Plasma Electron Density Profiles Research Articles

Emission characteristics of bulk aerosols excited by externally focused femtosecond filaments.

The bulk aerosol emissions excited by externally focused femtosecond laser filaments are characterized using time-resolved plasma imaging and spectroscopy. Images of N2 and N2+ plasma fluorescence are used to characterize the filament dimensions. Emission profiles from bulk Sr aerosols are studied, showing that several localized emission regions in the filament begin to develop for lower repetition rates and higher pulse energies. Plasma temperature and electron density profiles are determined using particle emissions along the length of short- and long-focused filaments, and results are compared for on-axis and side-collected spectra. The use of on-axis collection enables the sampling of light emitted over the entire length of the filament; however, the necessary back-propagation of light makes on-axis collection susceptible to self-absorption as the optical path is extended through the filament plasma column formed in bulk aerosols.

Two-dimensional electron temperature and density profiles of Hall thruster plume plasmas using tomographically reconstructed optical emission spectroscopy

Two-dimensional electron temperature and density profiles in the plume region of 300 W-class Hall thruster Ar plasmas were obtained using tomographically reconstructed optical emission intensity profiles combined with a collisional-radiative (CR) model. A total of 1242 lines of sight were used by rotating the thruster to apply inverse Radon transform-based tomographic reconstructions and Abel inversion. The reconstruction accuracy of the developed diagnostic system was evaluated using a priori images derived from plasma pictures, and the reconstruction error was less than 1% in the region of interest, exhibiting higher accuracy than the Abel inversion. From the Ar Hall thruster plasma, more than 12 different two-dimensional profiles of Ar I emission intensity within a spectral range of 600–1000 nm were obtained 6 mm from the exit plane of the thruster. A CR model using 31 allowed transitions at 15 different states from the ground state to the 2p i states was incorporated with the tomographically reconstructed emission intensity sets. Consequently, two-dimensional electron temperature and density profiles in the range of 5–18 eV and 2.0 × 1016–4.7 × 1017 m−3 were obtained, respectively, exhibiting reasonable agreement with the double Langmuir probe measurements.

Quantification of plasma produced OH and electron fluxes at the liquid anode and their role in plasma driven solution electrochemistry

Plasma–liquid interactions enable various applications through the generation of a large range of reactive species in solution. In this work, we report on the interaction of a pulsed atmospheric pressure glow-like discharge with a liquid anode. Particularly, the flux of hydroxyl (OH) radicals and electrons in the plasma at the liquid anode are measured by laser induced fluorescence (LIF) spectroscopy and current measurements to investigate the role of OH and electrons in plasma-enabled redox chemistry in solution. The impact of the voltage pulse width, voltage amplitude, liquid temperature and conductivity on the OH density distribution was also investigated. We observed a significant OH density near the liquid surface, which showed a transition from a ring-shaped structure to a more uniform structure with increasing plasma power. This transition coincided with a similar transition in the plasma emission intensity and electron density profile. A Raman laser scattering study indicated that this transition can be attributed to an enhanced N2 mixing at larger plasma-dissipated powers. Besides, a time resolved measurement showed that the OH density segregates radially in the afterglow at velocities exceeding the gas velocity at room temperature due to enhanced gas convection resulting from the plasma-induced gas heating. While the OH flux was of the order of ∼1021 m−2 s−1, approximately two orders of magnitude lower than the electron flux, significant reduction in the solution occurs during the voltage pulse. Nonetheless, a slow oxidation was observed in the afterglow due to the much longer lifetime of OH radicals compared to electrons. The Faradaic efficiency of the liquid redox chemistry was evaluated with H cell measurements and showed a good agreement with a 1D liquid phase model with the measured electron and OH fluxes as the input. This result shows the capability to quantitatively describe the plasma-driven solution electrochemistry for a model redox couple based on OH and electron driven reactions.

A high-power long lifetime beam dump for the Thomson scattering diagnostic system in the XuanLong-50 experiment.

