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To interpret the common symmetric peaks caused by the large-scale structure in the complex S(f) spectrum from the heterodyne Doppler reflectometry (DR) measurement in EAST, a 2D circular-shape O-mode full wave model based on the finite-difference time-domain method is built. The scattering characteristics and the influences on the DR signal from various scales are investigated. When the structure is located around the cut-off layer, a moving radial or poloidal large scale structure $k_\theta\lesssim k_{\theta,match}$ ($k_{\theta,match}$ is the theoretic wavenumber of Bragg scattering) could both generate an oscillation phase term called “phase modulation”, and symmetrical peaks in the complex S(f) spectrum. It was found that the image rejection ratio $A_{-1}/A_{+1}$ ($A_{\pm1}$ represent the amplitudes of $\pm1$ order modulation peaks) could be a feasible indicator for experiment comparison. In the case when the structure is near the cut-off layer same as experiment arrangement for the edge DR channel, the curve of $A_{-1}/A_{+1}$ versus to $k_\theta$ could be divided into three regions, weak asymmetrical range with $k_\theta/k_0\lesssim0.15$ ($k_0$ is the vacuum wavenumber), harmonics range with $0.15\lesssim k_\theta/k_0\lesssim0.4$, and Bragg scattering range $0.4\lesssim k_{\theta}/k_0\lesssim0.7$. In the case when the structure is located away from the cut-off layer, the final complex S(f) spectrum is the simple superimposing of modulation and Bragg scattering, and the modulation peaks have an amplitude response nearly proportional to the local density fluctuation, called the "propagation-route effect". Under the H-mode experiment arrangement for the core DR, a critical fluctuation amplitude $Amp(n_{e,Mod.@route})/Amp(n_{e,Tur.@MSA})\sim1.3-4.1$ ($Amp(n_{e,Mod.@route})$ refers to the pedestal large scale structure amplitude and $Amp(n_{e,Tur.@MSA})$ refers to turbulence amplitude at the main scattering area) is needed for the structure in the pedestal to be observed by the core DR measurement. The simulations are well consistent with the experimental results. These effects need to be carefully considered during the DR signal analyses as the injecting beam passing through the plasma region with large scale structures.

The Doppler reflectometer (DR), a powerful diagnostic for the plasma perpendicular velocity ($u_\perp$) and turbulence measurement has been widely used in various fusion devices. Many efforts have been put into extracting the Doppler shift from the DR signal. There are several commonly used methods for Doppler shift extraction, such as the phase derivative, the center of gravity (COG), and symmetric fitting (SFIT). However, the strong zero-order reflection component around $0 kHz$ may interfere with the calculation of the Doppler shift. To avoid the influence of the zero-frequency peak, the asymmetric fitting (AFIT) method was designed to calculate the Doppler shift. Nevertheless, the AFIT method may lead to an unacceptable error when the Doppler shift is relatively small compared to the half width at half maximum (HWHM). Therefore, an optimized method, which can remove the zero-frequency peak and fit the remaining Doppler peak with a Gaussian function, is devised to extract the Doppler shift. This method can still work reliably whether the HWHM is larger than the Doppler shift or not.

Propagation of whistler-mode waves in a magnetized plasma structure is investigated in the Keda linear magnetized plasma device. The magnetized plasma structure has its density peak in the center, and the background magnetic field is homogeneous along the axial direction. A whistler-mode wave with a frequency of 0.3 times of electron cyclotron frequency (f ce) is launched into the plasma structure. The wave normal angle (WNA) is about 25°, and the wavefront exhibits a wedge structure. During propagation of the whistler wave, both the propagating angle and WNA slowly approach zero, and then the wave is converged toward the center of the structure. Therefore, the wave tends to be trapped in the plasma structure. The results present observational evidence of the propagation of a whistler-mode wave trapped in the enhanced-density structure in a laboratory plasma. This trapping effect is consistent with satellite observations in the inner magnetosphere.

In addition to the magnetic confinement fusion plasma, Thomson scattering has been applied to measure electron density and temperature of low-temperature plasmas. Based on a linear magnetized plasma device, a set of Thomson scattering diagnostic system is designed to diagnose the plasma with n e = 10 18 – 10 19 m − 3 and T e = 2 – 5 eV. Due to low plasma temperature and density, this diagnostic system needs high spectral resolution and collection efficiency to meet the requirements of electron velocity distribution function measurements. Through the bench test, it is confirmed that the spectral resolution reaches 0.01 nm, and theoretical collection efficiency is high enough to obtain a Thomson scattering spectrum by 1000 accumulations.

