Electron Temperature Profiles Research Articles

Development of a high-resolution Thomson scattering system for plasma interactions with molten salt (FLiNaK)

A high-resolution Thomson scattering system is presently being developed to measure the electron temperature and density profile during plasma interaction with molten salt. The system uses a 20-Hz Nd:YAG laser operating at the second harmonic (532 nm). The collection lens, having a 1:10 magnification ratio, measures 63 points along the 10-cm profile. The scattered light is transmitted by using an optical-fiber bundle, and is analyzed with a triple-grating spectrometer to further reduce stray light. Its spectral resolution is expected to be 0.03 nm. An intensified charge-coupled device (ICCD) camera consisting of a gated image intensifier coupled to the CCD camera is used to record the spectral distribution of the scattered light. An additional feature of operating the ICCD camera at 40-Hz to record the background signal is incorporated.

Temperature and entropy profiles to the virial radius of the Abell 1246 cluster observed with Suzaku

Abstract We report properties of the intracluster medium (ICM) in Abell 1246 to the virial radius (r200) and further outside as observed with Suzaku. The ICM emission is clearly detected to r200, and we derive profiles of electron temperature, density, entropy, and cluster mass based on the spectral analysis. The temperature shows variation from ∼ 7 keV at the central region to ∼ 2.5 keV around r200. The total mass in r500 is (4.3 ± 0.4) × 1014 M⊙, assuming hydrostatic equilibrium. At r > r500, the hydrostatic mass starts to decline and we therefore employ the total mass within r200 based on a weak-lens mass profile obtained from a sample of lower-mass clusters. This yields a gas mass fraction at r200 consistent with the cosmic baryon fraction, i.e., ∼ 17%. The entropy profile indicates a flatter slope than that of the numerical simulation, particularly in r > r500. These tendencies are similar to those of other clusters observed with Suzaku. We detect no significant ICM emission outside of r200, and 2 σ upper limits of redshifted O vii and O viii line intensities are constrained to be less than 2.9 and 5.6 × 10−7 photons cm−2 s−1 arcmin−2, respectively. The O vii line upper limit indicates nH < 4.7 × 10−5 cm−3 (Z/0.2 Z⊙)−1/2 (L/20 Mpc)−1/2, which corresponds to an overdensity, δ < 160 (Z/0.2 Z⊙)−1/2 (L/20 Mpc)−1/2.

Edge Thomson scattering diagnostic on COMPASS tokamak: installation, calibration, operation, improvements.

The core Thomson scattering diagnostic (TS) on the COMPASS tokamak was put in operation and reported earlier. Implementation of edge TS, with spatial resolution along the laser beam up to ∼1/100 of the tokamak minor radius, is presented now. The procedure for spatial calibration and alignment of both core and edge systems is described. Several further upgrades of the TS system, like a triggering unit and piezo motor driven vacuum window shutter, are introduced as well. The edge TS system, together with the core TS, is now in routine operation and provides electron temperature and density profiles.

Absolute intensity calibration of the 32-channel heterodyne radiometer on experimental advanced superconducting tokamak.

This paper presents the results of the in situ absolute intensity calibration for the 32-channel heterodyne radiometer on the experimental advanced superconducting tokamak. The hot/cold load method is adopted, and the coherent averaging technique is employed to improve the signal to noise ratio. Measured spectra and electron temperature profiles are compared with those from an independent calibrated Michelson interferometer, and there is a relatively good agreement between the results from the two different systems.

Fibrillation atriale

Active closed-loop control of the plasma safety factor profile (q-profile) and internal energy dynamics in nuclear fusion tokamak devices has the potential to significantly impact the success of the ITER project. These plasma properties are related to both the stability and performance of a given plasma operating scenario. In this work, we develop integrated feedback control algorithms to control the q-profile and internal energy dynamics in DIII-D advanced tokamak (high performance) scenarios. The feedback controllers are synthesized by embedding a nonlinear, physics-based, control-oriented partial differential equation model of the plasma dynamics into the control design and to be robust to uncertainties in the plasma electron density, electron temperature, and plasma resistivity profiles. The auxiliary heating and current-drive system and the total plasma current are the actuators utilized by the feedback controllers to control the plasma dynamics. Finally, the feedback controllers are tested both through simulations based on the physics-based model and experimentally in the DIII-D tokamak.

