Plasma Physics

Contains research objectives and reports on four research projects.U.S. Atomic Energy Commission (Contract AT(30- 1)- 1842)U.S. Air Force (Electronic Systems Division) under Contract AF 19(604)- 599

Coherent and turbulent fluctuations in TFTR

Classification of the sawteeth observed in the TFTR tokamak has been carried out to highlight the differences between the many types observed. Three types of sawteeth are discussed: ''simple,'' ''small,'' and ''compound.'' During the enhanced confinement discharges on TFTR, sawteeth related to q = 1 are usually not present, but a sawtooth-like event is sometimes observed. ..beta.. approaches the Troyon limit only at low q/sub cyl/ with a clear reduction of achievable ..beta../sub n/ at high q/sub cyl/. This suggests that a ..beta../sub p/ limit, rather than the Troyon-Gruber limit, applies at high q/sub cyl/ in the enhanced confinement discharges. These discharges also reach the stability boundary for n ..-->.. infinity ideal MHD ballooning modes. Turbulence measurements in the scrape-off region with Langmuir and magnetic probes show strong edge density turbulence n-tilde/n = 0.3 - 0.5, with weak magnetic turbulence B-tilde/sub theta/B/sub theta/ > 5 x 10/sup -6/ measured at the wall, but these measurements are very sensitive to local edge conditions

Toxoplasma gondii Lysine Acetyltransferase GCN5-A Functions in the Cellular Response to Alkaline Stress and Expression of Cyst Genes

Parasitic protozoa such as the apicomplexan Toxoplasma gondii progress through their life cycle in response to stimuli in the environment or host organism. Very little is known about how proliferating tachyzoites reprogram their expressed genome in response to stresses that prompt development into latent bradyzoite cysts. We have previously linked histone acetylation with the expression of stage-specific genes, but the factors involved remain to be determined. We sought to determine if GCN5, which operates as a transcriptional co-activator by virtue of its histone acetyltransferase (HAT) activity, contributed to stress-induced changes in gene expression in Toxoplasma. In contrast to other lower eukaryotes, Toxoplasma has duplicated its GCN5 lysine acetyltransferase (KAT). Disruption of the gene encoding for TgGCN5-A in type I RH strain did not produce a severe phenotype under normal culture conditions, but here we show that the TgGCN5-A null mutant is deficient in responding to alkaline pH, a common stress used to induce bradyzoite differentiation in vitro. We performed a genome-wide analysis of the Toxoplasma transcriptional response to alkaline pH stress, finding that parasites deleted for TgGCN5-A fail to up-regulate 74% of the stress response genes that are induced 2-fold or more in wild-type. Using chromatin immunoprecipitation, we verify an enrichment of TgGCN5-A at the upstream regions of genes activated by alkaline pH exposure. The TgGCN5-A knockout is also incapable of up-regulating key marker genes expressed during development of the latent cyst form, and is impaired in its ability to recover from alkaline stress. Complementation of the TgGCN5-A knockout restores the expression of these stress-induced genes and reverses the stress recovery defect. These results establish TgGCN5-A as a major contributor to the alkaline stress response in RH strain Toxoplasma

PDX experimental results

The main objectives of the Poloidal Divertor Experiment (PDX) are to: (1) determine the effectiveness of poloidal divertors in controlling impurities in high temperature plasmas, (2) use the poloidal divertor to provide clean plasmas for confinement and high beta studies, and (3) investigate the effect of cross-section shaping on plasma confinement and MHD properties. In this paper, we report the results obtained during initial divertor operation of the PDX

Recent results from the PLT tokamak

Impurity behavior is discussed, specifically the control of oxygen by discharge cleaning and the identification and quantitative measurement of tungsten radiation. The main types of PLT discharges are compared, classified by tungsten content and MHD instability properties. Plasma confinement is then discussed

Effect of plasma surface interactions on PLT plasma parameters

This paper gives a brief description of the geometry and parameters of the PLT tokamak, reviews some of the last four years' results that are particularly relevant to plasma-boundary interactions, and then concentrates on two specific problems

Ordinary-mode fundamental electron cyclotron resonance absorption and emission in the Princeton Large Torus

Fundamental electron cyclotron resonance damping for 4 mm waves with ordinary polarization is measured for propagation along the major radius traversing the midplane of the plasma in the Princeton Large Torus (PLT). Optical depths obtained from the data are in good agreement with those predicted by the relativistic hot plasma theory. Near blackbody emission over much of the plasma midplane is obtained and, in conjunction with the damping measurements, indicates that the vessel reflectivity is high. The practical use of ordinary mode fundamental electron cyclotron resonance heating (ECRH) in existing and future toroidal devices is supported by these results

Fast wave heating in the Princeton Large Torus

Fast wave heating in the ion cyclotron range of frequencies (ICRF) is being studied on the Princeton Large Torus (PLT) to evaluate its potential for heating large reactor-scale toroidal plasmas. Of primary interest are the two-ion and pure second harmonic heating regimes which, with proper control of the ion energy distribution and the rf power deposition profile, permit substantial energy glow into the bulk plasma ions. Initial heating experiments have been conducted with a single 1/2 turn antenna up to wave powers of P/sub rf/ approx. = 350 kW for durations of greater than or equal to 100 ms in the two-ion regime under conditions for which direct fundamental cyclotron damping on the minority ion species dominates the wave absorption. Ion-ion coupling serves to heat the majority ions and for energetic minority ion energy distributions, energy flow to the electrons results from electron drag. Substantial ion heating is found for D-p mixtures; ..delta..T/sub d/(0) approx. = 600 eV for 350 kW with anti n/sub e/ approx. = 2 x 10/sup 13/ cm/sup -3/. The deuteron heating efficiency is improved by about a factor of approx. 2 in D/sup -3/He mixtures; ..delta..T/sub d/(0) approx. = 500 eV for 150 kW with anti n/sub e/ approx. = 2.1 x 10/sup 13/ cm/sup -3/

Determination of the time evolution of the electron-temperature profile of reactor-like plasmas from the measurement of blackbody electron-cyclotron emission

Plasma characteristics (i.e., n/sub e/ greater than or equal to 1 x 10/sup 13/ cm/sup -3/, T/sub e/ greater than or equal to 10/sup 7/ /sup 0/K, B/sub psi/ greater than or equal to 20 kG) in present and future magnetically confined plasma devices, e.g., Princeton Large Torus (PLT) and Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor (TFTR), meet the conditions for blackbody emission near the electron cyclotron frequency and at few harmonics. These conditions, derived from the hot plasma dielectric tensor, have been verified by propagation experiments on PLT and the Princeton Model-C Stellarator. Blackbody emission near the fundamental electron cyclotron frequency and the second harmonic have been observed in PLT and is routinely measured to ascertain the time evolution of the electron temperature profile. These measurements are especially valuable in the study of auxiliary heating of tokamak plasma. Measurement and calibration techniques will also be discussed with special emphasis on our fast-scanning heterodyne receiver concept