Motivated by the need of the electron density measurement for the Keda Reconnection eXperiment (KRX) facility which is under development, an interferometer system has been designed and tested in bench. The 320 GHz solid-state microwave source with 1 mm wavelength is used to fulfill the high phase difference measurement in such low temperature plasma device. The results of the bench test show that the phase difference is accurately measured. In contrast to tens of degrees of phase shift expected to be measured on the KRX, the system noise (∼1°) is low enough for the KRX diagnostics. In order to optimize the system for better performance, we utilize the Terasense sub-THz imaging system to adjust alignment. The interferometer system has also been calibrated via changing of the optical path length controlled by the piezo inertial motor. Simultaneously, high density polyethylene thin film is introduced successfully to change a tiny phase difference and test the sensitivity of the interferometer system.

A dynamo is necessary for reversed field pinch (RFP) configuration sustainment in a continuous way or oscillation cycles by self-organization. A dynamo velocity field from electrostatic drift is studied in three-dimensional (3D) equilibrium for Keda Torus eXperiment RFP plasmas in quasi-multi-helical (QMH) and quasi-single-helical (QSH) states. The 3D equilibrium reconstruction is computed by VMEC code. It is found that the electrostatic potential provides helical modulation of plasma flow in QSH states. The electrostatic potential in QMH states is processed as a superposition of limited helical harmonics, and it shows an axisymmetric pattern. Non-axisymmetric components are negligible in QMH states because of flux surface averaging of the electrostatic field and corresponding electrostatic drift flow. The electrostatic drift velocity is comparable to the total plasma drift in QSH states; this implies that the electrostatic drift may play an important role in sustaining the helical configuration in RFP plasma.

A compact torus injection system, KTX-CTI, has been developed for the planned injection experiments on the Keda Torus eXperiment (KTX) reversed field pinch (RFP) device to investigate the physics and engineering issues associated with interaction between a compact torus (CT) and RFP. The key interests include fueling directly into the reactor center, confinement improvement, and the injection of momentum and helicity into the RFP discharges. The CT velocity and mass have been measured using a multichannel optical fiber interferometer, and for the first time the time evolution of the CT density profile during CT propagation is obtained. The effects of discharge parameters on the number of injected particles, CT velocity and CT density have been characterized: the maximum hydrogen CT plasma mass, m CT , is 50 μg, corresponding to 30% of the mass in a typical KTX plasma; the CT velocity exceeds 120 km s−1. It is observed for the first time that multiple CTs can be produced and emitted during a very short period (μs) in one discharge, which is significant for the future study of repetitive CT injection, even with an ultra-high frequency.

Through a systematically developed theory, we demonstrate that the motion of Instanton identified in Zhang et al (2017 Phys. Plasmas 24 122304) is highly correlated to the intermittent excitation and propagation of geodesic acoustic mode (GAM) that is observed in tokamaks. While many numerical simulations have observed the phenomena, it is the first theory that reveals the physical mechanism behind GAM intermittent excitation and propagation. The preceding work is based on the micro-turbulence associated with toroidal ion temperature gradient mode, and slab-based phenomenological model of zonal flow. When full toroidal effect is introduced into the system, two branches of zonal flow emerge: the torus-modified low frequency zonal flow (TLFZF), and GAM, necessitating a unified exploration of GAM and TLFZF. Indeed, we observe that the transition from the Caviton to Instanton is triggered by a rapid zero-crossing of radial group velocity of drift wave and is found to be strongly correlated with the GAM onset. Many features peculiar to intermittent GAMs, observed in real machines, are thus identified in the numerical experiment. The results will be displayed in figures and in a movie; first for single central rational surface, and then with coupled multiple central rational surfaces. The periodic bursting first shown disappears as being replaced by irregular one, more similar to the intermittent characteristics observed in GAM experiments.

A front-end optics system has been developed for the EAST microwave imaging reflectometry for 2D density fluctuation measurement. Via the transmitter optics system, a combination of eight transmitter beams with independent frequencies is employed to illuminate wide poloidal regions on eight distinct cutoff layers. The receiver optics collect the reflected wavefront and project them onto the vertical detector array with 12 antennas. Utilizing optimized Field Curvature adjustment lenses in the receiver optics, the front-end optics system provides a flexible and perfect matching between the image plane and a specified cutoff layer in the plasma, which ensures the correct data interpretation of density fluctuation measurement.