Investigations on the edge kinetic data in regimes with type-I and mitigated ELMs at ASDEX Upgrade

The behaviour of profiles and gradients of electron density, temperature and pressure at the edge of ASDEX Upgrade was studied in regimes with type-I and small edge localized modes (ELMs) of discharges with and without applied magnetic perturbations (MPs). Estimation of the edge kinetic parameters was performed by means of integrated data analysis for joint reconstruction of electron density and temperature profiles via combination of data from different diagnostics. The MP fields for ELM mitigation were produced by 16 in-vessel coils allowing to execute this survey with large variations in poloidal spectrum and resonant component of the error field. With several dedicated discharges the effect of MPs on the edge kinetic data and ELMs was determined in dependence of heating power, gas puff and MP-coil configuration. Small ELMs are dominant—with and without MPs—in regimes with reduced pedestal top electron temperatures and flattened edge electron pressure gradients compared to type-I ELM phases. Furthermore, application of MPs opens an additional small ELM regime in the high temperature range at reduced electron pressure gradient.

Design and initial operation of a two-color soft x-ray camera system on the Compact Toroidal Hybrid experiment.

A multi-camera soft x-ray diagnostic has been developed to measure the equilibrium electron temperature profile and temperature fluctuations due to magnetohydrodynamic activity on the Compact Toroidal Hybrid experiment. The diagnostic consists of three separate cameras each employing two 20-channel diode arrays that view the same plasma region through different beryllium filter thicknesses of 1.8 μm and 3.0 μm allowing electron temperature measurements between 50 eV and 200 eV. The Compact Toroidal Hybrid is a five-field period current-carrying stellarator, in which the presence of plasma current strongly modifies the rotational transform and degree of asymmetry of the equilibrium. Details of the soft x-ray emission, effects of plasma asymmetry, and impurity line radiation on the design and measurement of the two-color diagnostic are discussed. Preliminary estimates of the temperature perturbation due to sawtooth oscillations observed in these hybrid discharges are given.

Simultaneous use of camera and probe diagnostics to unambiguously identify and study the dynamics of multiple underlying instabilities during the route to plasma turbulence.

We use multiple-tip Langmuir probes and fast imaging to unambiguously identify and study the dynamics of underlying instabilities during the controlled route to fully-developed plasma turbulence in a linear magnetized helicon plasma device. Langmuir probes measure radial profiles of electron temperature, plasma density and potential; from which we compute linear growth rates of instabilities, cross-phase between density and potential fluctuations, Reynold's stress, particle flux, vorticity, time-delay estimated velocity, etc. Fast imaging complements the 1D probe measurements by providing temporally and spatially resolved 2D details of plasma structures associated with the instabilities. We find that three radially separated plasma instabilities exist simultaneously. Density gradient driven resistive drift waves propagating in the electron diamagnetic drift direction separate the plasma into an edge region dominated by strong, velocity shear driven Kelvin-Helmholtz instabilities and a central core region which shows coherent Rayleigh-Taylor modes propagating in the ion diamagnetic drift direction. The simultaneous, complementary use of both probes and camera was crucial to identify the instabilities and understand the details of the very rich plasma dynamics.

Quasilinear carbon transport in an impurity hole plasma in LHD

Comprehensive electrostatic gyrokinetic linear stability calculations for ion-scale microinstabilities in an LHD plasma with an ion-internal transport barrier (ITB) and carbon “impurity hole” are used to make quasilinear estimates of particle flux to explore whether microturbulence can explain the observed outward carbon fluxes that flow “up” the impurity density gradient. The ion temperature is not stationary in the ion-ITB phase of the simulated discharge, during which the core carbon density decreases continuously. To fully sample these varying conditions, the calculations are carried out at three radial locations and four times. The plasma parameter inputs are based on experimentally measured profiles of electron and ion temperature, as well as electron and carbon density. The spectroscopic line-average ratio of hydrogen and helium densities is used to set the density of these species. Three ion species (H,He,C) and the electrons are treated kinetically, including collisions. Electron instability drive does enhance the growth rate significantly, but the most unstable modes have characteristics of ion temperature gradient modes in all cases. As the carbon density gradient is scanned between the measured value and zero, the quasilinear carbon flux is invariably inward when the carbon density profile is hollow, so turbulent transport due to the instabilities considered here does not explain the observed outward flux of impurities in impurity hole plasmas. The stiffness of the quasilinear ion heat flux is found to be 1.7–2.3, which is lower than several estimates in tokamaks.

