Since the 2012 IAEA-FEC Conference, FTU operations have been largely devoted to runaway electrons generation and control, to the exploitation of the 140 GHz electron cyclotron (EC) system and to liquid metal limiter elements. Experiments on runaway electrons have shown that the measured threshold electric field for their generation is larger than predicted by collisional theory and can be justified considering synchrotron radiation losses. A new runaway electrons control algorithm was developed and tested in presence of a runaway current plateau, allowing to minimize the interactions with plasma facing components and safely shut down the discharges. The experimental sessions with 140 GHz EC system have been mainly devoted to experiments on real-time control of magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) instabilities using the new EC launcher with fast steering capability. Experiments with central EC injection have shown the onset of 3/2 and 2/1 tearing modes, while EC assisted breakdown experiments have been focused on ITER start-up issues, exploring the polarization conversion at reflection from inner wall and the capability to assure plasma start-up even in presence of a large stray magnetic field. A new actively cooled lithium limiter has been installed and tested. The lithium limiter was inserted in the scrape-off layer, without any damage to the limiter surface. First elongated FTU plasmas with EC additional heating were obtained with the new cooled limiter. Density peaking and controlled MHD activity driven by neon injection were investigated at different plasma parameters. A full real-time algorithm for disruption prediction, based on MHD activity signals from Mirnov coils, was developed exploiting a large database of disruptions. Reciprocating Langmuir probes were used to measure the heat flux e-folding length in the scrape-off layer, with the plasma kept to lay on thea internal limiter to resemble the ITER start-up phase. New diagnostics were successfully installed and tested, as a diamond probe to detect Cherenkov radiation produced by fast electrons and a gamma camera for runaway electrons studies. Laser induced breakdown spectroscopy measurements were performed under vacuum and with toroidal magnetic field, so demonstrating their capability to provide useful information on the surface elemental composition and fuel retention in present and future tokamaks, such as ITER.

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Overview of the FTU results

We present an overview of FTU experiments on runaway electron (RE) generation and control carried out through a comprehensive set of real-time (RT) diagnostics/control systems and newly installed RE diagnostics. An RE imaging spectrometer system detects visible and infrared synchrotron radiation. A Cherenkov probe measures RE escaping the plasma. A gamma camera provides hard x-ray radial profiles from RE bremsstrahlung interactions in the plasma. Experiments on the onset and suppression of RE show that the threshold electric field for RE generation is larger than that expected according to a purely collisional theory, but consistent with an increase due to synchrotron radiation losses. This might imply a lower density to be targeted with massive gas injection for RE suppression in ITER. Experiments on active control of disruption-generated RE have been performed through feedback on poloidal coils by implementing an RT boundary-reconstruction algorithm evaluated on magnetic moments. The results indicate that the slow plasma current ramp-down and the simultaneous reduction of the reference plasma external radius are beneficial in dissipating the RE beam energy and population, leading to reduced RE interactions with plasma facing components. RE active control is therefore suggested as a possible alternative or complementary technique to massive gas injection.

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Runaway electron generation and control

The fluxes and energy distributions of the charge exchange (CX) neutrals as measured at specific locations at the tokamak ASDEX Upgrade (AUG) and the stellarator W7-AS at Garching are discussed as a function of the discharge conditions. For the evaluation of the plasma-wall interaction, knowledge of the energetic neutral fluxes and their energy and angular distributions at all poloidal and toroidal locations are required. For AUG these are obtained from B2-EIRENE computer simulations, taking the experimental results into account. The CX fluxes and the shapes of the spectra vary greatly around a poloidal cross-section. This has a strong effect on the wall erosion by sputtering and hydrogen isotope implantation into the vessel walls. The sputtering of the actual carbon wall, and the effect on possible wall materials, such as tungsten, beryllium, TiC and SiC, are discussed. The depth distribution of the CX neutrals implanted into the walls is calculated for two cases using the TRIMSP code. Saturation, release by glow discharges and permanent retention of the implanted hydrogen isotopes are discussed. This is important for the expected tritium content of the vessel walls of a future D-T fusion device.