The Doppler backscattering system has been widely used for turbulence measurements, and the microwave beam will be backscattered near the cut-off layer when the Brag condition is fulfilled. In tokamak, the ray-tracing code is used to obtain the radial position and perpendicular wave number of the scattering layer for turbulence velocity measurement and the WKB (Wentzel-Kramers-Brillouin) approximation should be satisfied for optical propagation. To calculate the backscattering location and wave number at the cut-off layer only, a single ray tracing in the cross section is enough, while for spatial and wave number resolution calculation, multiple rays reflecting the microwave beam size should be used. Considering the angle between the wave vector and the magnetic field, a three-dimension quasi-optical Gaussian ray tracing is sometimes needed.

A 10-channel H α diagnostic system has been designed with the rapid response rate of 300 kHz, spatial resolution of about 40 mm, and overlap between adjacent channels of about 3%, and it has been implemented successfully on Keda Torus eXperiment (KTX), a newly constructed, reversed field pinch (RFP) experimental device at the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC). This diagnostic system is a very important tool for the initial KTX operations. It is compact, with an aperture slit replacing the traditional optical lens system. A flexural interference filter is designed to prevent the center wavelength from shifting too much as the increase of angle from vertical incidence. To eliminate the stray light, the interior of the system is covered with the black aluminum foil having a very high absorptivity. Using the H α emission data, together with the profiles of electron temperature and density obtained from the Langmuir probe, the neutral density profiles have been calculated for KTX plasmas. The rapid response rate and good spatial resolution of this H α diagnostic system will be beneficial for many studies in RFP plasma physics.

By analyzing large quantities of discharges in the unfavorable ion $ \vec B\times \nabla B $ drift direction, the I-mode operation has been confirmed in EAST tokamak. During the L-mode to I-mode transition, the energy confinement has a prominent improvement by the formation of a high-temperature edge pedestal, while the particle confinement remains almost identical to that in the L-mode. Similar with the I-mode observation on other devices, the $ E_r $ profiles obtained by the eight-channel Doppler backscattering system (DBS8)\cite{J.Q.Hu} show a deeper edge $ E_r $ well in the I-mode than that in the L-mode. And a weak coherent mode (WCM) with the frequency range of 40-150 kHz is observed at the edge plasma with the radial extend of about 2-3 cm. WCM could be observed in both density fluctuation and radial electric field fluctuation, and the bicoherence analyses showed significant couplings between WCM and high frequency turbulence, implying that the $ E_r $ fluctuation and the caused flow shear from WCM should play an important role during I-mode. In addition, a low-frequency oscillation with a frequency range of 5-10 kHz is always accompanied with WCM, where GAM intensity is decreased or disappeared. Many evidences show that the a low-frequency oscillation may be a novel kind of limited cycle oscillation but further investigations are needed to explain the new properties such as the harmonics and obvious magnetical perturbations., Comment: 14 pages, 7 figures

The Keda Torus eXperiment (KTX) is still operated in the commissioning phase, and preparation for the operation capability of the KTX phase II upgrade is underway. The diagnostics in the KTX have been greatly developed: (1) the terahertz interferometer has been upgraded to seven chords for electron density profile inversion; (2) a Thomson scattering system with a 5 Joule laser has been installed and commissioning is in progress; (3) a 3D movable probe system has been developed for the electromagnetic turbulence measurement; (4) double-foil soft x-ray imaging diagnostics have been set up and a bench test has been completed; (5) an edge capacitive probe has been installed for the radial electrical field measurement; (6) a multi-channel spectrograph system has been built for detecting impurities of carbon and oxygen. In addition, the design of a new compact torus injection system has been completed for feeding and momentum driving. Pilot research, such as the 3D reversed field pinch physics and electromagnetic turbulence, etc, have been conducted in the discharge status of the KTX. The 3D spectra characters of electromagnetic turbulence are firstly measured using a classical two-point technique by Langmuir probe arrays set on the 3D movable probe system and edge magnetic sensors. The forward scattering is collected by the interferometer system, which shows the potential for turbulence research. The electromagnetic turbulence is tentatively investigated in the KTX. The formation of a quasi-single-helicity state in the KTX regime is also preliminarily explored in simulation.

