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In fusion devices like ITER, plasma-wall interactions are a significant concern due to the high heat fluxes, often tens of MW/m2, impacting the first wall. These intense heat fluxes can lead to the formation of hot spots on components facing the plasma, such as tungsten, used in divertor plates and antennas. This results in material erosion and plasma core contamination. Our study investigates the thermal behavior of tungsten surfaces under these conditions using fluid modeling and Particle-In-Cell (PIC) simulations. We examine the effects of thermionic electron emission on the sheath potential and heat transmission. The simulations reveal that thermionic emission can decrease the sheath voltage, increasing the surface temperature due to enhanced heat flux due to electrons. Additionally, we explore how the ratio between the spot size (S) and the surrounding surface length (Ly) influences the surface temperature. We find that a higher Ly/S ratio allows the surface to reach higher temperatures before the system enters the space-charge-limited regime, where thermionic current is maximized and considerably larger than the case where the entire surface is emissive (Ly=S).

Experiments on ASDEX Upgrade (AUG) in 2021 and 2022 have addressed a number of critical issues for ITER and EU DEMO. A major objective of the AUG programme is to shed light on the underlying physics of confinement, stability, and plasma exhaust in order to allow reliable extrapolation of results obtained on present day machines to these reactor-grade devices. Concerning pedestal physics, the mitigation of edge localised modes (ELMs) using resonant magnetic perturbations (RMPs) was found to be consistent with a reduction of the linear peeling-ballooning stability threshold due to the helical deformation of the plasma. Conversely, ELM suppression by RMPs is ascribed to an increased pedestal transport that keeps the plasma away from this boundary. Candidates for this increased transport are locally enhanced turbulence and a locked magnetic island in the pedestal. The enhanced D-alpha (EDA) and quasi-continuous exhaust (QCE) regimes have been established as promising ELM-free scenarios. Here, the pressure gradient at the foot of the H-mode pedestal is reduced by a quasi-coherent mode, consistent with violation of the high-n ballooning mode stability limit there. This is suggestive that the EDA and QCE regimes have a common underlying physics origin. In the area of transport physics, full radius models for both L- and H-modes have been developed. These models predict energy confinement in AUG better than the commonly used global scaling laws, representing a large step towards the goal of predictive capability. A new momentum transport analysis framework has been developed that provides access to the intrinsic torque in the plasma core. In the field of exhaust, the X-Point Radiator (XPR), a cold and dense plasma region on closed flux surfaces close to the X-point, was described by an analytical model that provides an understanding of its formation as well as its stability, i.e., the conditions under which it transitions into a deleterious MARFE with the potential to result in a disruptive termination. With the XPR close to the divertor target, a new detached divertor concept, the compact radiative divertor, was developed. Here, the exhaust power is radiated before reaching the target, allowing close proximity of the X-point to the target. No limitations by the shallow field line angle due to the large flux expansion were observed, and sufficient compression of neutral density was demonstrated. With respect to the pumping of non-recycling impurities, the divertor enrichment was found to mainly depend on the ionisation energy of the impurity under consideration. In the area of MHD physics, analysis of the hot plasma core motion in sawtooth crashes showed good agreement with nonlinear 2-fluid simulations. This indicates that the fast reconnection observed in these events is adequately described including the pressure gradient and the electron inertia in the parallel Ohm’s law. Concerning disruption physics, a shattered pellet injection system was installed in collaboration with the ITER International Organisation. Thanks to the ability to vary the shard size distribution independently of the injection velocity, as well as its impurity admixture, it was possible to tailor the current quench rate, which is an important requirement for future large devices such as ITER. Progress was also made modelling the force reduction of VDEs induced by massive gas injection on AUG. The H-mode density limit was characterised in terms of safe operational space with a newly developed active feedback control method that allowed the stability boundary to be probed several times within a single discharge without inducing a disruptive termination. Regarding integrated operation scenarios, the role of density peaking in the confinement of the ITER baseline scenario (high plasma current) was clarified. The usual energy confinement scaling ITER98( p,y ) does not capture this effect, but the more recent H20 scaling does, highlighting again the importance of developing adequate physics based models. Advanced tokamak scenarios, aiming at large non-inductive current fraction due to non-standard profiles of the safety factor in combination with high normalised plasma pressure were studied with a focus on their access conditions. A method to guide the approach of the targeted safety factor profiles was developed, and the conditions for achieving good confinement were clarified. Based on this, two types of advanced scenarios (‘hybrid’ and ‘elevated’ q -profile) were established on AUG and characterised concerning their plasma performance.