The Energy iNNovation's XuanLong-50 is a spherical torus experiment with up to 10s plasma operation duration. A 3 J/50Hz pulsed laser is used in the Thomson scattering diagnostic system that is developed to measure the time evolutions of plasma electron temperature and density profiles. The expected laser pulse number is about 7.5 × 106/year with a power load of 150W. To meet at least 1-year lifetime requirement, a Chevron type beam dump with polished molybdenum plates is designed and fabricated, which absorbs the laser beam energy in a 3D structure to reduce the laser fluence deposited on the material surface. To prevent the backscattered stray light from interfering with the Thomson scattering measurements, a 7.5m beam path with folding mirrors is set between the beam dump and the plasma scattering volumes. Details of the beam dump design procedure including the laser beam profile control, multi-pulse laser damage threshold, heat dissipation, Zemax modeling, folding mirror selection, and beam path enclosure are presented together with the testing results.

Preliminary evaluation of inverse scattering-based plasma-profilometry application to fusion plasmas

A new diagnostic method able to perform plasma profilometry is investigated in this work to retrieve the plasma electron density profile in front of the Ion Cyclotron Range of Frequencies (ICRF) antennas. As a reference scenario for our numerical study, the Divertor Tokamak Test (DTT [1]) ICRF antennas and plasma will be considered. Specifically, the profilometry needs to solve an inverse scattering problem, which is non-linear and ill-posed. In some recent papers [2, 3], plasma imaging profilometry in compact plasma reactors, such as the electron cyclotron ion sources (ECRIS), has been proposed and tested numerically by means of proof-of-concept examples. In particular, proper formulation of electromagnetic inverse scattering techniques have been proposed, requiring measurements of the reflection coefficient in presence of a metallic reflecting surface or, alternatively, both the reflection and transmission coefficients through two antennas facing one each other. In this paper, we would like to investigate this method also for large-size (scale-length) fusion reactors by addressing the profilometry of DTT-like plasma, assuming a very high-frequency probing regime (∼0.5 THz) for the accessibility of both O and X-modes in the DTT plasma (electron density up to 1020 m−3 and magnetic field up to 9 T). To this aim, we adopt COMSOL Wave Optics® module based on beam propagation method (or slowly varying envelope approximation) for simulating the wave propagation and to determine the probing frequencies. A proper formulation allowed to reconstruct a tiny scrape-off plasma layer, approximated as an isotropic medium, thanks to the high probing frequency.

Quantification of the effect of uncertainty on impurity migration in PISCES-A simulated with GITR

A Bayesian inference strategy has been used to estimate uncertain inputs to global impurity transport code (GITR) modeling predictions of tungsten erosion and migration in the linear plasma device, PISCES-A. This allows quantification of GITR output uncertainty based on the uncertainties in measured PISCES-A plasma electron density and temperature profiles (n e, T e) used as inputs to GITR. The technique has been applied for comparison to dedicated experiments performed for high (4 × 1022 m−2 s−1) and low (5 × 1021 m−2 s−1) flux 250 eV He–plasma exposed tungsten (W) targets designed to assess the net and gross erosion of tungsten, and corresponding W impurity transport. The W target design and orientation, impurity collector, and diagnostics, have been designed to eliminate complexities associated with tokamak divertor plasma exposures (inclined target, mixed plasma species, re-erosion, etc) to benchmark results against the trace impurity transport model simulated by GITR. The simulated results of the erosion, migration, and re-deposition of W during the experiment from the GITR code coupled to materials response models are presented. Specifically, the modeled and experimental W I emission spectroscopy data for a 429.4 nm line and net erosion through the target and collector mass difference measurements are compared. The methodology provides predictions of observable quantities of interest with quantified uncertainty, allowing estimation of moments, together with the sensitivities to plasma temperature and density.

