Tangential soft x-ray camera for Large Helical Device

A tangentially viewing soft x-ray camera system is to be installed on the Large Helical Device (LHD). This camera system is aimed at exploring both detailed structures of the magnetic surfaces of the LHD plasma and helical islands induced either due to magnetic field errors or MHD instabilities. The frequency range this system is capable of exploring is 0<v<2?kHz; this range can be extended, if the space resolution or the viewing area were reduced

High-speed tangentially viewing soft x-ray camera to study magnetohydrodynamic fluctuations in toroidally confined plasmas (invited)

A high-speed tangentially viewing soft x-ray camera system has been developed and installed on the large helical device (LHD) using a video camera with a maximum framing rate of 13.5 kHz. Low-frequency activities, for example, structures with toroidal/poloidal mode number n/m = 1/2, are directly detected with this system

Determination of the electron velocity distribution from the soft and hard x-ray emission during lower-hybrid current drive on PLT

During lower-hybrid heating in low-density-tokamak discharges, a nonMaxwellian tail of high-energy electrons is formed. This tail carries the plasma current. Utilizing the fact that relativistic electrons emit bremsstrahlung predominantly in the forward direction, we investigate the shape of the electron distribution by measuring the dependence of the x-ray emission on the angle between the magnetic field and the line of sight. The experimental data indicate that the distribution function is predominantly peaked in the forward direction, although a small fraction of the electrons is in the backward cone. The energy dependence of the x-ray spectra is consistent with that of a velocity distribution which has a plateau extending out to several hundred kiloelectron volts. Radial profiles show that the hot electrons are located in the central plasma region and form a high-conductivity plasma with the current profile frozen in. The slope of the spectrum depends on the rf power and on the phasing of the waveguide grill, but not on the externally applied plasma voltage. Relaxation oscillations occur shortly after switching the rf off. They also appear during the rf for low rf power and at the high-density limit of the lower-hybrid current drive. The x-ray spectra confirm that parallel energy is transferred to perpendicular energy during the instability, suggesting an instability due to the anomalous Doppler effect

Design studies for ITER x-ray diagnostics

Concepts for adapting conventional tokamak x-ray diagnostics to the harsh radiation environment of ITER include use of grazing-incidence (GI) x-ray mirrors or man-made Bragg multilayer (ML) elements to remove the x-ray beam from the neutron beam, or use of bundles of glass-capillary x-ray ``light pipes`` embedded in radiation shields to reduce the neutron/gamma-ray fluxes onto the detectors while maintaining usable x-ray throughput. The x-ray optical element with the broadest bandwidth and highest throughput, the GI mirror, can provide adequate lateral deflection (10 cm for a deflected-path length of 8 m) at x-ray energies up to 12, 22, or 30 keV for one, two, or three deflections, respectively. This element can be used with the broad band, high intensity x-ray imaging system (XIS), the pulseheight analysis (PHA) survey spectrometer, or the high resolution Johann x-ray crystal spectrometer (XCS), which is used for ion-temperature measurement. The ML mirrors can isolate the detector from the neutron beam with a single deflection for energies up to 50 keV, but have much narrower bandwidth and lower x-ray power throughput than do the GI mirrors; they are unsuitable for use with the XIS or PHA, but they could be used with the XCS; in particular, these deflectors could be used between ITER and the biological shield to avoid direct plasma neutron streaming through the biological shield. Graded-d ML mirrors have good reflectivity from 20 to 70 keV, but still at grazing angles (<3 mrad). The efficiency at 70 keV for double reflection (10 percent), as required for adequate separation of the x-ray and neutron beams, is high enough for PHA requirements, but not for the XIS. Further optimization may be possible

Experimental and Theoretical Investigation of Synergy between Ion Bernstein and Lower Hybrid Waves in PBX-M

The synergistic behavior of lower hybrid and ion Bernstein waves on the Princeton Beta Experiment-Modified tokamak [Phys. Fluids B 2, 1271 (1990)] is experimentally studied using a 2-D hard X-ray camera. The hard X-ray bremsstrahlung emission from suprathermal electrons, generated with lower hybrid current drive, is enhanced during ion Bernstein wave power injection. This enhancement is observed in limited regions of space suggesting the formation of localized current channels. The effects on plasma electrons during combined application of these two types of waves are theoretically investigated using a quasilinear model. The numerical code simultaneously solves the 3-D (R, Z, {Phi}) toroidal wave equation for the electric field (in the WKBJ approximation) and the Fokker-Planck equation for the distribution function in two dimensions (v{sub parallel}, v{sub perpendicular}) with an added quasilinear diffusion coefficient. The radial profile of the non-inductively generated current density, the transmitted power traces and the total power damping curve are calculated. The beneficial effects of a combined utilization of ion Bernstein and lower hybrid waves on the current drive are emphasized. The numerical results are compared with the experimental observations

MHD-Induced Alpha Particle Loss in TFTR

MHD-induced increases in alpha particle loss to the wall were observed for both coherent modes and transient reconnection events using an array of scintillator detectors near the wall of Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor (TFTR). The magnitude of the coherent MHD-induced alpha loss as seen by these detectors was normally comparable to the MHD-quiescent first-orbit or toroidal-field ripple loss, but the magnitude of the alpha loss during reconnection events was up to 1000 times higher than this for a short time. Modeling suggest that the coherent MHD loss mechanism will be even less significant for future reactor-scale deuterium-tritium tokamaks due to the smaller ratio of the alpha gyroradius to minor radius