Within the 9th European Framework programme, since 2021 EUROfusion is operating five tokamaks under the auspices of a single Task Force called ‘Tokamak Exploitation’. The goal is to benefit from the complementary capabilities of each machine in a coordinated way and help in developing a scientific output scalable to future largre machines. The programme of this Task Force ensures that ASDEX Upgrade, MAST-U, TCV, WEST and JET (since 2022) work together to achieve the objectives of Missions 1 and 2 of the EUROfusion Roadmap: i) demonstrate plasma scenarios that increase the success margin of ITER and satisfy the requirements of DEMO and, ii) demonstrate an integrated approach that can handle the large power leaving ITER and DEMO plasmas. The Tokamak Exploitation task force has therefore organized experiments on these two missions with the goal to strengthen the physics and operational basis for the ITER baseline scenario and for exploiting the recent plasma exhaust enhancements in all four devices (PEX: Plasma EXhaust) for exploring the solution for handling heat and particle exhaust in ITER and develop the conceptual solutions for DEMO. The ITER Baseline scenario has been developed in a similar way in ASDEX Upgrade, TCV and JET. Key risks for ITER such as disruptions and run-aways have been also investigated in TCV, ASDEX Upgrade and JET. Experiments have explored successfully different divertor configurations (standard, super-X, snowflakes) in MAST-U and TCV and studied tungsten melting in WEST and ASDEX Upgrade. The input from the smaller devices to JET has also been proven successful to set-up novel control schemes on disruption avoidance and detachment.

High-Z impurities production is often observed during Ion Cyclotron Range of Frequencies (ICRF) waves’ injection, which are likely due to RF sheath formation on solid materials. Based on Extreme UV (EUV) spectrometry data, this study in EAST consists in extracting information on plasma-surface interactions during ICRH. Intensities of the different spectral lines normalized to line-integrated plasma density, exhibit different parametric dependencies over scans of ICRH and LH power and for different toroidal phasing between straps. Materials close and magnetically-connected to an active antenna tend to show better correlation with ICRF parameters – such as power and feeding scheme – than those which are far away or not connected. ICRF phasing did not have influence on impurity, probably due to the absence of feedback control. It is further shown that the plasma content in impurities from divertor region better correlates with the total injected power rather than with ICRF power. Keywords: ICRH, Impurity source, EUV spectrometer

In fusion devices, radiofrequency (RF) antennas are used for heating the plasma. Those antennas and the plasma interact with each other through the so-called RF sheaths, layers of plasma where the quasi-neutrality breaks down and large electric fields arise. Among the effects of RF sheaths, there is the enhancement of the particles and energy fluxes toward the surface of the antenna, which in turn generate hot spots and release impurities, which are both deleterious for plasma operations. RF sheaths comprehension stumbles on the difficulty to achieve in situ measurements of the sheath properties, as scrape-off layer plasmas are a harsh environment. The very goal of the ALINE device is to tackle this issue and to fulfil the blank between numerical simulations and full-scale experiment by providing measurements within the RF sheaths in a controlled environment. In this paper we report on the latest experimental results from ALINE, in which a cylindrical Langmuir probe mounted on a remotely controlled and programmable arm allows for plasma characterizations in the three dimensions of space around the stainless steel antenna, including the sheath. We present a series of density and potential profiles and three dimension (3D) maps in the plasma surrounding a stainless-steel RF antenna as well as in the sheath itself, for unmagnetized and magnetized plasmas. Keywords: Magnetized plasma, Sheath, Langmuir probe, Radio-Frequency

