M.Q. Tran

Status of R&D activities on materials for fusion power reactors

Current R&D activities on materials for fusion power reactors are mainly focused on plasma facing, structural and tritium breeding materials for plasma facing (first wall, divertor) and breeding blanket components. Most of these activities are being performed in Europe, Japan, the Peoples Republic of China, Russia and the USA. They relate to the development of new high temperature, radiation resistant materials, the development of coatings that will act as erosion, corrosion, permeation and/or electrical/MHD barriers, characterization of candidate materials in terms of mechanical and physical properties, assessment of irradiation effects, compatibility experiments, development of reliable joints, and development and/or validation of design rules. Priorities defined worldwide in the field of materials for fusion power reactors are summarized, as well as the main achievements obtained during the last few years and the near-term perspectives in the different investigation areas.

ITER R&D: Auxiliary Systems: Electron Cyclotron Heating and Current Drive System

Keywords: ITER Reference CRPP-ARTICLE-2001-037doi:10.1016/S0920-3796(01)00203-4View record in Web of Science Record created on 2008-04-16, modified on 2017-05-12

European high-power CW gyrotron development for ECRH systems

The development of high power CW gyrotrons for ECRH heating of fusion relevant plasmas has been in progress for several years in a joint collaboration between different European research institutes and an industrial partner. Two development are on going, aiming, respectively, towards a 0.51-MW-210-s gyrotron at 118 GHz for the tokamaks TCV of CRPP (2 s pulse length) and Tore Supra of CEA (210 s pulse length), and towards a 1 MW-CW gyrotron at 140 GHz for the stellarator W7-X under construction in Greifswald. Series 118 GHz gyrotrons have been delivered to CRPP and CEA. Long pulse results (15.5 s at 400 kW) as well as considerations on power modulation capabilities of the tube and on long pulse effects are discussed. In a second development program, a 1-MW/CW 140 GHz gyrotron with a CVD diamond window and a single-stage depressed collector has been designed and constructed as a first prototype for the 10-MW ECRH (Elecron Cyclotion Resonance Heating) system of the new stellarator experiment Wendelstein 7-X of IPP Greifswald/Germany. The gyrotron operates in the TE28.8 cavity mode and provides a linearly polarized, TEM0.0 Gaussian RF beam. It is composed of a diode MIG gun, an improved beam tunnel, a high-mode purity low-ohmic loss cavity, an optimized non-linear up-taper, a highly efficient internal quasi-optical mode converter employing an improved launcher together with one quasi-elliptical and two beam shaping reflectors, a large single stage depressed collector at ground potential with a beam sweeping magnet, and a horizontal RF output

Experimental study from linear to chaotic regimes on a terahertz-frequency gyrotron oscillator

Basic wave-particle interaction dynamics from linear to chaotic regimes is experimentally studied on a frequency tunable gyrotron generating THz radiation in continuous mode (200W) at 263GHz which will be used for dynamic nuclear polarization nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy applications. In the studied system, the nonlinear dynamics associated to the waveparticle interaction is dominated by longitudinal mode competition of a given transverse TEm;p cavity-mode. This study covers a wide range of control parameter from gyro-traveling wave tube (gyro-TWT) to gyro-backward wave oscillator (gyro-BWO) like interactions for which extensive theoretical studies have been performed in the past on a simplified system. Besides the common route to chaos characterized by period doubling, other routes have been identified among which some are characterized by line-width frequency-broadening on the side-bands. The complex nonlinear dynamics is in good agreement with the theory and the experimental results are discussed on the basis of the prediction obtained with the nonlinear time-dependent selfconsistent codes TWANG and EURIDICE both based on a slow-time scale formulation of the self-consistent equations governing the wave-particle dynamics. VC

Development of a 2-MW, CW Coaxial Gyrotron at 70 GHz and Test Facility for ITER

In ITER, EC heating and current drive (H&CD) is foreseen not only as a principal auxiliary system for plasma heating and as assist for plasma start-up, but is considered essential in meeting the key requirement of neoclassical tearing mode (NTM) stabilisation, by localized current drive. In the reference ECH design, ITER requires a total of 20 MW/CW power at 170 GHz using gyrotrons with a unit power of 1 MW. A higher power per unit (2 MW/gyrotron) would result in a strong reduction of the cost of the whole ECRH system, and would also relax the room constraints on the launcher antenna design. In view of the capability of coaxial cavity gyrotrons demonstrated with short pulse experiments at FZK, the European Fusion Development Agreement (EFDA) has started in 2003 the development of an industrial 170 GHz 2 MW/CW coaxial cavity gyrotron, in a collaborative effort between European research associations CRPP/EPFL, FZK, TEKES and Thals Electron Devices (TED). The development plan includes three steps to reach successively 2 MW/1s, 2 MW/60s and finally 2 MW/CW operation. The procurement of the first prototype is in progress and it scheduled to be delivered during the first quarter of 2006. The experimental tests of the prototypes will be carried out at CRPP/EPFL, where an ITER relevant test facility is presently under construction and will be achieved during the second half of 2005. The test facility is designed to be flexible enough, allowing the possible commissioning of tubes with different characteristics, as well the tests of the launcher antenna at full performances.

Operation of a quasi-optical gyrotron with a Gaussian output coupler

The operation of a 92 GHz quasi‐optical gyrotron having a resonator formed by a spherical mirror and a diffraction grating placed in −1 order Littrow mount is presented. A power of 150 kW with a Gaussian output pattern was measured. The Gaussian content in the output was 98% with less than 1% of depolarization. By optimizing the magnetic field at fixed frequency, a maximum efficiency of 15% was reached.

