Tomographic reconstruction of plasma electron temperature profiles using semiconductor detector arrays in the elliptic transition region and the circular central cell of the GAMMA 10 tandem mirror

Elliptically shaped transition-region plasmas located between circularly shaped central cell and fish-tail shaped anchor-cell plasmas have been observed using X-ray tomography techniques for the first time in the world largest tandem mirror device, GAMMA 10. These three regions are connected through the lines of magnetic forces. Electrons are, therefore, anticipated to move easily through these regions along the magnetic field lines when neither appreciable electron losses into the transverse direction across the magnetic field lines nor the formation of electron transport barrier potentials in the parallel direction are expected. From this viewpoint, comparisons of electron temperature (<f>Te</f>) profiles in these regions, thus, give information on one of the most critical issues in tandem mirror plasma confinement. The first data on good agreement in <f>Te</f> profiles of the central cell and the transition region have supported this basic and essential concept of tandem mirror confinement. Development of position sensitive semiconductor-detector arrays and an upgraded X-ray tomography algorithm for analysing elliptically shaped transition-region plasmas are also reported. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]