Abstract Hot-spot formation on the corners of the ICRH antenna can be explained by high DC potential structures, which accelerate ion fluxes and generate strong convective fluxes to the antenna surface. This comes from RF sheaths at the end of open magnetic lines, which rectify RF potential resulting from parallel electric fields. As these electric fields are not homogeneous in front of the antenna, transverse potential gradients generate transverse polarization currents which modify the potential structure. These potentials are studied with a simple flux-tube model and then a 2D-fluid model was elaborated to obtain analytical expressions for rectified potential with respect to these transverse currents. We compare them to numerical results coming from a 2D-fluid code executed in a poloidal plane in front of the antenna. Then we build a potential peak criterion to determine the peaking of DC-potential structures for typical parameters in Tore Supra. Finally, current interaction between different magnetic line lengths is approached. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reducing the ICRH (ion cyclotron range frequency) antenna-plasma interaction is one of the key points for reaching very long tokamak discharges. One problem which limits such discharges, is the appearance of hot spots on the surface of the antenna: Radio Frequency (RF) sheaths modify the properties of the edge plasma by rectifying the RF potential along open magnetic field lines and can induce hot spots. This paper investigates the corrections to sheath potentials introduced by the interactions between adjacent flux tubes. Our theoretical study started from an oscillating double Langmuir probe model, in which a transverse influx of current was included. This model was confronted with 1D PIC simulations along a magnetic field line, and demonstrated that current exchanges can decrease mean potentials. A 2D electrostatic fluid code was then developed, which couples adjacent flux tubes in a poloidal cross section with collisional conductivity or polarization currents. It showed that transverse currents are able to smooth structures smaller than a characteristic size in the sheath potential maps (results for Tore Supra). These computed rectified potentials can be used to obtain the DC electric fields in front of the antenna. And then, it gives an estimate of the particle drift and the energy flux on the antenna structure, which can explain hot spots. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ion cyclotron range of frequencies (ICRF) wave propagation is calculated theoretically for tokamak conditions and for linear magnetized plasma device IShTAR which is dedicated to the RF sheath studies. Only the slow wave (SW) mode of ICRF waves can propagate and be studied in IShTAR. Therefore it is possible to decouple the role of the different ICRF modes in the RF sheath effects. Numerical simulations of the ICRF SW are done in COMSOL in the framework of the existing cold plasma modelling package RAPLICASOL and the SW is for the first time modelled in 3D. To date, RAPLICASOL existed as a 3D wave coupling modelling approach which targets the fast wave (FW). Plasma is implemented as a material with manually assigned physical properties and a perfectly matched layer (PML) is used to absorb the wave energy. Here it is demonstarted how to adjust the RAPLICASOL PML for models with propagating SW. Field structures in the resonance cone shape obtained for the SW differ significantly from the FW and exhibit strong dependence on the density profile in the close proximity of the antenna. The lower-hybrid (LH) resonance is a constant issue in the attempts to model the SW. In this work an approach to obtain correct numerical solutions in the LH resonance presence is demonstrated. Results of this work can be used to improve the complex tokamak ICRF simulations, where so far the SW propagation on the edge has been avoided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two versions of the X-mode Doppler reflectometry (DR) synthetic diagnostics are developed within the framework of the ELMFIRE global gyrokinetic modeling of the FT-2 tokamak ohmic discharge. In the ‘fast’ version the DR signal is computed in the linear theory approximation using the reciprocity theorem, utilizing the probing wave field pattern provided by computation and taking into account the 2D plasma inhomogeneity effects; whereas the alternative ‘slow’ version DR synthetic diagnostic is based on the full-wave code IPF-FD3D describing the probing and scattered wave propagation in turbulent plasma. The DR signal frequency spectra and the dependence of their frequency shift, width and shape on the probing antenna position are computed and shown to be similar to those measured in the high-field side probing DR experiment at the FT-2 tokamak. The geodesic acoustic mode characteristics provided by the measurements and by the synthetic DR are close within a 12% accuracy. However, a substantial difference was found in the decay of the DR signal cross-correlation functions with growing frequency shift in the probing wave channels. The quick decrease in the radial correlation DR coherence observed in the experiment and full-wave synthetic diagnostic, compared to the fast synthetic DR, is attributed to the nonlinear effect of the probing wave phase modulation by the turbulence in the former two cases. The variation in the DR signal at a growing incidence angle in the experiment is also shown to be slower than predicted by both of the synthetic diagnostics, presumably due to underestimation of the probing wave phase modulation and consequent nonlinear saturation of the DR signal at lower incidence angles in modeling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The results on high frequency coherent modes developing at the plasma edge after L–H transitions are presented. These edge coherent modes (ECMs) observed in the I-phase, during ELM-free and ELMy H-mode phases have common characteristics, such as their frequency of 50–200 kHz, radial position and scaling of the frequency with the pressure gradient. The ultra-fast swept reflectometer with the sweep time of 1 μs has provided measurements of the mode dynamics and localisation. The ECMs propagate in the electron diamagnetic direction in the laboratory frame and are localized in the region between the pedestal top and the steepest pressure gradient. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The transition of Doppler reflectometry diagnostics to nonlinear regime of scattering is studied analytically with the use of the perturbation theory applied to the Helmholtz equation. Density fluctuations with large radial correlation length, O-polarisation of the probing beam, linear background density profiles and slab geometry are considered. Formulae for onset of nonlinearity are derived for different parameter ranges. Obtained results are generalised for the arbitrary turbulence radial correlation length. The results of the physical optics model are reproduced in one particular case, while new formulae is obtained for different parameter ranges and their experimental relevance is demonstrated. A qualitative explanation for scattered signal nonlinear power dependence is proposed. Analytical results are validated with IPF-FD3D code full-wave numerical modelling for radially uniform and fully 2D turbulence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to model the sheath rectification in a realistic geometry over the size of ion cyclotron resonant heating (ICRH) antennas, the self-consistent sheaths and waves for ICH (SSWICH) code couples self-consistently the RF wave propagation and the DC SOL biasing via nonlinear RF and DC sheath boundary conditions applied at plasma/wall interfaces. A first version of SSWICH had 2D (toroidal and radial) geometry, rectangular walls either normal or parallel to the confinement magnetic field B0 and only included the evanescent slow wave (SW) excited parasitically by the ICRH antenna. The main wave for plasma heating, the fast wave (FW) plays no role on the sheath excitation in this version. A new version of the code, 2D SSWICH-full wave, was developed based on the COMSOL software, to accommodate full RF field polarization and shaped walls tilted with respect to B0. SSWICH-full wave simulations have shown the mode conversion of FW into SW occurring at the sharp corners where the boundary shape varies rapidly. It has also evidenced ‘far-field’ sheath oscillations appearing at the shaped walls with a relatively long magnetic connection length to the antenna, that are only accessible to the propagating FW. Joint simulation, conducted by SSWICH-full wave within a multi-2D approach excited using the 3D wave coupling code (RAPLICASOL), has recovered the double-hump poloidal structure measured in the experimental temperature and potential maps when only the SW is modelled. The FW contribution on the potential poloidal structure seems to be affected by the 3D effects, which was ignored in the current stage. Finally, SSWICH-full wave simulation revealed the left–right asymmetry that has been observed extensively in the unbalanced strap feeding experiments, suggesting that the spatial proximity effects in RF sheath excitation, studied for SW only previously, is still important in the vicinity of the wave launcher under full wave polarizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ultra-fast frequency-swept reflectometry (UFSR) enables one to provide information about the turbulence radial wave-number spectrum and perturbation amplitude with good spatial and temporal resolutions. However, a data interpretation of USFR is quiet tricky. An iterative algorithm to solve this inverse problem was used in past works, Gerbaud (2006 Rev. Sci. Instrum.77 10E928). For a direct solution, a fast 1D Helmholtz solver was used. Two-dimensional effects are strong and should be taken into account during data interpretation. As 2D full-wave codes are still too time consuming for systematic application, fast 2D approaches based on the Born approximation are of prime interest. Such methods gives good results in the case of small turbulence levels. However in tokamak plasmas, edge turbulence is usually very strong and can distort and broaden the probing beam Sysoeva et al (2015 Nucl. Fusion55 033016). It was shown that this can change reflectometer phase response from the plasma core. Comparison between 2D full wave computation and the simplified Born approximation was done. The approximated method can provide a right spectral shape, but it is unable to describe a change of the spectral amplitude with an edge turbulence level. Computation for the O-mode wave with the linear density profile in the slab geometry and for realistic Tore-Supra density profile, based on the experimental data turbulence amplitude and spectrum, were performed to investigate the role of strong edge turbulence. It is shown that the spectral peak in the signal amplitude variation spectrum which rises with edge turbulence can be a signature of strong edge turbulence. Moreover, computations for misaligned receiving and emitting antennas were performed. It was found that the signal amplitude variation peak changes its position with a receiving antenna poloidal displacement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ultra-fast swept reflectometer with the sweep time of 1 μs, inferior to the characteristic turbulent time scale, has provided the measurements of the fast density and density fluctuation evolution across major parts of tokamak plasma radius. The L-H transitions in a series of plasma discharges in ASDEX Upgrade have been studied with a high temporal resolution. The comparison of the density fluctuation behaviour in L- and H-mode is presented. The I-phase oscillation dynamics has been described in terms of the density fluctuation level, the radial electric field and the normalised electron pressure gradient. Indications for a phase shift between the turbulence and the radial electric field are observed in the beginning of the I-phase, where the turbulence grows first and the radial electric field increase follows. In the established I-phase the electric field and the turbulence are in phase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most present ion cyclotron resonant frequency (ICRF) heating codes and antenna codes assume the antenna sitting in a vacuum region and consider the fast wave only, which implicitly performs an abrupt density transition from vacuum to above lower hybrid (LH) resonance. The impact of the appearance of the LH resonance is entirely overlooked in their simulations. We studied the impact of densities that decay continuously inside the antenna box on near field patterns and power coupling. A new full wave code based on the COMSOL Finite Element Solver has been developed to investigate this topic. It is shown that: up to the memory limits of the adopted workstation, the local RF field pattern in low-density regions below the LH resonance changes with the grid size. Interestingly and importantly, however, the total coupled toroidal spectrum is almost independent on the mesh size and is weakly affected by the presence of the density profile inside the antenna box in dipole toroidal strap phasing. This suggests one can drop out this density for coupling studies to speed up the computation. Simulation also shows that varying the density gradient in the fast wave evanescence region has no significant effect on wave coupling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we present the fusion related activities of the Plasma Physics Division at the Ioffe Institute. The first experiments on lower hybrid current drive (LHCD) in a spherical tokamak performed at the Globus-M tokamak (R = 0.36 m, a = 0.24 m, Bt = 0.4 T, Ip = 200 kA) with a novel poloidally oriented grill resulted in an RF driven current of up to 30 kA at (100 kW, 2.5 GHz), exceeding the modelling predictions. At the FT-2 tokamak (R = 0.56 m, a = 0.08 m, Bt = 3 T, Ip = 30 kA) experiments with a traditional toroidally oriented grill revealed no strong dependence of the LHCD density limit on the H/D ratio in spite of LH resonance densities differing by a factor of 3. Microwave Doppler reflectometry (DR) at the Globus-M, and DR and heavy ion beam probe measurements at the tokamak TUMAN-3M (R = 0.53 m, a = 0.24 m, Bt = 1.0 T, Ip = 190 kA) demonstrated geodesic acoustic mode (GAM) suppression at the L to H transition. Observations at FT-2 using Doppler Enhanced Scattering showed that the GAM amplitude is anti-correlated both spatially and temporally to the drift turbulence level and electron thermal diffusivity. For the first time turbulence amplitude modulation at the GAM frequency was found both experimentally and in global gyrokinetic modelling. A model of the L–H transition is proposed based on this effect. The loss mechanisms of energetic ions' (EI) were investigated in the neutral beam injection (NBI) experiments on Globus-M and TUMAN-3M. Empirical scaling of the 2.45 MeV DD neutron rate for the two devices shows a strong dependence on toroidal field and plasma current justifying the Bt and Ip increase by a factor of 2.5 for the proposed upgrade of Globus-M. Bursts of ∼1 MHz Alfvenic type oscillations correlating with sawtooth crashes were observed in ohmic TUMAN-3M discharges. The possibility of low threshold parametric excitation of Bernstein and upper hybrid waves trapped in drift-wave eddies resulting in anomalous absorption in electron cyclotron resonance heating (ECRH) experiments in toroidal plasmas was identified theoretically. A novel method of radial correlation Doppler reflectometry is shown to be capable of measuring the turbulence wave-number spectrum in realistic 2D geometry. On the progress in design and fabrication of three diagnostics for ITER developed in the Ioffe institute is reported: neutral particle analysis, divertor Thomson scattering and gamma spectroscopy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two analytical models for the ordinary mode propagating through a turbulent inhomogeneous edge plasma layer are developed based on the eikonal perturbation method and weak turbulence theory approach. Simple analytical expression for a diffusion-like angular beam width variation is obtained by both methods in the case of long scale density perturbations. The predictions for the spatial beam width are benchmarked against timeaveraged results coming from the 2D Maxwell's equations solver for different turbulence k-spectra and plasma conditions. The strong (more than twofold) increase of the microwave beam angular and spatial width after crossing the turbulent edge is predicted at realistic parameters for ECRH experiments at ITER. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