Modelling of expected B, C, N and O Lyman-\u03b1 line intensities emitted from W7-X plasmas and measured by means of the W7-X light impurity monitor system

The “C/O Monitor” for Wendelstein 7-X (W7-X) is a dedicated light impurity XUV spectrometer intended to measure Lyman-α transitions of hydrogen-like ions of four low-Z impurities—boron (4.9 nm), carbon (3.4 nm), nitrogen (2.5 nm) and oxygen (1.9 nm). Since the discussed diagnostic will deliver continuous information about the line intensities, it is crucial to understand the origin of the obtained signals with respect to the experimental plasma conditions (electron temperature and density). This, however, might be difficult because of the broad acceptance angle of the spectrometer and irregular shape of the plasma edge or SOL where the radiation is expected to mostly come from, depending on the plasma temperature. For that reason, numerous analyses assuming various ranges of electron density and temperature profiles of the W7-X plasmas have been performed (assuming corona equilibrium and neglecting impurity transport processes). The aim of this work is to estimate the expected radiant flux and determine the sensitivity of the system on impurity-level changes. It will allow to improve understanding between measured signal and impurity concentration.

Design for parallel computation of model-based signal processing in Thomson scattering diagnostic

The Thomson Scattering (TS) diagnostic system calculates electron temperature and density profiles of tokamak plasma. The diagnostic is enabled by measuring and analyzing pulse signals of scattered laser light in the tokamak plasma. In order to improve accuracy of the diagnostic, it is necessary to reduce noise level of the pulse signals. In KSTAR, a fast digitizer with 5 GS/s has been adopted for obtaining the pulse shape information, and a research of model-based signal processing for the pulse signals has been conducted. In this paper, we present a new approach for the model-based signal processing and its parallel computation architecture design to improve its computation speed. As our approach, we conduct a nonlinear least square method in frequency domain by taking Fourier Transformation (FT) of the TS pulse model containing a convolution operator. Then, we can obtain algebraic functions for the transformed model and its Jacobian, which can reduce amount of computation and can be computed in parallel respect to frequency component. We implement the parallel computation of the algorithm in Graphical Processing Unit (GPU) and evaluate its effectiveness in terms of computation performance, convergence analysis, and variation of the model parameters.

Attenuation properties of EM wave by magnetized nonuniform plasma slab coated on perfect conductor plane

AbstractThe total amplitude reflection coefficient of EM wave in a nonuniform plasma slab coated on perfect conductor plane is newly derived by using the scattering matrix method (SMM), and the attenuation is calculated. Three types of plasma electron density profile, that is the hyperbolic, sinusoidal, and linear profiles, are used. The external magnetic field and plasma parameters such as the maximum electron density and collision frequencies are discussed to calculate the attenuation of EM wave. The calculation results show that the plasma electron density profile and maximum electron density exert a large effect to the attenuation of EM wave and the attenuation under the uniform external magnetic field is taken place by the electron cyclotron resonance absorption, the up hybrid resonance absorption and geometric resonances absorption.

Design of GPU-based parallel computation architecture of Thomson scattering diagnostic in KSTAR

The Thomson scattering (TS) System is a diagnostic system to measure electron temperature and density profiles of tokamak plasma. The TS system requires measurement of many input signals, and the amount of raw data has significantly increased since the TS data acquisition (DAQ) system was upgraded to a fast digitizer. Research has been done on applying artificial neural network (ANN) to TS data analysis for reducing calculation time. In this paper, we propose a design of computation architecture to effectively process the increased amount of data caused by the fast digitizer and to maximize the computation performance of the ANN. In the design, the intensity values of each input signal and the ANNs can be computed in parallel by utilizing a graphical processing unit (GPU). Furthermore, we integrate the data analysis task into the TS DAQ program for real time operation. Considering stability of the integration, we separate tasks of the data acquisition and the data analysis into each thread operation, and make tasks of each digitizer board to be conducted in parallel. In the feasibility test of the design, the calculation time is shown to be appropriate for real time operation.

Analysis of a plasma-assisted reactive evaporation process for preparation of ZnO thin films: Modeling and experimentation

This paper focuses on modeling and simulation of a plasma-assisted reactive evaporation process. A dimensional unsteady-state model consisting of six nonlinear parabolic partial differential equations which account for the diffusive and convective mass transfer, bulk and surface reactions, non-uniform fluid flow, and plasma electron density profiles is developed. The equations are spatially discretized using finite difference methods and then numerically solved. The simulation results are validated by comparison with a commercial simulation software that computes similar equation systems. To validate the model, experimental measurements of film thickness are carried out on ZnO films deposited by plasma-assisted reactive evaporation. After 130 min of deposition time and deposition rate around 6 nm/min, the simulated results and the experimental measurements exhibit a good agreement (770 nm and 750 nm respectively), just around 2.59% discrepancy in the final thin film thickness, hence showing the high accuracy of the developed model.

