurate inversion formula for the ion temperature is obtained. Several experimental geometries or configurations of line-integrated diagnostics in tokamaks are presented. For a plasma that is up-down symmetric, both the toroidal rotation velocity and poloidal rotation velocity can be deduced from one special line-integrated measurement.

High-power terahertz optically pumped NH3 laser for plasma diagnostics

The parameter of a terahertz (THz) laser intended for plasma diagnostics in electrodynamic accelerators and tokamaks with a strong magnetic field are discussed. Generation of THz radiation in an ammonia laser under the action of high-power pulsed optical pumping by the radiation of a 10P(32) CO2 laser is simulated numerically. The main characteristics of the output radiation, such as its spectrum, peak intensity, time dependence, and total energy, are calculated.

Challenges of Video Monitoring for Phenomenological Diagnostics in Present and Future Tokamaks

With the development of heterogeneous camera networks working at different wavelengths and frame rates and covering a large surface of a vacuum vessel, the visual observation of a large variety of plasma and thermal phenomena (e.g., hot spots, ELMs, MARFE, arcs, dusts, etc.) becomes possible. In the domain of machine protection, a phenomenological diagnostic is a key element toward plasma/thermal event dangerousness assessment during real-time operation. It is also of primary importance to automate the extraction and the storage of phenomena information for further offline event retrieval and analysis, thus leading to a better use of massive image databases for plasma physics studies. To this end, efforts have been devoted to the development of image processing algorithms dedicated to the recognition of specific events. However, a need arises now for the integration of techniques developed so far in both hardware and software directions. We present in this paper our latest results in the field of real-time phenomenon recognition and management through our image understanding software platform. This platform has been validated on Tore Supra during operation and is under evaluation for other present Tokamaks and for the foreseen imaging diagnostic of ITER.

Intermediate frequency band digitized high dynamic range radiometer system for plasma diagnostics and real-time Tokamak control

An intermediate frequency (IF) band digitizing radiometer system in the 100-200 GHz frequency range has been developed for Tokamak diagnostics and control, and other fields of research which require a high flexibility in frequency resolution combined with a large bandwidth and the retrieval of the full wave information of the mm-wave signals under investigation. The system is based on directly digitizing the IF band after down conversion. The enabling technology consists of a fast multi-giga sample analog to digital converter that has recently become available. Field programmable gate arrays (FPGA) are implemented to accomplish versatile real-time data analysis. A prototype system has been developed and tested and its performance has been compared with conventional electron cyclotron emission (ECE) spectrometer systems. On the TEXTOR Tokamak a proof of principle shows that ECE, together with high power injected and scattered radiation, becomes amenable to measurement by this device. In particular, its capability to measure the phase of coherent signals in the spectrum offers important advantages in diagnostics and control. One case developed in detail employs the FPGA in real-time fast Fourier transform (FFT) and additional signal processing. The major benefit of such a FFT-based system is the real-time trade-off that can be made between frequency and time resolution. For ECE diagnostics this corresponds to a flexible spatial resolution in the plasma, with potential application in smart sensing of plasma instabilities such as the neoclassical tearing mode (NTM) and sawtooth instabilities. The flexible resolution would allow for the measurement of the full mode content of plasma instabilities contained within the system bandwidth.