S. Okajima

Far infrared laser interferometer system on the Large Helical Device

A multichannel far-infrared laser interferometer system has been developed for the measurement of the spatial and temporal behaviors of the electron density on the Large Helical Device (LHD) at the National Institute for Fusion Science. Of several candidates for high power laser sources a 119 μm CH3OH laser was taken as a probing light. The optical configuration is of the Michelson interferometer type with 13 channels. The optical system of the interferometer is mounted on a massive stainless frame floated on three vibration isolating mounts. The resolution of the fringe counters is 1/100 fringes, and it corresponds to a line averaged density of 5.6×1016 m−3 at the central chord. Preliminary results have been obtained in the initial experiments on the LHD.

Experimental study of particle transport and density fluctuations in LHD

A variety of electron density (ne) profiles have been observed in the Large Helical Device (LHD). The density profiles change dramatically with heating power and toroidal magnetic field (Bt). The particle transport coefficients, i.e. diffusion coefficient (D) and convection velocity (V) are experimentally obtained in the standard configuration from density modulation experiments. The values of D and V are estimated separately in the core and edge. The diffusion coefficients are found to be a function of electron temperature (Te), and vary with Bt. Edge diffusion coefficients are proportional to . Non-zero V is observed, and it is found that the electron temperature gradient can drive particle convection, particularly in the core region. The convection velocity both in the core and edge reverses direction from inward to outward as the Te gradient increases. However, the toroidal magnetic field also significantly affects the value and direction of V. The density fluctuation profiles are measured by a two-dimensional phase contrast interferometer. It was found that fluctuations which are localized in the edge propagate towards the ion diamagnetic direction in the laboratory frame, while the phase velocity of fluctuations around mid-radius is close to the plasma poloidal Er × Bt rotation velocity. The fluctuation level becomes larger as particle flux becomes larger in the edge region.

Overview of confinement and MHD stability in the Large Helical Device

The Large Helical Device is a heliotron device with L = 2 and M = 10 continuous helical coils with a major radius of 3.5–4.1 m, a minor radius of 0.6 m and a toroidal field of 0.5–3 T, which is a candidate among toroidal magnetic confinement systems for a steady state thermonuclear fusion reactor. There has been significant progress in extending the plasma operational regime in various plasma parameters by neutral beam injection with a power of 13 MW and electron cyclotron heating (ECH) with a power of 2 MW. The electron and ion temperatures have reached up to 10 keV in the collisionless regime, and the maximum electron density, the volume averaged beta value and stored energy are 2.4 × 1020 m−3, 4.1% and 1.3 MJ, respectively. In the last two years, intensive studies of the magnetohydrodynamics stability providing access to the high beta regime and of healing of the magnetic island in comparison with the neoclassical tearing mode in tokamaks have been conducted. Local island divertor experiments have also been performed to control the edge plasma aimed at confinement improvement. As for transport study, transient transport analysis was executed for a plasma with an internal transport barrier and a magnetic island. The high ion temperature plasma was obtained by adding impurities to the plasma to keep the power deposition to the ions reasonably high even at a very low density. By injecting 72 kW of ECH power, the plasma was sustained for 756 s without serious problems of impurities or recycling.

Development of short-wavelength far-infrared laser for high density plasma diagnostics

For high density operation of the large helical device and for a future large plasma machine such as ITER, a powerful 57 μm CH3OD laser pumped by a continuous wave 9R(8) CO2 laser has been developed. The 57 μm (5.2 THz) laser light has been successfully detected by using a GaAs Schottky barrier diode detector with a corner reflector. For optical windows of the plasma vessel and the far-infrared laser crystal quartz etalons have been designed under a concept of a two-wavelength etalon for 119 and 57 μm lights.

Detection system operating at up to 7THz using quasioptics and Schottky barrier diodes

We have developed a wide-bandwidth, high-sensitivity, continual terahertz-wave sensor that utilizes a quasioptical parabolic mirror and a Schottky barrier diode and successfully applied it at up to 7THz range. This sensor utilizes a parabolic cylindrical mirror, a long-wire antenna, and a Schottky barrier diode. The antenna, placed at the focal point of the parabolic mirror, quasioptically collects the terahertz signal. This configuration eliminates the need for frequency-dependent reception readjustments of the antenna and the mirror positions, greatly improving operability.