JET's frequency-modulated continuous wave (FMCW) reflectometers have been operating well with the current design since 2005, and density profiles have been automatically calculated intershot since then. However, the calculated profiles had long suffered from several shortcomings: poor agreement with other diagnostics, sometimes inappropriately moving radially by several centimeters, elevated levels of radial jitter, and persistent wriggles (strong unphysical oscillations). In this research, several techniques are applied to the reflectometry data analysis, and the shortcomings are significantly improved. Starting with improving the equilibrium reconstruction that estimates the background magnetic field, adding a ripple correction in the reconstructed magnetic field profile, and adding new inner-wall reflection positions estimated through ray-tracing, these changes not only improve the agreement of reconstructed profiles to other diagnostics but also solve density profile wriggles that were present during band transitions. Other smaller but also persistent wriggles were also suppressed by applying a localized correction to the measured beat frequency where persistent oscillations are present. Finally, the burst analysis method, as introduced by Varela et al. [Nucl. Fusion 46 S693 (2006)], has been implemented to extract the beat frequency from stacked spectrograms. Due to the strong suppression of spurious reflections, the radial jitter that sometimes would span several centimeters has been strongly reduced. The stacking of spectrograms has also been shown to be very useful for stacking recurring events, like small gas puff modulations, and extracting transport coefficients that would otherwise be below the noise level., (© 2024 Author(s). Published under an exclusive license by AIP Publishing.)

