Electron Temperature Profiles Research Articles

The Thomson scattering diagnostic at Wendelstein 7-X and its performance in the first operation phase

The optimized stellarator Wendelstein 7-X started operation in December 2015 with a 10 week limiter campaign. Divertor experiments will begin in the second half of 2017. The W7-X Thomson scattering system is an essential diagnostic for electron density and temperature profiles. In this paper the Thomson scattering diagnostic is described in detail, including its design, calibration, data evaluation and first experimental results. Plans for further development are also presented. The W7-X Thomson system is a Nd:YAG setup with up to five lasers, two sets of light collection lenses viewing the entire plasma cross-section, fiber bundles and filter based polychromators. To reduce hardware costs, two or three scattering volumes are measured with a single polychromator. The relative spectral calibration is carried out with the aid of a broadband supercontinuum light source. The absolute calibration is performed by observing Raman scattering in nitrogen. The electron temperatures and densities are recovered by Bayesian modelling. In the first campaign, the diagnostic was equipped for 10 scattering volumes. It provided temperature profiles comparable to those measured using an electron cyclotron emission diagnostic and line integrated densities within 10% of those from a dispersion interferometer.

A pulse-burst laser system for Thomson scattering on NSTX-U

A pulse-burst laser system has been built for Thomson scattering on NSTX-U, and is currently being integrated into the NSTX-U Thomson scattering diagnostic system. The laser will be operated in three distinct modes. The base mode is continuous 30 Hz rep rate, and is the standard operating mode of the laser. The base mode will be interrupted to produce a “slow burst” (specified 1 kHz rep rate for 50 ms) or a “fast burst” (specified 10 kHz rep rate for 5 ms). The combination of base mode→ interruption→ burst mode is new and has not been implemented on any previous pulse-burst laser system. Laser pulsing is halted for a set period (∼ 1 minute) following a burst to allow the YAG rods to cool; this type of operation is called a heat-capacity laser. The laser is Nd:YAG operated at 1064 nm, q-switched to produce ⩾ 1.5 J pulses with ∼ 20 ns FWHM. It is flashlamp pumped, with dual-rod oscillator (9 mm) and dual-rod amplifier (12 mm). Variable pulsewidth drive of the flashlamps is accomplished by IGBT (insulated gate bipolar transistor) switching of electrolytic capacitor banks. Direct control of the laser Pockels cell drive enables optimal pulse energy extraction. The laser system has demonstrated compliance with all specifications, and is capable of exceeding design specifications by significant margins, e.g., higher rep rates for longer burst periods. Burst operation of this laser system will be used to capture fast time evolution of the electron temperature and density profiles during events such as ELMs, the L-H transition, and various MHD modes.

Ion heat transport in ohmic plasmas of the T-10 tokamak

Results of the investigation of ion heat transport processes in the T-10 tokamak are presented. Experiments are carried out in a wide range of ohmic plasma parameters (ne, Ipl, and Zeff). Variation of the effective ionic charge from 3.5–4 to 1 is performed by inserting a lithium limiter. Measurements of the ion and electron temperature and density profiles are presented. The power balance approach is used for the determination of the ion heat conductivity. Modeling is performed using the ASTRA transport code. It is shown that in ohmic plasmas in the region of r/a ~ 0.5, ion heat conductivity is close to the neoclassical values, which are calculated using the NCLASS code.

Progress in the Development of a High Power Helicon Plasma Source for the Materials Plasma Exposure Experiment

Proto-MPEX is a linear plasma device being used to study a novel RF source concept for the planned Material Plasma Exposure eXperiment (MPEX), which will address plasma-materials interaction (PMI) for nuclear fusion reactors. Plasmas are produced using a large diameter helicon source operating at a frequency of 13.56 MHz at power levels up to 120 kW. In recent experiments the helicon source has produced deuterium plasmas with densities up to ~6 × 1019 m–3 measured at a location 2 m downstream from the antenna and 0.4 m from the target. Previous plasma production experiments on Proto-MPEX have generated lower density plasmas with hollow electron temperature profiles and target power deposition peaked far off axis. The latest experiments have produced flat Te profiles with a large portion of the power deposited on the target near the axis. This and other evidence points to the excitation of a helicon mode in this case.