We conduct an electron magnetohydrodynamics magnetic reconnection experiment with guide-field in our Keda linear magnetized plasma device, in which two pulsed currents with the same direction are conducted in parallel with the axial direction of the main chamber of the device using two long aluminum sticks. After approximately , an X-type magnetic field line topology is formed at the center of the chamber. With the formation of the X-type topology of magnetic field lines, we can also find the rapid increase of the current and ratio of the common flux to the private flux in this area. Additionally, a reduction in the plasma density and the plasma density concentration along one pair of separatrices can also be found.

An extraordinary-mode (X-mode) frequency-modulated continuous-wave (FMCW) profile reflectometer has been built on EAST. In the reflectometer, continuous waves with frequency sweeping from 12.5 GHz to 18 GHz were generated through a Hyperabrupt Tuned-varactor Oscillator (HTO) source and a four times active multiplier was used to increase the frequency to V-band (50 GHz to 72 GHz). The polarization of horn lens antenna is perpendicular to the magnetic field line at the edge plasmas. According to the V-band frequency range and polarization, the system cover density range from 0.5 × 1019m−3 to 3.0 × 1019m−3 (when toroidal magnetic field is 1.8 T), with time resolution of 12.5 ~ 50 μs. The density profile could be calculated by assuming the edge profile through an empirical equation. The maximum spatial error deduced by the method is about 4 cm. This reflectometer has been successfully applied in 2010 autumn EAST campaign, the temporal evolution of density profiles was acquired during the low confinement mode to high confinement mode transition. The density pedestal of EAST Tokamak was observed and the top value and gradient of the density pedestal were estimated.

The daily sunspot numbers of the whole disk as well as the northern and southern hemispheres from January 1, 1945 to December 31, 2010 are used to investigate the temporal variation of the rotational cycle length through the continuous wavelet transformation analysis method. The auto-correlation function analysis of daily hemispheric sunspot numbers shows that the southern hemisphere rotates faster than the northern hemisphere. The results obtained from the wavelet transformation analysis are: there exists no direct relationship between the variation trend of the rotational cycle length and the variation trend of solar activity in the two hemispheres; the rotational cycle length of both hemispheres has no significant period appearing at the 11 years, but has significant period of about 7.6 years. Analysis concerning the solar cycle dependence of the rotational cycle length shows that in the whole disk and the northern hemisphere acceleration seems to appear before the minimum time of solar activity. Furthermore, the cross-correlation study indicates that the rotational cycle length of the two hemispheres has different phases, and the rotational cycle length of the whole disk as well as the northern and southern hemispheres also has phase shifts with the corresponding solar activity. What's more, the temporal variation of North-South (N-S) asymmetry of the rotational cycle length is also studied; it displays the same variation trend as the N-S asymmetry of solar activity in a solar cycle as well as in the considered time interval, and it has two significant periods of 7.7 and 17.5 years. Moreover, the N-S asymmetry of the rotational cycle length and the N-S asymmetry of solar activity are highly correlated. It's inferred that the northern hemisphere should rotate faster at the beginning of solar cycle 24.

Continuous emission spectrum measurement is applied for the inconvenient diagnostics of low-temperature collisional plasmas. According to the physical mechanism of continuous emission, a simplified model is presented to analyze the spectrum in low temperature plasma. The validity of this model is discussed in a wide range of discharge parameters, including electron temperature and ionization degree. Through the simplified model, the continuous emission spectrum in a collisional argon internal inductively coupled plasma is experimentally measured to determine the electron temperature distribution for different gas pressures and radio-frequency powers. The inverse Abel transform is also applied for a better spatially resoluted results. Meanwhile, the result of the continuous emission spectrum measurement is compared to that of the electrostatic double probes, which indicates the effectiveness of this method.

In order to investigate electron dynamics near the electron diffusion region in magnetic reconnection process, an upgrade in the linear magnetized plasma (LMP) device is accomplished at the University of Science and Technology of China. Radio frequency (RF) helicon discharge is used to generate a quasi-stationary plasma, and a time-dependent magnetic field is applied to the plasma, which exhibits an X-type neutral point in vacuum. A two-dimensional sophisticated mobile platform is built up, providing a high spatial resolution, below 0.5 mm, for the diagnostics.