A twin optically-pumped far-infrared CH3OH laser for plasma diagnostics

A twin optically-pumped far-infrared CH3OH laser has been constructed for use in plasma diagnostics. The antisymmetric doublet due to the Raman-type resonant two-photon transition is reproducibly observed at 118.8 μm. With the 118.8-μm line, it is obtained from the frequency separation of the anti-symmetric doublet that CH3OH absorption line center is 16±1 MHz higher than the pump 9.7-μm P(36) CO2 laser line center. It is shown that the Raman-type resonant two-photon transition is useful in order to get several-MHz phase modulation for the far-infrared laser interferometer. Some preliminary performances of this twin laser for the modulated interferometer are described.

Two-dimensional phase contrast imaging for local turbulence measurements in large helical device (invited)

Two-dimensional phase contrast imaging (2D) installed on the large helical device (LHD) is a unique diagnostic for local turbulence measurements. A 10.6 microm infrared CO(2) laser and 6x8 channel HgCdTe 2D detector are used. The length of the scattering volume is larger than plasma size. However, the asymmetry of turbulence structure with respect to the magnetic field and magnetic shear make local turbulence measurements possible. From a 2D image of the integrated fluctuations, the spatial cross-correlation function was estimated using time domain correlation analysis, then, the integrated 2D k-spectrum is obtained using maximum entropy method. The 2D k-spectrum is converted from Cartesian coordinates to cylindrical coordinates. Finally, the angle in cylindrical coordinate is converted to flux surface labels. The fluctuation profile over almost the entire plasma diameter can be obtained at a single moment. The measurable k-region can be varied by adjusting the detection optics. Presently, k=0.1-1.0 mm(-1) can be measured which is expected region of ion temperature gradient modes and trapped electron mode in LHD. The spatial resolution is 10%-50% of the minor radius.

CO2 laser polarimeter for electron density profile measurement on the Large Helical Device

We developed a three-channel tangential CO2 laser polarimeter to measure electron densities on the Large Helical Device. Our system aims to obtain not only the line averaged electron density but also the electron density profile. The achieved resolution of the Faraday rotation angle was 0.01° with a response time of 3 ms by digital complex demodulation combined with digital filtering. The phase fluctuations whose amplitude is typically 0.05° with a time constant of several seconds were observed. It was found that they were caused by beam axis fluctuations from bench top experiments. In the case of pellet injected plasmas it was demonstrated that the polarimeter could measure the time evolution of the Faraday rotation with high reliability and resolution. The calibrated rotation angle of all chords were well consistent with interferometer data. Assuming the functional dependence of the density profile, we estimated the density profile after pellet injections from three-channel polarimeter data iteratively....

High-power 47.6 and 57.2 μm CH3OD lasers pumped by continuous-wave 9R(8) CO2 laser

Powerful lasers in the far-infrared wavelength range (47.6 and 57.2 μm) have been developed to measure the plasma density in the Large Helical Device at National Institute for Fusion Science and future plasma devices such as the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor. The intensification of these lasers has been done by cooling the laser tube wall, adding He as the buffer gas, and using a chemical-vapor-deposited diamond output window. The output powers for the 57.2 and 47.6 μm lasers have been found to be 1.6 and 0.8 W, respectively.

High frequency ion Bernstein wave heating experiment in the JIPP T-IIU tokamak

An experiment in a new regime of ion Bernstein wave (IBW) heating was carried out using 130 MHz high power transmitters in the JIPP T-IIU tokamak. The heating regime utilized the IBW branch between the 3rd and 4th harmonics of the hydrogen ion cyclotron frequencies. This harmonic number is the highest one used in IBW experiments conducted previously. The net radiofrequency (RF) power injected into the plasma is around 400 kW and is limited by the transmitter output power. Core heating of ions and electrons was confirmed in the experiment and density profile peaking was found to be a special feature of IBW heating. Peaking of the density profile was also found when IBWs were injected into neutral beam heated discharges. An analysis, using a transport code with these experimental data, indicates that particle and energy confinement should be improved in the plasma core region upon application of IBW heating. It is also found that the ion energy distribution function observed during IBW heating has a smaller high energy tail than those observed in conventional fast magnetosonic wave ICRF heating regimes. The ion energy distribution function obtained during IBW heating is in reasonable agreement with that calculated using the quasi-linear RF diffusion/Fokker-Planck model