The effect of electron cyclotron heating on density fluctuations at ion and electron scales in ITER baseline scenario discharges on the DIII-D tokamak

Experiments simulating the ITER baseline scenario on the DIII-D tokamak show that torque-free pure electron heating, when coupled to plasmas subject to a net co-current beam torque, affects density fluctuations at electron scales on a sub-confinement time scale, whereas fluctuations at ion scales change only after profiles have evolved to a new stationary state. Modifications to the density fluctuations measured by the phase contrast imaging diagnostic (PCI) are assessed by analyzing the time evolution following the switch-off of electron cyclotron heating (ECH), thus going from mixed beam/ECH to pure neutral beam heating at fixed . Within 20 ms after turning off ECH, the intensity of fluctuations is observed to increase at frequencies higher than 200 kHz; in contrast, fluctuations at lower frequency are seen to decrease in intensity on a longer time scale, after other equilibrium quantities have evolved. Non-linear gyro-kinetic modeling at ion and electron scales scales suggest that, while the low frequency response of the diagnostic is consistent with the dominant ITG modes being weakened by the slow-time increase in flow shear, the high frequency response is due to prompt changes to the electron temperature profile that enhance electron modes and generate a larger heat flux and an inward particle pinch. These results suggest that electron heated regimes in ITER will feature multi-scale fluctuations that might affect fusion performance via modifications to profiles.

Radiation-driven m = 2 island formation and dynamics near density limit in experimental advanced superconducting tokamak ohmic plasma

A radiation-driven m = 2 island was observed in the experimental advanced superconducting tokamak (EAST) ohmic plasma, near the density limit. The mode onset occurs when the the ohmic heating input is less than the radiative cooling loss, which agrees with the mode onset behavior of the thermo-resistive model. The evolution of the equilibrium during the mode process was obtained using the ONETWO transport code, with inputs comprising the experimental electron temperature and density profiles. A large m = 2 island can drive an m = 1 sideband mode, which leads to an internal crash that appears as a large change in temperature that occurs not only in the q = 2 region but also in the core.

Observation and characterization of the effect of electron cyclotron waves on toroidal rotation in EAST L-mode discharges

The change in the toroidal rotation of plasma caused by electron cyclotron wave (ECW) injection has been observed in EAST. It is found that the response of the rotation is similar for all possible ECW toroidal injection angles. The core toroidal rotation velocity increases in the co-current direction along with a rise in the plasma temperature and stored energy. The profile of the electron temperature, ion temperature and toroidal rotation velocity gradually become peaked. The change in toroidal rotation in the core increases with the ECW injection power. Different behavior is observed when the ECWs are injected into low hybrid current drive (LHCD) target plasmas, where the electron temperature and rotation profile become peaked, while the ion temperature profile flattens after ECW injection, suggesting different transport characteristics in energy and momentum.

Quasilinear analysis of saturation properties of broadband whistler mode waves

AbstractSaturation properties of parallel propagating broadband whistler mode waves are investigated using quasilinear theory. By assuming that the electron distribution stays bi‐Maxwellian, we combine the previously obtained energy equation of quasilinear theory with wave equation to self‐consistently model the excitation of broadband whistler waves. The resulting evolution profile of wave intensity, spectrum, and electron temperature are consistent with those from particle‐in‐cell (PIC) simulations. We obtain the inverse relation between the saturation temperature anisotropy (A) and parallel plasma beta (β∥) directly from quasilinear theory. Our A‐β∥ relation agrees very well with previous results from observation and PIC simulation. We also demonstrate that it might be possible to predict the wave amplitude from the initial maximum linear growth rate alone and show that the peak frequency and spectrum width are well‐defined functions of the final β∥ at saturation, but not of the initial β∥.