Optical transport properties of one dimensional plasma photonic crystals: Crossover from rectangular to semi-sinusoidal layers

We have numerically investigated the optical transport properties of one-dimensional plasma photonic crystals with varying layers shapes from rectangular to semi-sinusoidal ones. We do this crossover by a parameter Ld in the plasma electron density profile. We study the effects of various parameters such as plasma collision frequency, number of layers, total system length, plasma electron density and incident angle of the electromagnetic wave on the absorption and transmission coefficients of this system. We found that this system has narrow omnidirectional, omni-Ld, omni-(number of layers), and omni-(total system length) bandgaps which seems exotic. However, the position of these bandgaps can be tuned by changing other parameters of the system. The absorption edge of the system also redshifts by increasing the number of walleyes. Finally, high tunability of this system can help experimentalists to more easily fabricate their desired optical devices.

Numerical model for the determination of the reduced electric field in a CO2 microwave plasma derived by the principle of impedance matching

Three dimensional electromagnetic modelling of a free-standing CO2 microwave plasma has been performed, by describing the plasma as a dielectric medium. The relative permittivity and conductivity of the medium are parametrised. The waveguide geometry from the experiment, including the tuner, is put into the model, knowing that this corresponds to maximum power transfer of the microwave generator to the plasma under plasma impedance matching conditions. Two CO2 plasma discharge regimes, differing mainly in pressure, input power and temperature, have been studied. The model’s validity has been checked through study of materials of known conductivity. From measurements of the neutral gas temperature and the plasma electron density profile, the reduced electric field is determined. From the parametrisation of the dielectric properties, a range for the effective electron-neutral collision frequency for momentum transfer is estimated. The results for the reduced electric field and the range of the electron neutral collision frequency obtained, are consistent as verified by simulations using BOLSIG+. In addition, from this comparison it is possible to narrow down the range of the collision frequencies, and to estimate the electron temperature. The reduced electric field lies between 80 and 180 Td for the relatively low pressure, low input power, the so-called ‘diffuse’ regime. For the relatively high pressure, high input power (‘contracted’) regime it lies between 10 and 60 Td. The normalised collision frequency lies between 1.6 and 2.3 for the diffuse regime, while for the contracted regime it lies between 2 and 3. The electron temperature ranges from 2 to 3 eV for the diffuse regime, and from 0.5 to 1 eV for the contracted regime.

Model-based real-time plasma electron density profile estimation and control on ASDEX Upgrade and TCV

Real-time plasma electron density profile estimation and control are essential in the operation of future tokamaks. In particular, the robustness against diagnostics failure and disturbances is important for long pulse operation.A model-based approach to profile estimation is implemented on the control systems of ASDEX Upgrade and TCV, which is able to merge information from various diagnostics for both core and edge density, as well as systematically handling diagnostic failure. The model used for profile estimation is employed to tune a feedback controller before an experiment, thereby reducing the experimental time required for tuning.Subsequently, this observer and controller have been employed in scientific experiments on ASDEX Upgrade and TCV. On ASDEX Upgrade, the density profile estimator was used in high-density pellet-fuelled discharges, providing a more reliable real-time estimate of the core density for feedback control than previously achieved. On TCV, in experiments on integrated pressure and safety factor profile control, the density profile estimator and feedback controller provide a constant density despite disturbances from time-varying ECCD power. Additionally, the real-time density profiles provide an essential input for other real-time plasma state estimation codes including Electron Cyclotron ray tracing codes, contributing to a complete real-time estimation of the entire plasma state.

Advanced neutral alkali beam diagnostics for applications in fusion research (invited).