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/0029-5515/38/12/305/pdf

Interaction of charge exchange neutrals with the main chamber walls of plasma machines

A novel charge exchange spectrometer using a dee-shaped region of parallel electric and magnetic fields was developed at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory for neutral particle diagnostics on the Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor (TFTR). The E∥B spectrometer has an energy range of 0.5⩽A (amu)E (keV)⩽600 and provides mass-resolved energy spectra of H+, D+, and T+ (or 3He+) ion species simultaneously during a single discharge. The detector plane exhibits parallel rows of analyzed ions, each row containing the energy dispersed ions of a given mass-to-charge ratio. The detector consists of a large area microchannel plate (MCP) which is provided with three rectangular, semicontinuous active area strips, one coinciding with each of the mass rows for detection of H+, D+, and T+ (or 3He+) and each mass row has 75 energy channels. To suppress spurious signals attending operation of the plate in the magnetic fringe field of the spectrometer, the MCP was housed in a double-walled iron shield with a wire mesh ion entr...

Construction and operation of parallel electric and magnetic field spectrometers for mass/energy resolved multi-ion charge exchange diagnostics on the tokamak fusion test reactor

An overview of the developments postcirca 1980s in the instrumentation and application of charge exchange neutral particle diagnostics on magnetic fusion energy experiments is presented. First, spectrometers that employ only electric fields and hence provide ion energy resolution but not mass resolution are discussed. Next, spectrometers that use various geometrical combinations of both electric and magnetic fields to provide both energy and mass resolutions are reviewed. Finally, neutral particle diagnostics based on utilization of time-of-flight techniques are presented.

/pdf/invited-review-article-contemporary-instrumentation-and-3a4hhxibqi.pdf

Invited Review Article: Contemporary instrumentation and application of charge exchange neutral particle diagnostics in magnetic fusion energy experiments

The neutral particle analyzer with energy and mass selection capability built for JET is described. The analyzer is able to detect in the same shot both H atoms from 0.3 to 320 keV and D atoms from 0.15 to 160 keV. In order to optimize the ion optics of the analyzer an oblique entrance in the magnet has been chosen. An ion trajectory code shows that in this way a good mass separation and a high efficiency can be achieved. The problems inherent in the analyzer calibration for a wide energy range are discussed, and the calibration procedure is described. In conclusion, the calibration results obtained with five analyzers are presented, together with theoretical consideration on ion optics and atomic processes, which have enabled us to write a simple interpolation formula for the experimental data.

Design and calibration of the JET neutral particle analyzer

The design of diagnostics for the Frascati Tokamak Upgrade (FTU) is challenging because of the compactness of the machine (8-cm-wide ports) and the low operating temperatures requiring the presence of a cryostat. Nevertheless, a rather complete diagnostic system has been progressively installed. The basic systems include a set of magnetic probes, various visible and ultraviolet spectrometers, electron cyclotron emission (ECE) for electron temperature profiles measurements and electron tails monitoring, far-infrared and CO{sub 2} interferometry, X-ray (soft and hard) measurements, a multichord neutron diagnostics (with different type detectors), and a Thomson scattering system. Some diagnostics specific to the FTU physics program have been used such as microwave reflectometry for turbulence studies, edge-scanning Langmuir probes for radio-frequency coupling assessment, oblique ECE, and a fast electron bremsstrahlung (FEB) camera for lower hybrid current drive-induced fast electron tails.These systems are briefly reviewed in this paper. Further developments including a scanning CO{sub 2} laser two-color interferometer, two FEB cameras for tomographic analysis, a motional Stark effect system, and a collective Thomson scattering system are also described.

G. Grosso

Papers

Design and calibration of the JET neutral particle analyzer

Chapter 8: The Diagnostic Systems in the FTU