This paper summarizes the results of experiments on electron cyclotron resonance heating (ECRH) of plasma obtained at the axially symmetric magnetic mirror device gas dynamic trap (GDT) (Budker Institute, Novosibirsk). The main achievement is the demonstration of plasma discharges with extremely high temperatures of bulk electrons. According to the Thomson scattering measurements, the on-axis electron temperature averaged over several sequential shots is 660 ± 50 eV with peak values exceeding 900 eV in a few shots. This corresponds to an at least threefold increase as compared to previous experiments both at the GDT and at other comparable machines, thus demonstrating the maximum quasi-stationary (∼0.6 ms) electron temperature achieved in open traps. The breakthrough is made possible with the successful implementation of a sophisticated ECRH scheme in addition to standard heating by neutral beams (NBs). Another important result is the demonstration of the significantly increased lifetime of NB-driven fast particles with the application of ECRH, leading to a 30% higher plasma energy content at the end of the discharge. All available data including the previously demonstrated possibility of plasma confinement with β as high as 60%, allows us to consider fusion applications of axially symmetric magnetic mirror machines on a realistic basis.
First bandwidth measurements of a novel gyrotron amplifier are presented. The coupling between the second harmonic cyclotron mode of a gyrating electron beam and the radiation field occurred in the region of near infinite phase velocity over a broad bandwidth by using a cylindrical waveguide with a helical corrugation on its internal surface. With a beam energy of 185 keV, the amplifier achieved a maximum output power of 1.1 MW, saturated gain of 37 dB, linear gain of 47 dB, saturated bandwidth of 8.4 to 10.4 GHz ( 21% relative bandwidth), and an efficiency of 29%, in good agreement with theory.
Reflectometry with wavelengths in the centimetre to millimetre-wave range will be used in ITER to measure the density profile in the main plasma and divertor regions and to measure the plasma position and shape in order to provide a reference for the magnetic diagnostics in long pulses. In addition, it is expected to provide key information for the measurement of density fluctuations. A set of reflectometers to meet the relevant ITER measurement requirements has been included in its present outline as part of the ITER design since 2001 and is being adapted to the present ITER baseline and to accommodate progress with reflectometry techniques and measurement capabilities. It comprises low and high field side (HFS and LFS, respectively) ordinary (O-) mode systems for the measurement of the density profile in the gradient regions, a LFS extraordinary (X-) mode system for the detailed study of the edge profile, an HFS X-mode system operating in the left hand cutoff to measure the core profile, a dedicated O-mode system for plasma-wall gap measurement and a multi-band, multiple line of sight O-mode system to measure divertor density profiles. This paper describes the evolution of the design, in particular some recent improvements in the engineering implementation and improvements aimed at enhancing the measurement capability. It concludes with a brief assessment of the likely measurement performance against the ITER measurement requirements for the parameters of interest and the overall confidence that the technique will be implanted on ITER.
The paper presents the latest development achievements in Russian institutions IAP/GYCOM of MW power level gyrotrons for fusion installations.
In many tokamak and stellarator experiments around the globe that are investigating energy production via controlled thermonuclear fusion, electron cyclotron heating and current drive (ECH&CD) are used for plasma start-up, heating, non-inductive current drive and MHD stability control. ECH will be the first auxiliary heating method used on ITER. Megawatt-class, continuous wave (CW) gyrotrons are employed as high-power millimeter (mm)-wave sources. The present review reports on the worldwide state-of-the-art of high-power gyrotrons. Their successful development during the past years changed ECH from a minor to a major heating method. After a general introduction of the various functions of ECH&CD in fusion physics, especially for ITER, Section 2 will explain the fast-wave gyrotron interaction principle. Section 3 discusses innovations on the components of modern long-pulse fusion gyrotrons (magnetron injection electron gun (MIG), beam tunnel, cavity, quasi-optical output coupler, synthetic diamond output window, single-stage depressed collector) and auxiliary components (superconducting magnets, gyrotron diagnostics, high-power calorimetric dummy loads). Section 4 deals with present megawatt-class gyrotrons for ITER, W7-X, LHD, EAST, KSTAR and JT-60SA, and also includes tubes for moderate pulse length machines as, ASDEX-U, DIII-D, HL-2A, TCV, QUEST and GAMMA-10. In Section 5 the development of future advanced fusion gyrotrons is discussed. These are tubes with higher frequencies for DEMO, multi-frequency (multi-purpose) gyrotrons, stepwise frequency tunable tubes for plasma stabilization, injection-locked and coaxial-cavity multi-megawatt gyrotrons, as well as sub-THz gyrotrons for collective Thomson scattering (CTS). Efficiency enhancement via multi-stage depressed collectors, fast oscillation recovery methods and reliability, availability, maintainability and inspectability (RAMI) will be discussed at the end of this section.
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