Diagnosing the density profile at the edge of high temperature fusion plasmas by an accelerated lithium beam is a known technique since decades. By knowledge of the relevant atomic physics rate coefficients, the plasma electron density profile can be calculated from the relatively calibrated light profile along the beam. Several additional possibilities have already been demonstrated: Charge Exchange Resonance Spectroscopy (CXRS) for ion temperature/flow and Zeeman polarimetry for edge plasma current; therefore the Li-beam diagnostic offers a wealth of information at the plasma edge. The weaknesses of the method are the relatively faint light signal, background light, and technical difficulties of the beam injector which usually seriously limit the applicability. In this talk, we present systematic developments in alkali-beam diagnostics (Li, Na) for the injector and the observation system and detectors which resulted in strongly increased capabilities. Advanced systems have been built, and microsecond scale density profile, turbulence, and zonal flow measurement have been demonstrated. A novel edge current measurement technique has also been designed, and components have been tested with potential microsecond-scale time resolution. Additional possibilities of these advanced systems for spectral measurements (CXRS and various Zeeman schemes) are also discussed.

Ultrafast two-dimensional lithium beam emission spectroscopy diagnostic on the EAST tokamak.

A diagnostic instrument is described for the Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST) for the measurement of the edge plasma electron density profile and plasma turbulence properties. An accelerated neutral lithium beam is injected into the tokamak and the Doppler shifted 670.8 nm light emission of the Li2p-2s transition is detected. A novel compact setup is used, where the beam injection and observation take place from the same equatorial diagnostic port and radial-poloidal resolution is achieved with microsecond time resolution. The observation direction is optimized in order to achieve a sufficient Doppler shift of the beam light to be able to separate from the strong edge lithium line emission on this lithium coated device. A 250 kHz beam chopping technique is also demonstrated for the removal of background light. First results show the capability of measuring turbulence and its poloidal flow velocity in the scrape-off layer and edge region and the resolution of details of transient phenomena like edge localized modes with few microsecond time resolution.

Sub-millisecond electron density profile measurement at the JET tokamak with the fast lithium beam emission spectroscopy system.

Diagnostic alkali atom (e.g., lithium) beams are routinely used to diagnose magnetically confined plasmas, namely, to measure the plasma electron density profile in the edge and the scrape off layer region. A light splitting optics system was installed into the observation system of the lithium beam emission spectroscopy diagnostic at the Joint European Torus (JET) tokamak, which allows simultaneous measurement of the beam light emission with a spectrometer and a fast avalanche photodiode (APD) camera. The spectrometer measurement allows density profile reconstruction with ∼10 ms time resolution, absolute position calculation from the Doppler shift, spectral background subtraction as well as relative intensity calibration of the channels for each discharge. The APD system is capable of measuring light intensities on the microsecond time scale. However ∼100 μs integration is needed to have an acceptable signal to noise ratio due to moderate light levels. Fast modulation of the beam up to 30 kHz is implemented which allows background subtraction on the 100 μs time scale. The measurement covers the 0.9 < ρpol < 1.1 range with 6-10 mm optical resolution at the measurement location which translates to 3-5 mm radial resolution at the midplane due to flux expansion. An automated routine has been developed which performs the background subtraction, the relative calibration, and the comprehensive error calculation, runs a Bayesian density reconstruction code, and loads results to the JET database. The paper demonstrates the capability of the APD system by analyzing fast phenomena like pellet injection and edge localized modes.

1 μs broadband frequency sweeping reflectometry for plasma density and fluctuation profile measurements.

Frequency swept reflectometry has reached the symbolic value of 1 μs sweeping time; this performance has been made possible, thanks to an improved control of the ramp voltage driving the frequency source. In parallel, the memory depth of the acquisition system has been upgraded and can provide up to 200 000 signals during a plasma discharge. Additional improvements regarding the trigger delay determination of the acquisition and the voltage ramp linearity required by this ultra-fast technique have been set. While this diagnostic is traditionally dedicated to the plasma electron density profile measurement, such a fast sweeping rate can provide the study of fast plasma events and turbulence with unprecedented time and radial resolution from the edge to the core. Experimental results obtained on ASDEX Upgrade plasmas are presented to demonstrate the performances of the diagnostic.

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.

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.