Density Profile Measurements Research Articles

Formation of impurity transport barrier in LHD plasmas with hollow density profile

The iron impurity density in the central column of Large Helical Device (LHD) plasmas with a hollow electron density profile is found to be much smaller than those with a peaked density profile based on the radial density profile measurement of iron ions in several ionization stages. The iron impurity transport has been studied with the help of a 1D simulation code. The radial structure of the convective velocity suggests that an impurity transport barrier is formed by a strong density gradient effect on the impurity convection near the edge region of LHD plasmas with a hollow electron density profile.

Elemental depth profiling in transparent conducting oxide thin film by X-ray reflectivity and grazing incidence X-ray fluorescence combined analysis

The optical and electrical properties of transparent conducting oxide (TCO) thin films are strongly linked with the structural and chemical properties such as elemental depth profile. In R&D environments, the development of non-destructive characterization techniques to probe the composition over the depth of deposited films is thus necessary. The combination of Grazing-Incidence X-ray Fluorescence (GIXRF) and X-ray reflectometry (XRR) is emerging as a fab-compatible solution for the measurement of thickness, density and elemental profile in complex stacks. Based on the same formalism, both techniques can be implemented on the same experimental set-up and the analysis can be combined in a single software in order to refine the sample model. While XRR is sensitive to the electronic density profile, GIXRF is sensitive to the atomic density (i. e. the elemental depth profile). The combination of both techniques allows to get simultaneous information about structural properties (thickness and roughness) as well as the chemical properties. In this study, we performed a XRR-GIXRF combined analysis on indium-free TCO thin films (Ga doped ZnO compound) in order to correlate the optical properties of the films with the elemental distribution of Ga dopant over the thickness. The variation of optical properties due to annealing process were probed by spectroscopic ellipsometry measurements. We studied the evolution of atomic profiles before and after annealing process. We show that the blue shift of the band gap in the optical absorption edge is linked to a homogenization of the atomic profiles of Ga and Zn over the layer after the annealing. This work demonstrates that the combination of the techniques gives insight into the material composition and makes the XRR-GIXRF combined analysis a promising technique for elemental depth profiling.

Feasibility study on the JT-60SA tokamak beam emission spectroscopy diagnostics

The JT-60SA superconducting tokamak is proposed to be equipped with a Lithium Beam Emission Spectroscopy (LiBES) and Deuterium Beam Emission Spectroscopy (DBES) diagnostic systems. The purpose of the LiBES system is scrape-off layer (SOL) and plasma edge density profile measurements and density fluctuation measurements in the SOL and outer edge regions, whereas the DBES system on a heating beam would have the capacity of density fluctuation measurements in the edge and the core regions, as well. Considerations for an optimal LiBES system require sufficient plasma penetration beyond the separatrix and a reasonable amount of emission collected by the optical system, while an optimal DBES system mostly requires adequate spatial resolution and a sufficient Doppler shift to enable discrimination of beam emission from emission of the background plasma. Various concepts and geometries of the LiBES system for JT-60SA are analysed in detail, and a potential DBES observation geometry is characterized.

X-mode raw data analysis of the new AUG ICRF antenna edge density profile reflectometer

The new multichannel X-mode reflectometer installed on ASDEX Upgrade measures the plasma density profile evolution at different positions in front of the ICRF antenna. The reflectometer operates in the extended U-band (40–68GHz) microwave region, measuring density profiles up to 2×1019m−3 with magnetic fields between 1.5T and 2.7T. In this heterodyne reflectometer architecture, the signal reflected by the plasma is down-shifted and quadrature detectors demodulate its in-phase and quadrature (IQ) components. In this work we analysed the acquired IQ signals from the different reflectometer antennas, and describe the waveguide dispersion calibration and filtering of the raw signal. The effect of spurious reflections, such as the multiple reflections from the ICRF antenna metal straps, are analysed and taken into account on the data processing software. In high plasma density and high magnetic field scenarios, both the lower and upper X-mode cut off frequencies are detected in the probing range. The first fringe (FF) reflection of the upper cut off indicates the start of the plasma signal and must be determined robustly to reduce density profile errors. Existing FF estimation algorithms based on signal amplitude and spectral information may still fail in the presence of both upper and lower cut off reflections.

