Implementation of an impurity diagnostic suite on the Pegasus-III experiment.

A suite of diagnostics used to assess impurity content and dynamics has been updated, upgraded, and installed on the Pegasus-III Experiment. Typical plasma parameters during local helicity injection start-up are τ_shot ∼ 10 ms, n_e ∼ 1 × 10¹⁹ m⁻³, and T_e ∼ 50 eV. The deployed diagnostics are compatible with this modest temperature and density regime and provide species identification, source localization, and estimation of radiation losses. Impurity species are determined by recording time-evolving, single line-of-sight spectra at 1.25 kfps using a SPRED (Survey, Poor Resolution, Extended Domain) vacuum ultraviolet spectrometer. SPRED is equipped with 450 g/mm grating, giving a spectral resolution of 0.33 nm and a spectral range from ∼10 to 110 nm, useful to identify light impurity species in this temperature and density range. An absolutely calibrated spectrometer that collects light from the plasma at R_tan = 15.9 cm and Δt ≥ 2 ms is used as a visible survey spectrometer and for continuum measurements. The radiated power from the plasma is estimated with a photodiode-based diagnostic. Two 16-channel absolute extreme ultraviolet diode arrays are placed behind pinhole apertures, resulting in 32 lines of sight at Z = 0, with a spatial resolution of 2–3 cm and a time response of 60 kHz. A photometrically calibrated collinear D_α/near infrared filtered photodiode-based system measures the D_α emission and around 1040 nm. All these instruments have been designed to suppress electromagnetic interference from megawatt-class switching power supplies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]