An upgraded electron cyclotron emission imaging (ECEI) system consisting of new optics lenses with necessary electronics for receiving and processing signals for two dimension (2D) ECEI diagnostics was installed on EAST. Hyperboloid lens were adopted in the new system to optimize the spatial resolutions. The mixers array of sixteen elements measured the plasma electron cyclotron emission at eight frequencies simultaneously, and the profiles of the electron temperature and its fluctuation in an area of 20 cm (vertical) × 6 cm (horizontal) could then be analyzed. Evolution of sawtooth precursor and crash in EAST was observed.

A simple diagnostic tool for density measurements in plasma with a certain spatial resolution is proposed in this paper. It uses the emission characteristics of monopole antenna to determine the dielectic property of plasma = 1 − fp2/f2, with the fp electron plasma frequency related to plasma density. We immersed a monopole antenna probe into plasma and introduced a microwave signal via a network analyzer. When the emitted power is maximized, the reflected power is minimized and there occurs a resonance. Since can be derived from the resonant frequency, this is actually a method to measure the absolute electron density. Validated by a comparison with the amended Langmuir double-probe method, the monopole antenna probe is valuable. In addition, it is free from the difficulties, such as fluctuation in plasma potential.

A method is proposed to built up plasma based on a nonlinear enhancement phenomenon of plasma density with discharge by multiple internal antennas simultaneously. It turns out that the plasma density under multiple sources is higher than the linear summation of the density under each source. This effect is helpful to reduce the fast exponential decay of plasma density in single internal inductively coupled plasma source and generating a larger-area plasma with multiple internal inductively coupled plasma sources. After a careful study on the balance between the enhancement and the decay of plasma density in experiments, a plasma is built up by four sources, which proves the feasibility of this method. According to the method, more sources and more intensive enhancement effect can be employed to further build up a high-density, large-area plasma for different applications.

The design of the poloidal field (PF) system includes the ohmic heating field system and the equilibrium (EQ) field system, and is the basis for the design of a magnetic confinement fusion device. A coupling between the poloidal and plasma currents, especially the eddy current in the stabilizing shell, yields design difficulties. The effects of the eddy current in the stabilizing shell on the poloidal magnetic field also cannot be ignored. A new PF system design is thus proposed. By using a low-μ material (μ = 0.001, e = 1) instead of a conductive shell, an electromagnetic model is established that can provide a continuous eddy current distribution on the conductive shell. In this model, a 3D time-domain problem with shells translates into a 2D magnetostatic problem, and the accuracy of the calculation is improved. Based on these current distributions, we design the PF system and analyze how the EQ coils and conductive shell affect the plasma EQ when the plasma ramps up. To meet the mainframe design requirements and achieve an efficient power-supply design, the position and connection of the poloidal coils are optimized further.

We report on current profile evolution in EAST NBI driven plasmas where two neutral beams are injected, one during the current ramp phase and the second during flattop. At the end of the current ramp phase, it is found that a flat q profile with q 0 ~ 1 is achieved with low magnetic shear in the core. It is observed that plasma current and density both relax much faster than resistive time, even in the absence of sawtooth activity when H–L transition occurs. Density fluctuations associated with magnetic perturbations (3/2) as a precursor to the H–L transition are observed. It is likely that these modes play a role in fast current transport.

A 384 channels (24 vertical × 16 radial) Electron Cyclotron Emission Imaging (ECEI) system has been installed on Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST). With the aid of advanced front optics, high spaital resolution around 1.1cm and flexible vertical coverage 30 ~ 70 cm have been realized. The well-designed optics also provides a long Rayleigh length up to 70 cm even with an object length larger than 2.6 m. The electronic system has a wide immediate frequency (IF) bandwidth 2 ~ 16.5 GHz, which enables a continuous radial coverage up to 25 cm. Benefited from advanced optics design and the wide IF bandwidth, the ECEI system with high spatial resolution can provide a large and continuous view field, especially in the radial direction, which is enough for the observation of the whole q = 1 surface. The comprehensive details of the ECEI system will be presented in this paper, along with some experimental results.