Providing energy from fusion and finding ways to scale up the fusion process to commercial proportions in an efficient, economical, and environmentally benign way is one of the grand challenges for engineering. Controlling the burning plasma in real-time is one of the critical issues that need to be addressed. Plasma Position Reflectometry (PPR) is expected to have an important role in next-generation fusion machines, such as DEMO, as a diagnostic to monitor the position and shape of the plasma continuously, complementing magnetic diagnostics. The reflectometry diagnostic uses radar science methods in the microwave and millimetre wave frequency ranges and is envisaged to measure the radial edge density profile at several poloidal angles providing data for the feedback control of the plasma position and shape. While significant steps have already been given to accomplish that goal, with proof of concept tested first in ASDEX-Upgrade and afterward in COMPASS, important, ground-breaking work is still ongoing. The Divertor Test Tokamak (DTT) facility presents itself as the appropriate future fusion device to implement, develop, and test a PPR system, thus contributing to building a knowledge database in plasma position reflectometry required for its application in DEMO. At DEMO, the PPR diagnostic's in-vessel antennas and waveguides, as well as the magnetic diagnostics, may be exposed to neutron irradiation fluences 5 to 50 times greater than those experienced by ITER. In the event of failure of either the magnetic or microwave diagnostics, the equilibrium control of the DEMO plasma may be jeopardized. It is, therefore, imperative to ensure that these systems are designed in such a way that they can be replaced if necessary. To perform reflectometry measurements at the 16 envisaged poloidal locations in DEMO, plasma-facing antennas and waveguides are needed to route the microwaves between the plasma through the DEMO upper ports (UPs) to the diagnostic hall. The main integration approach for this diagnostic is to incorporate these groups of antennas and waveguides into a diagnostics slim cassette (DSC), which is a dedicated complete poloidal segment specifically designed to be integrated with the water-cooled lithium lead (WCLL) breeding blanket system. This contribution presents the multiple engineering and physics challenges addressed while designing reflectometry diagnostics using radio science techniques. Namely, short-range dedicated radars for plasma position and shape control in future fusion experiments, the advances enabled by the designs for ITER and DEMO, and the future perspectives. One key development is in electronics, aiming at an advanced compact coherent fast frequency sweeping RF back-end [23-100 GHz in few μs] that is being developed at IPFN-IST using commercial Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuits (MMIC). The compactness of this back-end design is crucial for the successful integration of many measurement channels in the reduced space available in future fusion machines. Prototype tests of these devices are foreseen to be performed in current nuclear fusion machines.