The responses of ionospheric topside diffusive fluxes to two geomagnetic storms in October 2002

AbstractO+ field‐aligned ambipolar diffusive velocities Vd and fluxes Фd in the topside ionosphere have been calculated from the observed profiles of electron density, ion, and electron temperatures during a 30 day incoherent scatter radar experiment conducted at Millstone Hill (288.5°E, 42.6°N) from 4 October to 4 November 2002. Two geomagnetic storms took place during this period. During the negative phases (depleted electron densities) of these two storms, the magnitudes of the daytime upward Vd and Фd were less than their averaged quiet time values. Whereas at nighttime, the downward Vd and Фd were sometimes larger than the averaged quiet time values. The variations in diffusive velocity and flux during the storm main and recovery phases were caused by changes in the ionospheric scale height or the shapes of ionospheric density profiles. The negative storm effect further reduced daytime diffusive flux. During these two storms, positive ionosphere phases (enhanced electron densities) were also observed. The diffusive velocity was much smaller during the period of positive storm effect, which led to a smaller diffusive flux than the quiet time one, although electron density was higher. It appears that storm time variations in diffusive velocity were more the results of storm time changes in the plasma vertical profile, rather than the cause of these plasma density changes.

Edge profile measurements using Thomson scattering on the KSTAR tokamak.

In the KSTAR Tokamak, a "Tangential Thomson Scattering" (TTS) diagnostic system has been designed and installed to measure electron density and temperature profiles. In the edge system, TTS has 12 optical fiber bundles to measure the edge profiles with 10-15 mm spatial resolution. These 12 optical fibers and their spatial resolution are not enough to measure the pedestal width with a high accuracy but allow observations of L-H transition or H-L transitions at the edge. For these measurements, the prototype ITER edge Thomson Nd:YAG laser system manufactured by JAEA in Japan is installed. In this paper, the KSTAR TTS system is briefly described and some TTS edge profiles are presented and compared against the KSTAR Charge Exchange Spectroscopy and other diagnostics. The future upgrade plan of the system is also discussed in this paper.

Reduced model prediction of electron temperature profiles in microtearing-dominated National Spherical Torus eXperiment plasmas

A representative H-mode discharge from the National Spherical Torus eXperiment is studied in detail to utilize it as a basis for a time-evolving prediction of the electron temperature profile using an appropriate reduced transport model. The time evolution of characteristic plasma variables such as βe, νe∗, the MHD α parameter, and the gradient scale lengths of Te, Ti, and ne were examined as a prelude to performing linear gyrokinetic calculations to determine the fastest growing micro instability at various times and locations throughout the discharge. The inferences from the parameter evolutions and the linear stability calculations were consistent. Early in the discharge, when βe and νe∗ were relatively low, ballooning parity modes were dominant. As time progressed and both βe and νe∗ increased, microtearing became the dominant low-kθ mode, especially in the outer half of the plasma. There are instances in time and radius, however, where other modes, at higher-kθ, may, in addition to microtearing, be important for driving electron transport. Given these results, the Rebut-Lallia-Watkins (RLW) electron thermal diffusivity model, which is based on microtearing-induced transport, was used to predict the time-evolving electron temperature across most of the profile. The results indicate that RLW does a good job of predicting Te for times and locations where microtearing was determined to be important, but not as well when microtearing was predicted to be stable or subdominant.

Analysis and Performance of the Thomson Scattering Diagnostics on HT-7 Tokamak Based on I-EMCCD

A visible light imaging Thomson scattering (VIS-TVTS) diagnostic system has been developed for the measurement of plasma electron temperature on the HT-7 tokamak. The system contains a Nd:YAG laser (λ = 532 nm, repetition rate 10 Hz, total pulse duration ≍ 10 ns, pulse energy > 1.0 J), a grating spectrometer, an image intensifier (I.I.) lens coupled with an electron multiplying CCD (EMCCD) and a data acquisition and analysis system. In this paper, the measurement capability of the system is analyzed. In addition to the performance of the system, the capability of measuring plasma electron temperature has been proved. The profile of electron temperature is presented with a spatial resolution of about 0.96 cm (seven points) near the center of the plasma.

Short-interval multi-laser Thomson scattering measurements of hydrogen pellet ablation in LHD.

Thomson scattering forms an important aspect of measuring the electron density and temperature profiles of plasmas. In this study, we demonstrate Thomson scattering measurements obtained over a short interval (<1 ms) by using an event triggering system with a multi-laser configuration. We attempt to use our system to obtain the electron temperature and density profiles before and immediately after pellet injection into the large helical device. The obtained profiles exhibit dramatic changes after pellet injection as per our shot-by-shot measurements. We believe that this measurement technique will contribute towards a better understanding of the physics of the pellet deposition.

First measurement of time evolution of electron temperature profiles with Nd:YAG Thomson scattering system on Heliotron J.