An intelligent remote control system based on a power distribution unit (PDU) and Arduino has been designed for the electron cyclotron emission imaging (ECEI) system on Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST). This intelligent system has three major functions: ECEI system reboot, measurement region adjustment and signal amplitude optimization. The observation region of ECEI can be modified for different physics proposals by remotely tuning the optical and electronics systems. Via the remote adjustment of the attenuation level, the ECEI intermediate frequency signal amplitude can be efficiently optimized. The remote control system provides a feasible and reliable solution for the improvement of signal quality and the efficiency of the ECEI diagnostic system, which is also valuable for other diagnostic systems.

A new integrated technique for fast and accurate measurement of the quasi-optics, especially for the microwave/millimeter wave diagnostic systems of fusion plasma, has been developed. Using the LabVIEW-based comprehensive scanning system, we can realize not only automatic but also fast and accurate measurement, which will help to eliminate the effects of temperature drift and standing wave/multi-reflection. With the Matlab-based asymmetric two-dimensional Gaussian fitting method, all the desired parameters of the microwave beam can be obtained. This technique can be used in the design and testing of microwave diagnostic systems such as reflectometers and the electron cyclotron emission imaging diagnostic systems of the Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak.

An electron cyclotron emission imaging (ECEI) system is being developed for J-TEXT. It is comprised of two 16-channel antenna arrays that share the same toroidal window for the purpose of observing separate radial regions of the tokamak plasma simultaneously. Two imaging optic units have been designed, which share the same zoom lenses, but have different focus lenses. The setup is flexible and achieves good spatial resolution. In particular, the poloidal zoom factor can achieve 1.17 to 2.20. The desired focal plane can range anywhere from high field side (HFS) edge to low field side (LFS) edge. The effective field curvature adjustment (FCA) lenses have been adopted for the ECEI imaging optic system, which make the image plane flat enough to match the emission layer in order to increase the image quality.

Advanced imaging optics techniques have significantly improved the performance of millimeter-wave imaging diagnostics, such as Electron Cyclotron Emission imaging and Microwave Imaging of Reflectometry. The fundamental functions of millimeter-wave imaging optics are focusing, collecting the emission or reflected microwave signal from the target area in the plasma and focusing the emitted (reflected) signal on the detector array. The location of the observation area can be changed using the focus lens. Another important function of the imaging optics is zooming. The size of the observation area in poloidal direction can be adjusted by the zoom lenses and the poloidal spatial resolution is determined by the level of zoom. The field curvature adjustment lenses are employed to adjust the shape of the image plane in the poloidal direction to reduce crosstalk between neighboring channels. The incident angle on each channel is controlled using the specific surface type of the front-side lenses to increase the signal-to-noise ratio. All functions are decoupled with the minimum number of lenses. Successful applications are given.

The poloidal rotation velocities in the core plasma region are studied using the instantaneous frequency method (IFM) with the density fluctuations measured by the CO2 laser collective scattering diagnostics on the HT-7 tokamak. A coherent mode is observed in the fluctuations of poloidal velocities with the mode frequency from 10 to 20?kHz. It is identified as geodesic acoustic mode (GAM) zonal flow with poloidal symmetry (m = 0) and its mode frequency coinciding with the theoretical expected GAM frequency. The nonlinear interactions are investigated by applying the envelope analysis on the density fluctuations. The results confirm that the envelope modulation in the high frequency density fluctuations only comes from the shearing by GAM. The comparison between IFM and envelope analysis is also discussed.

The m/n = 1/1 and its higher harmonic modes are observed in sawtooth oscillations by using the novel high-resolution 2D ECE imaging system on the experimental advanced superconducting Tokamak (EAST). Higher harmonic modes are appearing for a short time during the crash phase of sawtooth oscillation in lower βp plasma, which is not the preferable position in the poloidal cross section. These modes generate sharp pressure points on the inversion radius during the crash phase of sawtooth oscillation. Furthermore, reconnection events proceed in two distinctive phases. In the first phase, a small amount of heat is expelled through the weak reconnection while in the second phase the remaining large quantity of heat and particles emerged rapidly from the hot core to the peripheral region of the inversion radius. In addition, these harmonic modes are only found before and after the ICRF pulse, while in the ICRF pulse only the (1,1) mode exists in the sawtooth oscillation.

