Zhongbing Shi

Development of microwave imaging reflectometry in large helical devicea)

Three key devices of the microwave imaging reflectometry (MIR) are under development in large helical device (LHD). The 2-D mixer array is developed by stacking the one-dimensional array of the planar Yagi-Uda antenna. The new type of the bandpass filter bank is modified to match the requirement of the MIR. The low-cost quadrature demodulator is also developed for the phase detection system. By using the low-price commercial wireless devices, the development cost becomes much lower than the expensive waveguide system. These devices enable the development of 2-D/3-D microwave imaging system for the plasma diagnostics and industrial applications.

Investigation of turbulence in reversed field pinch plasma by using microwave imaging reflectometry

Turbulence in the reversed field pinch (RFP) plasma has been investigated by using the microwave imaging reflectometry in the toroidal pinch experiment RX (TPE-RX). In conventional RFP plasma, the fluctuations are dominated by the intermittent blob-like structures. These structures are accompanied with the generation of magnetic field, the strong turbulence, and high nonlinear coupling among the high and low k modes. The pulsed poloidal current drive operation, which improves the plasma confinement significantly, suppresses the dynamo, the turbulence, and the blob-like structures.

DEVELOPMENTS OF ELECTRON CYCLOTRON EMISSION SPECTROSCOPY AND MICROWAVE REFLECTOMETRY ON LHD

Abstract Several types of microwave diagnostics, in the category of electron cyclotron emission (ECE) spectroscopy and reflectometry, have been developed on the Large Helical Device (LHD). Since LHD has a complicated magnetic configuration, the polarization effects have been studied for optimization of the microwave passive and active diagnostics. It was found that if the density is sufficiently high, the effect of mode conversion is negligible and the local polarization angle can be estimated as the angle at the plasma boundary. Three types of ECE spectroscopy, which are the heterodyne radiometer, the Michelson spectrometer, and the grating polychromator, have been optimized and operated routinely in order to measure radial profiles of electron temperature and its fluctuations in the frequency range 50 to 500 GHz. Several types of microwave reflectometers have also been utilized for measurements of the electron density profile and fluctuations. Two ultrashort pulsed radar reflectometers for density profile measurements, a V-band frequency-hopping reflectometer for density fluctuation profile measurements, and a fixed-frequency three-channel homodyne reflectometer for the interlock system of the neutral beam injection have been routinely operated. Also, an advanced diagnostic, which uses an imaging technique, has been developed to study the two- or three-dimensional structure of temperature and density fluctuations.