A Nd:YAG Thomson scattering system has been developed for Heliotron J. The system consists of two 550 mJ 50 Hz lasers, large collection optics, and 25 radial channel (∼1 cm spatial resolution) interference polychromators. This measurement system achieves a S/N ratio of ∼50 for low-density plasma (ne ∼ 0.5 × 10(19) m(-3)). A time evolution of electron temperature profiles was measured with this system for a high-intensity gas-puff (HIGP) fueling neutral-beam-injection plasma. The peripheral temperature of the higher-density phase after HIGP recovers to the low-density pre-HIGP level, suggesting that improving particle transport in the HIGP plasma may be possible.

Implementation and first application of EMC3-EIRENE to EAST double-null divertor

The 3D edge Monte Carlo code coupled with EIRENE (EMC3-EIRENE) has been implemented on the Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST) and, for the first time, applied to an axisymmetric double null divertor plasma. The code results are compared with Langmuir probe measurements. The cross-field transport coefficients for particle and energy, D⊥ and χ⊥, are determined by fitting the electron density and temperature profiles measured by a reciprocating probe on the outboard midplane. Good agreement between the simulation and probe profiles is obtained when D⊥ and χ⊥ are set to be 0.4 m2 s−1 and 2 m2 s−1, respectively. However, considerable discrepancies in density and temperature profiles are observed downstream. A parameter sensitivity study is carried out to identify the possible causes. Analyzing the numerical results in comparison with the measurements leads to the conclusion that the real separatrix at the outer midplane tends to be located ∼7 mm inward with respect to the last closed flux surface obtained from the equilibrium fitting code.

Density bunch formation by microwave in a plasma-filled cylindrical waveguide

We propose to employ the standing-wave pattern of TE mode in a cylindrical waveguide to form the density bunches during the interaction of microwave and plasma. These bunches can be tailored uniformly by varying the microwave frequency, microwave intensity, electron temperature and initial plasma density profile in the waveguide if the fundamental mode is employed. Such types of density bunches may find application in terahertz radiation generation mechanisms.

High-Tc micro and nano-constrictions modeling: hot spot approach for DC characteristics and HEB THz mixer performance

High-TC hot electron bolometers (HEB) are promising THz mixers due to their expected wide bandwidth, large mixing gain, and low intrinsic noise. We have simulated the characteristics of YBaCuO HEBs with a hot spot model usually dedicated to low-TC phonon cooled devices. With respect to e.g., NbN, the high-TC specificities are mainly arising from the large values of YBaCuO phonon thermal conductivity, and the film to MgO substrate phonon escape time. The consequent effects on the electron temperature profiles along the YBaCuO constriction and the current voltage DC characteristics are considered. The conversion gain G and noise temperature TN were computed for two constriction dimensions. For a 100 nm long × 100 nm wide × 10 nm thick constriction at 9 microwatt local oscillator (LO) power, the expected double sideband (DSB) TN = 1520 K (G = −13.7 dB). For a larger (but more realistic according to YBaCuO aging effects) 400 nm long × 400 nm wide × 35 nm thick constriction, minimum TN = 1210 K DSB at 35 microwatt LO power (G = −13.1 dB).

Analysis of the electron temperature measurement in TCABR tokamak by Electron Cyclotron Emission and Infrared Thomson scattering diagnostics

This work presents the experimental analysis of the central electron temperature measured by the electron cyclotron emission (ECE) radiometer and the infrared Thomson Scattering (ITS) diagnostic. The detection of the ECE radiation is done by a heterodyne scanning radiometer that works at the second harmonic extraordinary mode, in frequency range from 50 to 85GHz, which allows measurement of the radial profile of electron temperature with good spatial and temporal resolutions. The ITS diagnostic uses a Neodymium Glass laser (wavelength 1.054 μm). This ITS diagnostic measures the electron temperature in the center of plasma column one time during plasma shot. Results also show a discrepancy between the two diagnostics in the electron temperature measurement in the presence of Magnetohydrodynamics activity that gives an explanation for this apparent inconsistency.

Nonlinear Steepening of Density Profile by Intense Laser Radiation in Collisional Inhomogeneous Plasmas

The interaction between a high-power electromagnetic wave with an inhomogeneous underdense plasma is studied by considering the ohmic heating caused by laser radiation. Considering the plasma inhomogeneity and ohmic heating, the nonlinear dielectric permittivity is obtained in the collisional regimes. The wave equation is numerically solved and the electromagnetic fields, electron density, electron temperature, and dielectric permittivity profiles are achieved. These profiles show that in the presence of three density profiles, by increasing the laser energy flux, the modified electron density deviates from background electron density and its structure near the critical density becomes highly peaked. Finally, it is found that the amplitude of electron density distribution decreases by increasing the laser wavelength.