A novel large aperture quasi-optical imaging system is designed for the new dual-array electron cyclotron emission (ECE) imaging (ECEI) instrument on the EAST tokamak. The zoom doublet scheme is used in the microwave imaging system on a super-conducting tokamak for the first time, and the focal plane can reach the high magnetic field side region even in the narrowest zoom configuration. The best spatial resolution in the vertical direction is 1.1 cm and the maximum vertical coverage can reach 80 cm. The field curvature is largely reduced in the narrow zoom configuration by the parabolic correction of a single lens surface. The imaging performance is fully characterized in the laboratory, and the characterized beam patterns show good agreements with the Gaussian beam specifications in the simulation results of the design.

The Keda Torus eXperiment (KTX) is a medium-sized reversed field pinch (RFP) device under construction at the University of Science and Technology of China. The KTX has a major radius of 1.4 m and a minor radius of 0.4 m with an Ohmic discharge current up to 1 MA. The expected electron density and temperature are, respectively, 2 × 1019 m−3 and 800 eV. A combination of a stainless steel vacuum chamber and a thin copper shell (with a penetration time of 20 ms) surrounding the plasma provides an opportunity for studying resistive wall mode instabilities. The unique double-C design of the KTX vacuum vessel allows access to the interior of the KTX for easy first-wall modifications and investigations of power and particle handling, a largely unexplored territory in RFP research leading to demonstration of the fusion potential of the RFP concept. An active feedback mode control system is designed and will be implemented in the second phase of the KTX program. The recent progress of this program will be presented, including the design of the vacuum vessel, magnet systems and power supplies.

Geodesic acoustic mode (GAM) and low-frequency zonal flow (LFZF) are both observed through Langmuir probe arrays during electron cyclotron resonance heating (ECRH) on the HL-2A tokamak edge. The radial distributions of the amplitude and peak frequency of GAM in floating potential fluctuations are investigated through rake probe arrays under different ECRH powers. It is observed that the GAM frequency would decrease and the intensity of carbon line emission would increase as the ECRH power exceeds a certain threshold. The analyses suggest that the impurity ions may play an important role in the GAM frequency at the edge region. It is also found that during the ECRH phase besides the mean flow, both GAM and LFZF are strengthened. The total fluctuation power and the fraction of that power associated with zonal flows both increase with the ECRH power, consistent with a predator–prey model. The auto- and cross-bicoherence analyses show the coupling between GAM and its second harmonic during the ECRH phase. Moreover, the results also suggest that the couplings between GAM and the components with multiple GAM frequency are strengthened. These couplings may be important for GAM saturation during the ECRH phase.

Coexisting multi-geodesic acoustic modes (GAMs), especially coexisting dual GAMs, are observed and studied through Langmuir probe arrays at the edge plasmas of the HT-7 tokamak with lithium-coated walls. The dual GAMs are named a low-frequency GAM (LFGAM) and a high-frequency GAM (HFGAM), and it is found that within the measuring range, the HFGAM propagates outwards while the LFGAM propagates both inwards and outwards with their central frequencies nearly unchanged, and both modes have maximum amplitudes at positions with radial wavenumbers close to zero; meanwhile, the two positions happen to be where the continuum GAM frequency is closest to the central frequencies of the LFGAM and the HFGAM. These characteristics are consistent with those of a kinetic GAM converted from a continuum GAM. The nonlinear couplings between the LFGAM and the HFGAM are also analysed. In this study, we observed not only the interaction between the LFGAM and the HFGAM, but also the self-coupling of the GAM with the beat frequency between them, as well as the coupling between the LFGAM and an unknown mode at ?50?kHz. These nonlinear interactions may play important roles during the saturation process of GAMs. Additionally, amplitude correlation analyses of multi-GAMs indicate that second harmonic GAMs are probably generated from the self-interaction of fundamental GAMs.

A sensitive plasma absorption probe (PAP) is reported for measuring electron density in processing plasmas. The sheath formed around the probe tip is important for the resonance of surface waves. For determining the absolute electron density from the absorption frequency of the sensitive PAP, a proper value of sheath thickness relative to the Debye length is required to be assigned in the data processing. In this paper, a dual-role PAP has been proposed to study the effects of sheath thickness on the measurement of electron density. It is used as a Langmuir probe and a sensitive PAP simultaneously. Based on these two functions, the sheath thickness is calibrated before the measurement of electron density. The calibrated value is assigned in the data processing to replace the fitting coefficient used in the previous work. Therefore, the measurement error caused by an inaccurately assigned sheath thickness can be minimized effectively. Because of the bi-functional characteristic, the dual-role PAP is an independent diagnostic tool.