Influence of the first wall material on the particle fuelling in ASDEX Upgrade

In the period from 2002 to 2007 the material of the plasma facing components (PFCs) of ASDEX Upgrade (AUG) was changed from carbon (C) to tungsten (W). Comparing the measured density profiles of low-density L-mode discharges with little or no gas puff before and after this modification, a significantly higher pedestal-top density was found for W PFCs together with a steeper gradient and a lower pedestal temperature. This change can be explained by larger particle- and energy reflection coefficients for D on W compared to D on C, as shown by EMC3-EIRENE simulations of AUG discharges in similar conditions on a computational grid extending to the main chamber first wall. In the simulations, a change of the wall material at fixed separatrix density indeed shows that for W PFCs more neutrals cross the separatrix, resulting in a steeper density gradient. Analysis of the source resolved and poloidally resolved neutral flux densities across the separatrix show a dominant contribution of the divertor targets to the fuelling profile in the simulation of the low density case. Increasing the density decreases the electron temperature at the target and therefore the potential drop in the electrostatic sheath as well as the energy of the ions impinging on the surface. Neutrals with ∼eV energies, able to reach the separatrix, are then only produced via molecular dissociation processes in the plasma volume independently of the PFC material. Also the contribution of the main chamber PFCs to the fuelling is observed to increase at higher densities.

Direct measurement of the inertial confinement time in a magnetically driven implosion

We report on direct, radiographic measurement of the stagnation phase of a magnetically driven liner implosion. The liner is filled with liquid deuterium and imploded to a minimum radius of 440 μm (radial convergence ratio of 7.7) over 300 ns, achieving a density of ≈10 g/cm3. The measured confinement time is ≈14 ns, compared to 16 ns from 1D simulations. A comparison of measured density profiles with 1D and 2D simulations shows a deviation in the reflected shock trajectory and the liner areal density. Additionally, the magneto Rayleigh-Taylor instability causes enhanced compression with shorter confinement in the bubble region compared to the spikes. These effects combine to reduce the pressure-confinement time product, Pτ, by 25% compared to the simulations.

Constraints on the Optical Depth of Galaxy Groups and Clusters

Abstract Future data from galaxy redshift surveys, combined with high-resolutions maps of the cosmic microwave background, will enable measurements of the pairwise kinematic Sunyaev–Zel’dovich (kSZ) signal with unprecedented statistical significance. This signal probes the matter-velocity correlation function, scaled by the average optical depth (τ) of the galaxy groups and clusters in the sample, and is thus of fundamental importance for cosmology. However, in order to translate pairwise kSZ measurements into cosmological constraints, external constraints on τ are necessary. In this work, we present a new model for the intracluster medium, which takes into account star formation, feedback, non-thermal pressure, and gas cooling. Our semi-analytic model is computationally efficient and can reproduce results of recent hydrodynamical simulations of galaxy cluster formation. We calibrate the free parameters in the model using recent X-ray measurements of gas density profiles of clusters, and gas masses of groups and clusters. Our observationally calibrated model predicts the average (i.e., the integrated τ within a disk of size R 500) to better than 6% modeling uncertainty (at 95% confidence level). If the remaining uncertainties associated with other astrophysical uncertainties and X-ray selection effects can be better understood, our model for the optical depth should break the degeneracy between optical depth and cluster velocity in the analysis of future pairwise kSZ measurements and improve cosmological constraints with the combination of upcoming galaxy and CMB surveys, including the nature of dark energy, modified gravity, and neutrino mass.

Design of Q-band FMCW reflectometry for electron density profile measurement on the Joint TEXT tokamak

The Q-band (33–50 GHz) fast sweep frequency modulated continuous wave (FMCW) reflectometry has been recently developed for electron density profile measurement on the Joint TEXT tokamak. It operates in ordinary mode (O-mode) with a 20 μs sweeping period, covering the density range from 1 × 1019 m−3 to 3 × 1019 m−3. On the bench test, a Yttrium Iron Garnet (YIG) filter is used for the dynamic calibration of the voltage controlled oscillator (VCO) to obtain a linear frequency sweep. Besides, the use of a power combiner helps to improve the side-band suppression level of the single side-band modulator (SSBM). The reconstructed density profiles are presented, which demonstrate the capability of the reflectometry.