Electrothermal simulations of Si and III-V nanowire field effect transistors: A non-equilibrium Green's function study

Electro-thermal simulations in ultrascaled Si and InGaAs nanowire field effect transistors have been carried out. Devices with 2.2 × 2.2 nm2 and 3.6 × 3.6 nm2 cross-sections have been investigated. All the standard phonon scattering mechanisms for Si and InGaAs such as optical, polar optical (only for InGaAs), and acoustic phonon mechanisms have been considered. The Non-Equilibrium Green's Function formalism in concomitance with a renormalised 3D heat equation has been used to investigate the effect of self-heating. In addition, locally resolved electron power dissipation and temperature profiles have been extracted. The simulations showed that the heat dissipated inside the transistor increases as the nanowire cross-section decreases. It is also demonstrated that the commonly assumed Joule-heat dissipation overestimates the power dissipated in the transistors studied. It was found that in comparison with standard scattering simulations, electrothermal simulations caused a 72% and 85% decrease in the current in 2.2 × 2.2 nm2 cross-section Si and InGaAs core NanoWire Field Effect Transistors , respectively, when compared with ballistic simulations. The corresponding decrease for scattering without self-heating was 45% and 70% respectively.

Electron temperature and heat load measurements in the COMPASS divertor using the new system of probes

A new system of probes was recently installed in the divertor of tokamak COMPASS in order to investigate the ELM energy density with high spatial and temporal resolution. The new system consists of two arrays of rooftop-shaped Langmuir probes (LPs) used to measure the floating potential or the ion saturation current density and one array of Ball-pen probes (BPPs) used to measure the plasma potential with a spatial resolution of ~3.5 mm. The combination of floating BPPs and LPs yields the electron temperature with microsecond temporal resolution. We report on the design of the new divertor probe arrays and first results of electron temperature profile measurements in ELMy H-mode and L-mode. We also present comparative measurements of the parallel heat flux using the new probe arrays and fast infrared termography (IR) data during L-mode with excellent agreement between both techniques using a heat power transmission coefficient γ = 7. The ELM energy density was measured during a set of NBI assisted ELMy H-mode discharges. The peak values of were compared with those predicted by model and with experimental data from JET, AUG and MAST with a good agreement.

The role of the electron temperature on ion loss from Mars

AbstractThis paper reports the results of hybrid simulations of the Mars‐solar wind interaction. The focus is on the role of the low altitude (<500 km) electron temperature profile on the ionospheric chemistry, dynamics, and loss rates of oxygen ions. It is found that the loss rates of O+ and O2+ from the Martian ionosphere are changed depending on the electron temperature profile being used. Test simulations show that diamagnetic effects (specifically the ambipolar electric field) are an important part of the solar wind interaction with Mars.

High temperature electrons exhausted from rf plasma sources along a magnetic nozzle

Two dimensional profiles of electron temperature are measured inside and downstream of a radiofrequency plasma thruster source having a magnetic nozzle and being immersed in vacuum. The temperature is estimated from the slope of the fully swept I-V characteristics of a Langmuir probe acquired at each spatial position and with the assumption of a Maxwellian distribution. The results show that the peripheral high temperature electrons in the magnetic nozzle originate from the upstream antenna location and are transported along the “connecting” magnetic field lines. Two-dimensional measurements of electron energy probability functions are also carried out in a second simplified laboratory device consisting of the source contiguously connected to the diffusion chamber: again the high temperature electrons are detected along the magnetic field lines intersecting the wall at the antenna location, even when the antenna location is shifted along the main axis. These results demonstrate that the peripheral energetic electrons in the magnetic nozzle mirror those created in the source tube.