A novel approach for density measurements at the edge of a hot plasma device is presented-Microwave Interferometer in the Limiter Shadow (MILS). The diagnostic technique is based on measuring the change in phase and power of a microwave beam passing tangentially through the edge plasma, perpendicular to the background magnetic field. The wave propagation involves varying combinations of refraction, phase change, and further interference of the beam fractions. A 3D model is constructed as a synthetic diagnostic for MILS and allows exploring this broad range of wave propagation regimes. The diagnostic parameters, such as its dimensions, frequency, and configuration of the emitter and receiver antennas, should be balanced to meet the target range and location of measurements. It can be therefore adjusted for various conditions, and here, the diagnostic concept is evaluated on a chosen example, which was taken as suitable to cover densities of ∼10 15 to 10 19  m -3 on the edge of the ASDEX Upgrade tokamak. Based on a density profile with a fixed radial shape, appropriate for experimental density approximation, a database of synthetic diagnostic measurements is built. The developed genetic algorithm genMILS of density profile reconstruction using the constructed database has quite low errors. It is estimated as ∼5% to 15% for density ≥10 17  m -3 . Therefore, the new diagnostic technique (with a dedicated data processing algorithm) has a large potential in practical applications in a wide range of densities, with low errors in the numerical model and in the method of density reconstruction, so the total error and the density estimation accuracy are expected to be defined mostly by experimental uncertainties.