Electromagnetic simulations of JET ICRF ITER-like antenna with TOPICA and SSWICH asymptotic codes

Multi-megawatt Ion Cyclotron Range of Frequencies (ICRF) heating is routinely used in the JET tokamak. To increase the ICRF heating power available from the A2 antennas, the ICRF ITER-Like Antenna (ILA) was reinstalled for the 2015 JET ITER-like wall experimental campaign. The application of high levels of ICRF power typically results in increased plasma wall interaction which leads to the observation of enhanced influx of metallic impurities in the plasma edge. It is assumed that the impurity production is mainly driven by the parallel component of the Radio-Frequency (RF) antenna electric near-field, E// (parallel to the confinement magnetic field of the tokamak), that is rectified in a thin boundary layer (RF sheath). Torino Polytechnic Ion Cyclotron Antenna (TOPICA) code was used to compute E// field maps in front of the ILA and between its poloidal limiters in the presence of plasma using measured density profiles and various antenna feedings. E// field maps calculated between the poloidal limiters were used to estimate the poloidal distribution of RF-sheath Direct Current (DC) potential in this private region of the ILA and make relative comparison of various antenna electrical settings. For this purpose we used the asymptotic version of the Self-consistent Sheaths and Waves for Ion Cyclotron Heating Slow-Wave (SSWICH-SW) code. These estimations can help to study the formation of RF sheaths around the antenna and even at distant locations (∼3m away).

An investigation of ionospheric upper transition height variations at low and equatorial latitudes deduced from combined COSMIC and C/NOFS measurements

In this study we propose the combination of topside in-situ ion density data from the Communication/Navigation Outage Forecast System (C/NOFS) along with the electron density profile measurement from Constellation Observing System for Meteorology, Ionosphere & Climate (COSMIC) satellites Radio Occultation (RO) for studying the spatial and temporal variations of the ionospheric upper transition height (hT) and the oxygen ion (O+) density scale height. The latitudinal, local time and seasonal distributions of upper transition height show more consistency between hT re-calculated by the profile of the O+ using an α-Chapman function with linearly variable scale height and that determined from direct in-situ ion composition measurements, than with constant scale height and only the COSMIC data. The discrepancy in the values of hT between the C/NOFS measurement and that derived by the combination of COSMIC and C/NOFS satellites observations with variable scale height turns larger as the solar activity decreases, which suggests that the photochemistry and the electrodynamics of the equatorial ionosphere during the extreme solar minimum period produce abnormal structures in the vertical plasma distribution. The diurnal variation of scale heights (Hm) exhibits a minimum after sunrise and a maximum around noon near the geomagnetic equator. Further, the values of Hm exhibit a maximum in the summer hemisphere during daytime, whereas in the winter hemisphere the maximum is during night. Those features of Hm consistently indicate the prominent role of the vertical electromagnetic (E×B) drift in the equatorial ionosphere.

Calibrating ion density profile measurements in ion thruster beam plasma.

The ion thruster beam plasma is characterized by high directed ion velocity (104 m/s) and low plasma density (1015 m-3). Interpretation of measurements of such a plasma based on classical Langmuir probe theory can yield a large experimental error. This paper presents an indirect method to calibrate ion density determination in an ion thruster beam plasma using a Faraday probe, a retarding potential analyzer, and a Langmuir probe. This new method is applied to determine the plasma emitted from a 20-cm-diameter Kaufman ion thruster. The results show that the ion density calibrated by the new method can be as much as 40% less than that without any ion current density and ion velocity calibration.

