G. M. Gammel

Magnetic field pitch angle diagnostic using the motional Stark effect (invited)

The Stark effect has been employed in a novel technique for obtaining the pitch angle profile and q(r) using polarimetry measurements of the Doppler shifted Hα emission from a hydrogen diagnostic neutral beam. As a neutral beam propagates through a plasma, collisions of the beam particles with the background ions and electrons will excite beam atoms, leading to emission of radiation. The motional Stark effect, which arises from the electric field induced in the atom’s rest frame due to the beam motion across the magnetic field (E=Vbeam×B), causes a wavelength splitting of several angstroms and polarization of the emitted radiation. The Δm=±1 transitions, or σ components, from the beam fluorescence are linearly polarized parallel to the direction of the local magnetic field when viewed transverse to the fields. Since the hydrogen beam provides good spatial localization and penetration, the pitch angle can be obtained anywhere in the plasma. A photoelastic modulator (PEM) is used to modulate the linearly po...

Application of an E∥B spectrometer to PLT charge‐exchange diagnostics

A TFTR‐type E∥B spectrometer was installed on the PLT to provide a wide energy range, mass resolving, horizontally scanning charge‐exchange diagnostic. In ICRF heating experiments, the new analyzer has provided hydrogen minority high‐energy ion tail measurements simultaneously with bulk deuterium ion temperatures over a range of equatorial viewing angles. Characteristics of the E∥B analyzer will be discussed. Data representative of the PLT operating regimes will be presented to illustrate the analyzer performance.

Measurements of neutral beam species, impurities, spatial divergence, energy dispersion, pressure, and reionization using the TFTR U.S. Common Long Pulse Ion Source

Results are given from the first comprehensive and complementary measurements using the final production U.S. Common Long Pulse Ion Sources mounted on both the TFTR neutral beam test beamline and the TFTR neutral beam injection system, with actual tokamak experimental conditions, power systems, controls, and operating methods. The set of diagnostics included water calorimetry, thermocouples, vacuum ionization gauges, photodiodes, neutron, gamma‐ray, and charged particle spectroscopy, optical multichannel analysis, charge exchange spectroscopy, Rutherford backscatter spectroscopy, and implantation/secondary ion mass spectroscopy. These systems were used to perform complementary measurements of neutral beam species, impurities, spatial divergence, energy dispersion, pressure, and reionization. The measurements were performed either in the neutralizer region, where the beam contained both ions and neutrals, or in the region of the output neutral beam. The average of the neutral particle ratios in the range f...

TFTR neutral beam injected power measurement

Energy flow within TFTR neutral beamlines is measured with a waterflow calorimetry system capable of simultaneously measuring the energy deposited within four heating beamlines (three ion sources each), or of measuring the energy deposited in a separate neutral beam test stand. Of the energy extracted from the ion source on the well‐instrumented test stand, 99.5±3.5% can be accounted for. When the ion deflection magnet is energized, however, 6.5% of the extracted energy is lost. This loss is attributed to a spray of devious particles onto unmonitored surfaces. A 30% discrepancy is also observed between energy measurements on the internal beamline calorimeter and energy measurements on a calorimeter located in the test stand target chamber. Particle reflection from the flat plate calorimeter in the target chamber, which the incident beam strikes at a near‐grazing angle of 12°, is the primary loss of this energy. A slight improvement in energy accountability is observed as the beam pulse length is increased...

Gas utilization in the Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor neutral beam injectors

Measurements of gas utilization were performed using hydrogen and deuterium beams in the Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor (TFTR) neutral beam test beamline to study the feasibility of operating tritium beams with existing ion sources under conditions of minimal tritium consumption. (i) It was found that the fraction of gas molecules introduced into the TFTR long‐pulse ion sources that are converted to extracted ions (i.e., the ion source gas efficiency) was higher than with previous short‐pulse sources. Gas efficiencies were studied over the range 33%–55%, and its effect on neutralization of the extracted ions was studied. At the high end of the gas efficiency range, the neutral fraction of the beam fell below that predicted from room‐temperature molecular gas flow (similar to observations at the Joint European Torus). (ii) Beam isotope change studies were performed. No extracted hydrogen ions were observed in the first deuterium beam following a working gas change from H2 to D2. There was no arc conditioning ...

The PBX-M 80 kV neutral probe beam

Abstract The PBX-M Neutral Probe Beam Project was initiated to design, fabricate, acceptance-test, install, and commission an 80 kV, 2.7 A neutral probe beam for use in PBX-M q-profile measurements. The 100 ms, H° output beam is modulated at 1 kHz and has a pulse repetition rate of 3 min. The beam has a divergence of 0.5° and a focal length of 400 cm. The injection angle can be varied about 25°, from near perpendicular to outboard tangential. The beamline is shielded from magnetic fields and interfaces to the existing mechanical, electrical, and control systems of PBX-M.

Neutral probe beam q‐profile measurements in PDX and PBX‐M

Using the Fast Ion Diagnostic Experiment (FIDE) technique, a Neutral Probe Beam (NPB) can be aimed to inject tangentially to a magnetic surface. The resultant ion orbit shifts, due to conservation of canonical toroidal angular momentum, can be measured with a multi-sightline charge-exchange analyzer to yield direct measurements of radial magnetic flux profiles, current density profiles, the radial position of the magnetic axis, flux surface inner and outer edges, q-profiles, and central-q time dependencies. An extensive error analysis was performed on previous PDX q-measurements in circular plasmas and the resulting estimated contributions of various systematic effects are discussed. Preliminary results of fast ion orbit shift measurements at early times in indented PBX-M plasmas are given. Methods for increasing the absolute experimental precision of similar measurements in progress on PBX-M are discussed. 4 refs., 3 figs.

Diagnostics for TFTR neutral beam species measurement

Five diagnostic systems were used for initial species measurements during tokamak fusion test reactor (TFTR) neutral beam test stand operations involving four ion sources, as well as several different configurations and operating conditions. Initial results were obtained for total neutral species fractions at the beamline input and the beamline output, differential radial profiles of species fractions, angular divergences of species components, species radial power density profiles, and beam impurity components for various conditions.

Temporal behavior of neutral particle fluxes in TFTR neutral beam injectors

Data from an E∥B charge exchange neutral analyzer (CENA), which views down the axis of a neutral beamline through an aperture in the target chamber calorimeter of the TFTR neutral beam test facility, exhibit two curious effects. First, there is a turn‐on transient lasting tens of milliseconds having a magnitude up to three times that of the steady state level. Second, there is a 720 Hz, up to 20% peak‐to‐peak fluctuation persisting the entire pulse duration. The turn‐on transient occurs as the neutralizer/ion source system reaches a new pressure equilibrium following the effective ion source gas throughput reduction by particle removal as ion beam. Widths of the transient are a function of the gas throughput into the ion source, decreasing as the gas supply rate is reduced. Heating of the neutralizer gas by the beam is assumed responsible, with gas temperature increasing as gas supply rate is decreased. At low gas supply rates, the transient is primarily due to dynamic changes in the neutralizer line dens...