Existence of high electric fields near an RF antenna launcher causes a number of parasitic phenomena, such as arcing and impurity release, which seriously deteriorate the performance of an Ion Cyclotron Range of Frequencies (ICRF) heating scheme in fusion devices. Limited accessibility of the near antenna region in large-scale fusion experiments significantly complicates the associated experimental studies. The IShTAR test facility has been developed with the requirement to provide a better accessibility and diagnosability of plasmas in the direct vicinity of an ICRF antenna. The purpose of this work is to give a detailed description on the experimental setup and the available diagnostics. Furthermore, the paper will demonstrate the capability of the experiment to study phenomena near an ICRF antenna launcher which are relevant for large-scale fusion ion cyclotron resonance heating systems.

Numerical simulations are critical in improving the capabilities of microwave diagnostics. In this work, the 2D finite-difference time-domain full-wave code REFMUL was applied to broadband turbulent plasmas using the conventional reflectometry setup. Simulations were performed with O-mode waves, fixed frequency probing, and I/Q detection. The plasma density, determining O-mode propagation, was modeled as the sum of a slab background plasma with a fluctuating component following a Kolmogorov-like amplitude k -spectrum. The density turbulence level δ n e / n e was scanned over several orders of magnitude for simulated plasma flows of constant plasma velocity in either the radial or the poloidal direction. Simulations show trends, such as spectral broadening of the complex A( t )e iφ( t ) signals and increasing fluctuations in A( t ) and φ( t ) with increasing δ n e / n e , that are similar for both plasma flow directions. These together with possibilities to reconstruct a poloidal wavenumber spectrum are discussed in view of extending the measuring capabilities. The onset of non-linear effects associated with phase runaway, as previously observed with other 1D and 2D codes, as well as radial Doppler effects is also observed and discussed.

A theory for data interpretation is presented for a cylindrical Langmuir probe in plasma parallel to the magnetic field direction. The theory is tested in a linear low-temperature plasma device Aline, in a capacitive radio-frequency (RF) discharge. The probe is placed on a 3D manipulator, and a position scan is performed. To exclude strong RF perturbations, the probe is RF compensated. Using the theory, electron densities are obtained from the current at the plasma potential, where no sheath is present. Results are calibrated by line-integrated density measurements of a 26.5 GHz microwave interferometer. Reasonable agreement is observed for probe and interferometer measurements. Furthermore, preceding, more general probe theory is compared to the one developed in the current work and the application limits are discussed.

We describe a way to parameterize power spectra extracted from fixed-frequency reflectometry data, with a view to systematic studies of turbulence properties in tokamak plasmas. Analysis of typical frequency spectra obtained from a new database suggests decomposition in a set of four key components: the direct current component, low-frequency fluctuations, broadband (BB) turbulence, and the noise level. For the decomposition in the identified components, different kinds of functions are tested and their fitting performance is analyzed to determine the optimal spectrum parametrization. In particular, for the BB turbulence, three models are compared qualitatively based on a number of representative spectrum test cases, notably the generalized Gaussian, the Voigt, and the Taylor model. In addition, quantitative performance testing is accomplished using the weighted residual sum of squares and the Bayesian information criterion in a large database including 350 000 spectra obtained in Tore Supra. Next, parametrization by the Taylor model is applied to Ohmically heated plasmas, and a BB energy basin is systematically observed in the core plasma region, which shrinks with decreasing radial position of the q = 1 surface. This basin might be explained by a drop of the density fluctuation level inside the q = 1 surface.

The reconstruction method published by Bottollier-Curtet and Ichtchenko in 1987 has been the standard method of density profile reconstruction for X-mode reflectometry ever since, with only minor revision. Envisaging improved accuracy and stability of the reconstruction method, functions more complex than the linear are evaluated here to describe the refractive index shape in each integration step. The stability and accuracy obtained when using parabolic and fixed or adaptative fractional power functions are compared to the previous method and tested against spurious events and phase noise. The developed relation from the plasma parameters to the best integration shapes allows for the optimization of the reconstruction for any profile shape. In addition, the density profiles can be reconstructed using less probing frequencies without accuracy loss, which speed up the reconstruction algorithm and enable real-time monitoring of faster density profile evolution.