Design of an O-mode frequency modulated reflectometry system for the measurement of Alborz Tokamak plasma density profile

Reflectometry is a common method for plasma diagnostic, in which microwaves are launched into the plasma and reflected at the critical surfaces. Comparing the reflected microwave signals with the launched waves would give rise to the plasma density profiles. In the present study, an ordinary mode (O-mode) frequency modulation (FM) reflectometry system has been designed for the electron density profile measurement of the Alborz Tokamak plasma. This system has been considered to operate at K-band (18–26.5GHz) frequency range and scan the frequency band between 18 to 26GHz in 40μS. The density profile from major radius r=47.9–51.55cm can be measured in Alborz Tokamak plasma. Based on the Alborz Tokamak operational conditions, the characteristic frequencies, and some dimensional limitations, all parts of reflectometer have been designed so that an appropriate efficiency with minimum attenuation, especially in transmitting/receiving system would be achieved. A dual antenna and an oversized waveguide of X-band (8–12GHz) for transmitting and receiving purposes and a balanced detector for absolute phase determination have been utilized. The details of the Alborz Tokamak FM reflectometry components focusing on the antenna and waveguide design and mounting are described in this paper. Additionally, the procedure of plasma profile reconstruction using the system output signal is discussed. This system uses signal phase shift to determine the position of the cutoff layer.

Publisher's Note: "Electron density profile measurements from hydrogen line intensity ratio method in Versatile Experiment Spherical Torus" [Rev. Sci. Instrum. 87, 11E540 (2016)

Publisher's Note: "Electron density profile measurements from hydrogen line intensity ratio method in Versatile Experiment Spherical Torus" [Rev. Sci. Instrum. 87, 11E540 (2016)

Initial measurements of plasma current and electron density profiles using a polarimeter/interferometer (POINT) for long pulse operation in EAST (invited).

A double-pass, radially viewing, far-infrared laser-based POlarimeter-INTerferometer (POINT) system utilizing the three-wave technique has been implemented for diagnosing the plasma current and electron density profiles in the Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST). POINT has been operated routinely during the most recent experimental campaign and provides continuous 11 chord line-integrated Faraday effect and density measurement throughout the entire plasma discharge for all heating schemes and all plasma conditions (including ITER relevant scenario development). Reliability of both the polarimetric and interferometric measurements is demonstrated in 25 s plasmas with H-mode and 102 s long-pulse discharges. Current density, safety factor (q), and electron density profiles are reconstructed using equilibrium fitting code (EFIT) with POINT constraints for the plasma core.

Tomographic reconstruction of the beam emissivity profile in the negative ion source NIO1

A versatile negative hydrogen ion source named NIO1 of a moderate size (130 mA total extracted H− current, 9 apertures, 60 kV total acceleration) has been developed and installed at Consorzio RFX. It will allow great experimental flexibility, very beneficial for studying several important issues related to beam extraction, optics and performance optimization, in view of SPIDER and MITICA, the two full-scale experiments for the ITER neutral beam injector under construction at RFX. The main target of emission tomography applied to an ion beam is the reconstruction of the emissivity profile, from which the ion density distribution can be obtained. The measurement of the beam density profile and of its uniformity throughout the pulse duration with a non-invasive diagnostic, such as tomography, would represent an effective method for monitoring the ion source operation and for malfunction detection. The application of this diagnostic to the NIO1 beam will represent the experimental verification of the possibility to reconstruct a multi-beamlet profile, in the interest of the next tomography systems for SPIDER and MITICA. In this paper, a feasibility study of the tomographic diagnostic for NIO1 is presented. A tomography code based on algebraic reconstruction techniques has been developed for this purpose and the transport of the nine H− beamlets is simulated with a Monte Carlo particle tracking code from the ion source to the tomography plane, where the beam emissivity profile to be reconstructed is calculated. The reference emissivity profile is reconstructed by the tomography code considering different possible layouts of the detection system, in order to find the best compromise between the quality of reconstructions and the complexity of the diagnostic. Results show that a tomography system based on six linear CCD cameras should be capable of reconstructing the NIO1 emissivity profile with an rms error lower than 10%. How instrumental noise in the integrated signals affects the reconstructed beam emissivity profiles is also studied. A simple low-pass filter is found effective if the noise level is less than 10%; otherwise a more sophisticated filtering technique must be considered.