Geometry Defines Ultrafast Hot‐Carrier Dynamics and Kerr Nonlinearity in Plasmonic Metamaterial Waveguides and Cavities

Hot carrier dynamics in plasmonic nanorod metamaterials and its influence on the metamaterial's optical Kerr nonlinearity is studied. The electron temperature distribution induced by an optical pump in the metallic component of the plasmonic metamaterial leads to geometry‐dependent variations of the optical response and its dynamics as observed in both the transmission and reflection properties of the metamaterial slab. Thus, the ultrafast dynamics of a metamaterial's optical response can be controlled via modal engineering. Both the transient response relaxation time and magnitude of the nonlinearity are shown to depend on the modal‐induced spatial profile of the electron temperature distribution and the hot‐electron diffusion in nanorods. The nonlocal effects, depending on the excitation‐induced losses in the metal, are shown to dictate the modal structure of the metamaterial slab and the associated dynamics of its nonlinear response. The opportunity of controlling the electron temperature profile induced in the plasmonic nanorods by changing the metamaterial's geometry and/or excitation conditions paves the way to achieve controllable dynamics of the nonlinear optical response for free‐space as well as integrated nanophotonic applications involving nonequilibrium electrons.

Observation of Flat Electron Temperature Profiles in the Lithium Tokamak Experiment.

It has been predicted for over a decade that low-recycling plasma-facing components in fusion devices would allow high edge temperatures and flat or nearly flat temperature profiles. In recent experiments with lithium wall coatings in the Lithium Tokamak Experiment (LTX), a hot edge (>200 eV) and flat electron temperature profiles have been measured following the termination of external fueling. Reduced recycling was demonstrated by retention of ∼60% of the injected hydrogen in the walls following the discharge. Electron energy confinement followed typical Ohmic confinement scaling during fueling, but did not decrease with density after fueling terminated, ultimately exceeding the scaling by ∼200%. Achievement of the low-recycling, hot edge regime has been an important goal of LTX and lithium plasma-facing component research in general, as it has potentially significant implications for the operation, design, and cost of fusion devices.

Distributed Control of Coupled Inhomogeneous Diffusion in Tokamak Plasmas

This article proposes novel distributed control methods for the coupled dynamics of the safety factor and electron temperature profiles in tokamaks. The feedback design is based on an infinite-dimensional setting using the Lyapunov analysis for partial differential equations. The coupled dynamics is modeled by two 1-D linearized resistive diffusion equations. We first propose a combined control of both dynamics based on stability analysis. A composite control is then synthesized using a singular perturbation theory where the fast component of the electron temperature is decoupled from the slow component induced by the magnetic field dynamics. Both control methods are evaluated using the RApid Plasma Transport simulatOR simulator and applied to the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor tokamak device. The distributed control is performed using antennas operated at electron cyclotron frequency.

Argon impurity transport studies at Wendelstein 7-X using x-ray imaging spectrometer measurements

In the first operational phase of the stellarator Wendelstein 7-X (W7-X), the x-ray imaging crystal spectrometer (XICS) system has been commissioned for measuring radial profiles of ion and electron temperature, T i and T e, plasma rotation velocities, v P, and selected impurity densities, n Z . This paper shows the first measurements of the spectrometer and gives an initial calculation of impurity transport parameters derived from an Ar impurity transport study. Using Bayesian analysis, the temporal evolution of Ar impurity density profiles after an Ar gas puff could be observed with a time resolution of up to 5 ms, yielding a maximum value for the diffusion coefficient of D = 1.5 m2 s−1 at ρ ~ 0.5 and small pinch velocities in the inner plasma region.