We conducted a first assessment of the measurement performance of the in-vessel components at gap 6 of the ITER plasma position reflectometry with the aid of a synthetic Ordinary Mode (O-mode) broadband frequency-modulated continuous-wave reflectometer implemented with REFMUL, a 2D finite-difference time-domain full-wave Maxwell code. These simulations take into account the system location within the vacuum vessel as well as its access to the plasma. The plasma case considered is a baseline scenario from Fusion for Energy. We concluded that for the analyzed scenario, (i) the plasma curvature and non-equatorial position of the antenna have neglectable impact on the measurements; (ii) the cavity-like space surrounding the antenna can cause deflection and splitting of the probing beam; and (iii) multi-reflections on the blanket wall cause a substantial error preventing the system from operating within the required error margin.

Langmuir probe measurements in front of high power ion cyclotron resonant frequency antennas are not possible or simply too noisy to be analyzed properly. A linear experiment is a radio frequency (RF) magnetized plasma discharge reactor designed to probe the rectified potential in front of such antennas but at low power level (1 kW) to next improve antenna design and mitigate sheath effects. The maximum magnetic field is 0.1 T, and the RF amplifier can work between 10 kHz and 250 MHz allowing ion cyclotron resonances for argon or helium. The first measurements with no magnetic field are presented here, especially 2D potential maps extracted from the RF compensated probe measurements yield ni ≈ 10(15) m(-3) and Te ≈ 2 eV for RF power lower than 100 W. Series resonances in the chamber are highlighted and allow to deduce the plasma parameters from a simple equivalent impedance model of the plasma in helium gas. Next studies will be focused on magnetized plasmas and especially magnetized RF sheaths.

A 2D finite-differences time-domain full-wave code is used to simulate the measurements of plasma filaments with fixed frequency O-mode reflectometry. The plasma is modeled by a linear slab plasma plus a Gaussian perturbation propagating in a direction that can vary from poloidal to radial. The plasma background density gradient is chosen in agreement with the steep edge transport barrier of H-modes in the ASDEX Upgrade (AUG) tokamak. Illustrative results are presented and different types of reflectometry responses are observed depending on filament sizes and propagation directions. The reflectometry signatures obtained here with numerical simulations support previous experimental findings on filament measurements.

In this Note, it is pointed out that emissive probes cannot be used to directly and reliably measure plasma potential fluctuations. An experimentally validated model demonstrates indeed that the floating potential fluctuations of an emissive probe which floats at the mean plasma potential depend not only on the plasma potential fluctuations but also on electron density and temperature fluctuations.

Ball-pen probes have been used in fusion devices for direct measurements of the plasma potential. Their application in low-temperature magnetized plasma devices is still subject to studies. In this context, a ball-pen probe has been recently implemented on the linear plasma device Mirabelle. Produced by a thermionic discharge, the plasma is characterized by a low electron temperature and a low density. Plasma confinement is provided by an axial magnetic field that goes up to 100 mT. The principle of the ball-pen probe is to adjust the saturation current ratio to 1 by reducing the electron current contribution. In that case, the floating potential of the probe is close to the plasma potential. A thorough study of the ball-pen probe operation is performed for different designs of the probe over a large set of plasma conditions. Comparisons between ball-pen, Langmuir, and emissive probes are conducted in the same plasma conditions. The ball-pen probe is successfully measuring the plasma potential in these specific plasma conditions only if an adapted electronics and an adapted probe size to the plasma characteristic lengths (λ(D), ρ(ce)) are used.

Reflectometry profile measurement requires an accurate determination of the plasma reflected signal. Along with a good resolution and a high signal to noise ratio of the phase measurement, adequate data analysis is required. A new data processing based on time-frequency tomographic representation is used. It provides a clearer separation between multiple components and improves isolation of the relevant signals. In this paper, this data processing technique is applied to two sets of signals coming from two different reflectometer devices used on the Tore Supra tokamak. For the standard density profile reflectometry, it improves the initialization process and its reliability, providing a more accurate profile determination in the far scrape-off layer with density measurements as low as 10(16) m(-1). For a second reflectometer, which provides measurements in front of a lower hybrid launcher, this method improves the separation of the relevant plasma signal from multi-reflection processes due to the proximity of the plasma.