Two-dimensional spin-imbalanced Fermi gases at nonzero temperature: Phase separation of a noncondensate

We study a trapped two-dimensional spin-imbalanced Fermi gas over a range of temperatures. In the moderate temperature regime, associated with current experiments, we find reasonable semi-quantitative agreement with the measured density profiles as functions of varying spin imbalance and interaction strength. Our calculations show that, in contrast to the three-dimensional case, the phase separation which appears as a spin balanced core, can be associated with non-condensed fermion pairs. We present predictions at lower temperatures where a quasi-condensate will first appear, based on the pair momentum distribution and following the protocols of Jochim and collaborators. While these profiles also indicate phase separation, they exhibit distinctive features which may aid in identifying the condensation regime.

Electron density profile measurements from hydrogen line intensity ratio method in Versatile Experiment Spherical Torus.

Electron density profiles of versatile experiment spherical torus plasmas are measured by using a hydrogen line intensity ratio method. A fast-frame visible camera with appropriate bandpass filters is used to detect images of Balmer line intensities. The unique optical system makes it possible to take images of Hα and Hβ radiation simultaneously, with only one camera. The frame rate is 1000 fps and the spatial resolution of the system is about 0.5 cm. One-dimensional local emissivity profiles have been obtained from the toroidal line of sight with viewing dumps. An initial result for the electron density profile is presented and is in reasonable agreement with values measured by a triple Langmuir probe.

Improved density profile measurements in the C-2U advanced beam-driven Field-Reversed Configuration (FRC) plasmas.

In the prior C-2 experiment, electron density was measured using a two-color 6-chord CO2/HeNe interferometer. Analysis shows that high-frequency common mode phase noise can be reduced by a factor of 3 by constructing a reference chord. In the system upgrade from C-2 to C-2U a 4-chord far-infrared laser interferometer was developed, which demonstrated superior sensitivity (1 × 1016 m-2 at >1 MHz bandwidth) and solved the under spatial sampling issue of the C-2 interferometer system. Improved density-profile measurement results are presented in this paper, including evidence of fast-ion modified density profile and stabilization of the n = 1 plasma wobble mode.

Implementation of the new multichannel X-mode edge density profile reflectometer for the ICRF antenna on ASDEX Upgrade.

A new multichannel frequency modulated continuous-wave reflectometry diagnostic has been successfully installed and commissioned on ASDEX Upgrade to measure the plasma edge electron density profile evolution in front of the Ion Cyclotron Range of Frequencies (ICRF) antenna. The design of the new three-strap ICRF antenna integrates ten pairs (sending and receiving) of microwave reflectometry antennas. The multichannel reflectometer can use three of these to measure the edge electron density profiles up to 2 × 1019 m-3, at different poloidal locations, allowing the direct study of the local plasma layers in front of the ICRF antenna. ICRF power coupling, operational effects, and poloidal variations of the plasma density profile can be consistently studied for the first time. In this work the diagnostic hardware architecture is described and the obtained density profile measurements were used to track outer radial plasma position and plasma shape.

Validation of NeQuick TEC data ingestion technique against C/NOFS and EISCAT electron density measurements

AbstractThis paper investigates a technique to estimate near‐real‐time electron density structure of the ionosphere. Ground‐based GPS receiver total electron content (TEC) at low and high latitudes has been used to assist the NeQuick 2 model. First, we compute model input (effective ionization level) when the modeled slant TEC (sTEC) best fits the measured sTEC by single GPS receiver (reference station). Then we run the model at different locations nearby the reference station and produce the spatial distribution of the density profiles of the ionosphere in the East African region. We investigate the performance of the model, before and after data ingestion in estimating the topside ionosphere density profiles. This is carried out by extracting in situ density from the model at the corresponding location of C/NOFS (Communication/Navigation Outage Forecast System) satellite orbit and comparing the modeled ion density with the in situ ion density observed by Planar Langmuir Probe onboard C/NOFS. It is shown that the performance of the model after data ingestion reproduces the topside ionosphere better up to about 824 km away from the reference station than that before adaptation. Similarly, for high‐latitude region, NeQuick 2 adapted to sTEC obtained from high‐latitude (Tromsø in Norway) GPS receiver and the model used to reproduce parameters measured by European Incoherent Scatter Scientific Association (EISCAT) VHF radar. It is shown that the model after adaptation shows considerable improvement in estimating EISCAT measurements of electron density profile, F2 peak density, and height.