Development of a 140 GHz, 1 MW, continuous wave gyrotron for the W7-X stellarator

The development of high power gyrotrons in continuous wave (CW) operation for heating of plasmas used in nuclear fusion research has been in progress for several years in a joint collaboration between different European research institutes and industrial partners. A recent RD program aims at the development of 140 GHz gyrotrons with an output power of 1 MW in CW operation for the 10 MW ECRH system of the new stellarator plasma physics experiment Wendelstein 7-X at IPP Greifswald, Germany. The work is performed under responsibility of FZK Karlsruhe in collaboration with CRPP Lausanne, IPF Stuttgart, IPP Garching and Greifswald, CEA Cadarache and TED Velizy. The gyrotron operates in the TE28.8 mode and is equipped with a diode type magnetron injection electron gun, an improved beam tunnel, a high-mode purity low-ohmic loss cavity, an optimized non-linear up-taper, a highly efficient internal quasi-optical mode converter, a single-stage depressed collector and an edge-cooled, single disk CVD-diamond window. RF measurements at pulse duration of a few milliseconds yielded an RF output power of 1.15 MW at a beam current of 40 A and a beam voltage of 84 kV. Depressed collector operation has been possible up to decelerating voltages of 33 kV without any reduction of the output power, and an efficiency of 49 % has been achieved. Long pulse operation of the gyrotron was possible with an output power of 1 MW at a pulse length of 10 s without any signs of a limitation caused by the tube. For this output power the efficiency of the tube could be increased from about 30 % without depression voltage to about 50% with depression voltage. At an output power of 640 kW, a pulse length of 140 s could be achieved.

TWANG-PIC, a novel gyro-averaged one-dimensional particle-in-cell code for interpretation of gyrotron experiments

A new gyrotron simulation code for simulating the beam-wave interaction using a monomode time-dependent self-consistent model is presented. The new code TWANG-PIC is derived from the trajectory-based code TWANG by describing the electron motion in a gyro-averaged one-dimensional Particle-In-Cell (PIC) approach. In comparison to common PIC-codes, it is distinguished by its computation speed, which makes its use in parameter scans and in experiment interpretation possible. A benchmark of the new code is presented as well as a comparative study between the two codes. This study shows that the inclusion of a time-dependence in the electron equations, as it is the case in the PIC-approach, is mandatory for simulating any kind of non-stationary oscillations in gyrotrons. Finally, the new code is compared with experimental results and some implications of the violated model assumptions in the TWANG code are disclosed for a gyrotron experiment in which non-stationary regimes have been observed and for a critical case that is of interest in high power gyrotron development.

Advanced high-power gyrotrons

Gyrotrons at high frequency with high-output power are mainly developed for microwave heating and current drive in plasmas for thermonuclear fusion. For the stellarator Wendelstein 7-X, now under construction at IPP Greifswald, Germany, a 10-MW electron-cyclotron-resonance-heating (ECRH) system is foreseen. A 1-MW 140-GHz gyrotron with synthetic diamond window for continuous wave operation and with a single stage depressed collector for energy recovery and improvement of efficiency has been designed, constructed, and tested in collaboration with CRPP Lausanne and TED Ve/spl acute/lizy. It operates in the TE/sub 28,8/-cavity mode and provides a linearly polarized TEM/sub 0,0/ Gaussian RF beam. In short pulse operation at the design current of 40 A, an output power of 1-MW could be achieved for an accelerating voltage of 82 kV without depression voltage, an output power of 1.15 MW at an accelerating voltage of 84 kV with a depression voltage of 25 kV. These values correspond to an efficiency of 49%. After some problems with the RF-load, long-pulse operation was performed. The power measurements were done by the calibrated signal of the diode detector placed at the second mirror. Output powers of 1 MW could be achieved for 10 s, and an energy as high as 90 MJ per pulse has been produced with an output power of 0.64 MW. The pulselengths were mainly determined by the preset values. Only for the 100-s pulse at 0.74 MW, a limitation was found due to a pressure increase beyond about 10/sup -7/ hPa. The ITER task (task for the future international thermonuclear experimental reactor) on development of coaxial cavity gyrotrons ended in 2001. In accordance with the goal of the task, the potential of coaxial gyrotrons has been investigated and, as a result, data necessary for an industrial realization of a 2-MW CW 170-GHz tube have been obtained. In addition, first work on tube integration has been done. The results will be presented and discussed. By biasing the coaxial insert a fast (within 0.1 ms) frequency tuning has been demonstrated. In particular, a fast step tuning between the 165-GHz nominal mode and the azimuthal neighbors at 162.5 and 167.2 GHz have been performed. In addition, at the nominal mode a continuous frequency variation within the bandwidth of up to 70 MHz has been done.

Moment-based, self-consistent linear analysis of gyrotron oscillators

A new model for simulating gyrotron oscillators in the monomode time-dependent linear self-consistent regime is presented. Starting from a nonlinear time-dependent monomode model, the linearization and the following simplification of the model, based on a moment approach, are described. This simplified model represents a numerically efficient model and allows to have a deeper physical insight, in particular, for regimes dominated by self-consistent effects such as for the gyro-backward wave instability. One specific case of a gyrotron cavity is studied in detail and compared with experimental results, with special attention to self-consistent effects and to the differences with a model using a fixed field profile. Self-consistent linear simulations are, amongst other applications, important for the design of frequency-tunable gyrotrons or high-power gyrotrons with cavities having a relatively low quality factor, but also for studies of parasitic oscillations as they may occur in beam ducts and/or in the launcher section following the interaction cavity.