No abstract

A high-performance Faraday-effect polarimeter-interferometer system has been developed for the J-TEXT tokamak. This system has time response up to 1 μs, phase resolution < 0.1° and minimum spatial resolution ∼15 mm. High resolution permits investigation of fast equilibrium dynamics as well as magnetic and density perturbations associated with intrinsic Magneto-Hydro-Dynamic (MHD) instabilities and external coil-induced Resonant Magnetic Perturbations (RMP). The 3-wave technique, in which the line-integrated Faraday angle and electron density are measured simultaneously by three laser beams with specific polarizations and frequency offsets, is used. In order to achieve optimum resolution, three frequency-stabilized HCOOH lasers (694 GHz, >35 mW per cavity) and sensitive Planar Schottky Diode mixers are used, providing stable intermediate-frequency signals (0.5-3 MHz) with S/N > 50. The collinear R- and L-wave probe beams, which propagate through the plasma poloidal cross section (a = 0.25-0.27 m) vertically, are expanded using parabolic mirrors to cover the entire plasma column. Sources of systematic errors, e.g., stemming from mechanical vibration, beam non-collinearity, and beam polarization distortion are individually examined and minimized to ensure measurement accuracy. Simultaneous density and Faraday measurements have been successfully achieved for 14 chords. Based on measurements, temporal evolution of safety factor profile, current density profile, and electron density profile are resolved. Core magnetic and density perturbations associated with MHD tearing instabilities are clearly detected. Effects of non-axisymmetric 3D RMP in ohmically heated plasmas are directly observed by polarimetry for the first time.

Evaluation and reconstruction of plasma equilibrium, especially to resolve the safety factor profile, is imperative for advanced tokamak operation and physics study. Based on core magnetic measurement by the high resolution laser polarimeter-interferometer system (POLARIS), the equilibrium of Joint-TEXT (J-TEXT) plasma is reconstructed and profiles of safety factor, current density, and electron density are, therefore, obtained with high accuracy and temporal resolution. The equilibrium reconstruction procedure determines the equilibrium flux surfaces essentially from the data of POLARIS. Refraction of laser probe beam, a major error source of the reconstruction, has been considered and corrected, which leads to improvement of accuracy more than 10%. The error of reconstruction has been systematically assessed with consideration of realistic diagnostic performance and scrape-off layer region of plasma, and its accuracy has been verified. Fast equilibrium transitions both within a single sawtooth cycle and during the penetration of resonant magnetic perturbation have been investigated.

The ab-plane reflectance of a Pr2CuO4 single crystal has been measured over a wide frequency range at a variety of temperatures, and the optical properties determined from a Kramers-Kronig analysis. Above ≈ 250 K, the low frequency conductivity increases quickly with temperature; ρ dc ≈ 1/σ1(ω → 0) follows the form ρ dc ∝ exp(Ea/kBT ), where Ea ≈ 0.17 eV is much less than the inferred optical gap of ≈ 1.2 eV. Transport measurements show that at low temperature the resistivity deviates from activated behavior and follows the form ρ dc ∝ exp[(T0/T ) 1/4 ], indicating that the dc transport in this material is due to variable-range hopping between localized states in the gap. The four infrared-active Eu modes dominate the infrared optical properties. Below ≈ 200 K, a striking new feature appears near the low-frequency Eu mode, and there is additional new fine structure at high frequency. A normal coordinate analysis has been performed and the detailed nature of the zone-center vibrations determined. Only the low-frequency Eu mode has a significant Pr-Cu interaction. Several possible mechanisms related to the antiferromagnetism in this material are proposed to explain the sudden appearance of this and other new spectral features at low temperature.

Sawtooth oscillations in tokamaks are defined by their effect on electron temperature: a rapid flattening of the core profile followed by an outward heat pulse and a slow core recovery caused by central heating. Recent high-resolution, multi-chord interferometer measurements on JTEXT extend these studies to particle transport. Sawteeth only partially flatten the core density profile, but enhanced particle diffusion on the time scale of the thermal crash occurs over much of the profile, relevant for impurities. Recovery between crashes implies an inward pinch velocity extending to the center.

A three-wave laser polarimeter-interferometer, equipped with three independent far-infrared laser sources, has been developed on Joint-TEXT (J-TEXT) tokamak. The diagnostic system is capable of high-resolution temporal and phase measurement of the Faraday angle and line-integrated density. However, for long-term operation (>10 min), the free-running lasers can lead to large drifts of the intermediate frequencies (∼100-∼500 kHz/10 min) and decay of laser power (∼10%-∼20%/10 min), which act to degrade diagnostic performance. In addition, these effects lead to increased maintenance cost and limit measurement applicability to long pulse/steady state experiments. To solve this problem, a real-time feedback control method of the laser source is proposed. By accurately controlling the length of each laser cavity, both the intermediate frequencies and laser power can be simultaneously controlled: the intermediate frequencies are controlled according to the pre-set values, while the laser powers are maintained at an optimal level. Based on this approach, a real-time feedback control system has been developed and applied on J-TEXT polarimeter-interferometer. Long-term (theoretically no time limit) feedback of intermediate frequencies (maximum change less than ±12 kHz) and laser powers (maximum relative power change less than ±7%) has been successfully achieved.

Optical structure stability is an important issue for far-infrared (FIR) phase measurements. To ensure good signal quality, influence of vibration should be minimized. Mechanical amelioration and optical optimization can be taken in turn to decrease vibration's influence and ensure acceptable measurement. J-TEXT (Joint Texal Experiment Tokamak, formerly TEXT-U) has two FIR diagnostic systems: a HCN interferometer system for electron density measurement and a three-wave polarimeter-interferometer system (POLARIS) for electron density and Faraday effect measurements. All use phase detection techniques. HCN interferometer system has almost eliminated the influence of vibration after mechanical amelioration and optical optimization. POLARIS also obtained first experimental results after mechanical stability improvements and is expected to further reduce vibration's influence on Faraday angle to 0.1° after optical optimization.

Density modulation experiments have been conducted on Joint-TEXT (J-TEXT) Tokamak Ohmic discharge to investigate particle transport based on a model with constant diffusion plus inward convection. Like the HCN interferometer, the newly developed three-wave polarimeter-interferometer system (POLARIS) is used to measure the perturbed density. The comparison of results between the HCN interferometer and POLARIS is given. The consistent results indicate the validity of the analysis scheme. At lower densities, the typical particle confinement time τp is found to increase with electron density, while it saturates at higher densities.