Electron density measurements in the ITER fusion plasma

The operation of ITER requires high-quality estimates of the plasma electron density over multiple regions in the plasma for plasma evaluation, plasma control and machine protection purposes. Although the density regimes of ITER are not very different from those of existing tokamaks (1018–1021 m−3), the severe conditions of the fusion plasma environment present particular challenges to implementing these density diagnostics. In this paper we present an overview of the array of ITER electron density diagnostics designed to measure over the entire ITER domain: plasma core, pedestal, edge, scrape-off layer and divertor. It will focus on the challenges faced in making these measurements, and the technical solutions of the current designs.