Changes in divertor conditions in response to changing core density with RMPs

The effects of changes in core density on divertor electron temperature, density and heat flux when resonant magnetic perturbations (RMPs) are applied are presented, notably a reduction in RMP induced secondary radial peaks in the electron temperature profile at the target plate is observed when the core density is increased, which is consistent with modeling. RMPs is used here to indicate non-axisymmetric magnetic field perturbations, created using in-vessel control coils, which have at least one but typically many resonances with the rotational transform of the plasma (Evans et al 2006 Phys. Plasmas 13 056121). RMPs are found to alter inter-ELM heat flux to the divertor by modifying the core plasma density. It is shown that applying RMPs reduces the core density and increases the inter-ELM heat flux to both the inner and outer targets. Using gas puffing to return the core density to the pre-RMP levels more than eliminates the increase in inter-ELM heat flux, but a broadening of the heat flux to the outer target remains. These measurements were made at a single toroidal location, but the peak in the heat flux profile was found near the outer strike point where simulations indicate little toroidal variation should exist and tangentially viewing diagnostics showed no evidence of strong asymmetries. In experiments where divertor Thomson scattering measurements were available it is shown that local secondary peaks in the divertor electron temperature profile near the target plate are reduced as the core density is increased, while peaks in the divertor electron density profile near the target are increased. These trends observed in the divertor electron temperature and density are qualitatively reproduced by scanning the upstream density in EMC3-Eirene modeling. Measurements are presented showing that higher densities are needed to induce detachment of the outer strike point in a case where an increase in electron temperature, likely due to a change in MHD activity, is seen after RMPs are applied.

Observation of internal transport barrier in ELMy H-mode plasmas on the EAST tokamak

The internal transport barrier (ITB) has been obtained in ELMy H-mode plasmas by neutron beam injection and lower hybrid wave heating on the Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST). The ITB structure has been observed in profiles of ion temperature, electron temperature, and electron density within ρ < 0.5. It was also observed that the ITB formation is stepwise. Due to the ITB formation, the confinement quality H98y2 increases from 1 to 1.1 and the normalized beta, βN, increases from 1.5 to near 2. The fishbone activity observed during the ITB phase suggests the central safety factor q(0) ∼ 1. Transport coefficients are calculated by particle balance and power balance analysis, showing an obvious reduction after the ITB formation.

Thermal transport dynamics in the quasi-single helicity state

A dynamical model describing oscillations between multiple and single helicity configurations in the quasi-single helicity (QSH) state of the reversed field pinch [P. W. Terry and G. G. Whelan, Plasma Phys. Controlled Fusion 56, 094003 (2014)] is extended to include electron temperature profile dynamics. It is shown that QSH dynamics is linked to the electron temperature profile because the suppression of mode coupling between tearing modes proposed to underlie QSH also suppresses magnetic-fluctuation-induced thermal transport. Above the threshold of dominant-mode shear that marks the transition to QSH, the model produces temperature-gradient steepening in the strong shear region. Oscillations of the dominant and secondary mode amplitudes give rise to oscillations of the temperature gradient. The phasing and amplitude of temperature gradient oscillations relative to those of the dominant mode are in agreement with experiment. This provides further evidence that the model, while heuristic, captures key physical aspects of the QSH state.

Numerical and experimental characterization of a plasma induced on a solid target by an intense pulsed multi-MeV e-beam

We investigate the interaction of an intense pulsed multi MeV electron beam with a solid target on the ASTERIX high voltage generator using a set of numerical and experimental tools. Physical mechanisms occurring at various stages are examined, from electron beam dynamics to X-ray production, including plasma generation at the solid target surface. First, the electron beam characteristics are determined using 2D axisymmetric Particle-In-Cell calculations and a good agreement is found between calculated and measured current and voltage profiles. Calculated electron beam characteristics serve as an input to a 3D Monte-Carlo code in order to simulate the dose distribution within the solid target. The plasma produced at the target surface upon interaction with the electron beam is diagnosed and quantitatively characterized through UV-visible emission spectroscopy. Plasma species are identified and spectroscopy data are analyzed based on a 1D radiative transfer model, allowing electron density and temperature profiles to be inferred. Such combined numerical and experimental investigation is promising for gaining insight into physical mechanisms occurring upon the interaction between high energy electrons and solid targets.