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Initial Plasma Formation in The GLAST-II Spherical Tokamak
Initial Plasma Formation in The GLAST-II Spherical Tokamak
DOI 10.1007/s10894-015-0052-z
ORIGINAL RESEARCH
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530 J Fusion Energ (2016) 35:529–537
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J Fusion Energ (2016) 35:529–537 531
-3
A 1.5 -3 B 0.3 P=15x10 mbar
P=15x10 mbar
1.0
0.2
0.5
0.0 0.1
1.5 -3
P=7x10 mbar 0.0
-3
1.0 0.3 P=7x10 mbar
0.5
0.2
0.0
1.5 -3 0.1
P=3x10 mbar
1.0
0.0
-3
0.5 0.3 P=3x10 mbar
0.0
2.0 0.2
-3
1.5 P=1.5x10 mbar
1.0 0.1
0.5
0.0
0.0 -3
0.3 P=1.5x10 mbar
-0.5
2 no absorption
0.2
1
0.1
0
0.0
-1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 -1 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
Time (ms) Time (ms)
Fig. 2 a Microwave absorption spectra measured by microwave detector for different neon fills pressures. b Temporal profiles of plasma
induced light emission measured by BPX65 photodiode for different neon fill pressure
range gauge (PN-FRG 700). Thus, plasma current is pro- thus substantial reduction in loop voltage requirement for
duced successfully in GLAST-II with neon gas and evi- the initial phase of startup. Firstly, microwave absorption
denced by Rogowski coil and photodiode signals. in the presence of resonant field (*875 Gauss) is opti-
mized by changing the gas fill pressure, orientation of the
waveguide and relative delay between TF and the micro-
ECR-Assisted Pre-ionization wave pulse. A microwave detector diode is used to monitor
the relative absorbance spectra of the microwave pulse
A commercially available magnetron operating at a fre- whereas an optical photodiode is used to record the cor-
quency of 2.45 GHz and output power of 800 W is mod- responding light emission. The temporal profile of both
ified by winding copper wire between two magnets of diodes in term of width and intensity of microwave and
magnetron tube in order to enhance the magnetic field corresponding light emission at different gas fill pressures
strength and then tuned by synchronizing the energy of the is shown in Fig. 2.
capacitors. The modified system is now capable of pro-
ducing 2.45 GHz electromagnetic waves for startup with
an enhanced output power of 1.6 kW and pulse length of Field Null Generation
about 4 ms. In the preliminary experiment, a rectangular
E-plane sectoral horn antenna in TE10 mode is used to The generation of field null region is extremely important
inject waves in the perpendicular direction with the plasma for the plasma startup, especially in spherical tokamaks. For
torus for the benefit of pre-ionization. Microwave plasma successful plasma startup and to avoid interference with the
generation by ECR pre-ionization prior to the application plasma position and shape during the discharge, the residual
of a loop voltage instigates the breakdown avalanche and magnetic fields must be reduced to a minimum level in the
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532 J Fusion Energ (2016) 35:529–537
region where the plasma to be formed and sustained. The U
Plasma resistance Rp ¼ Iloop is calculated using the
presence of unwanted magnetic field (sometimes called p
value of plasma current and corresponding loop voltage
error field) due to the OH solenoid and the other magnetic measured independently for different shots with VF and
coil systems decrease the connection length of the field lines
without VF. As Rp ¼ glA ; where g depends on electron
and consequently increase the requirements for induced
toroidal electric field during the startup phase. A simple temperature, therefore Te can be estimated readily from the
technique has been applied to minimize the net vertical above Spitzer’s formulation. Temporal profile of electron
magnetic field inside the vacuum vessel produced by the temperature for both shots with VF and without VF, esti-
OH solenoid. Two pairs of compensation coils in series with mated from plasma resistivity is shown in Fig. 7. This
the OH solenoid are used to generate field null region inside enhancement of the electron temperature with the appli-
the vessel. Optimization of the compensation coils and the cation of VF may be ascribed to efficient electron impact
consequent minimum net flux at a particular instant is ionization and consequential reduction in plasma resistivity
achieved by varying the number of turns and also the and accordingly loop voltage.
position of the compensation coils. A differential loop (one
part encircling the OH solenoid while other encircling the
vessel) is used to observe net vertical magnetic flux passing Optical Measurements
through the vessel. Figure 3a, b shows configuration of the
compensation coils with equivalent circuit and differential Optical spectrum in the wavelength range from 348 to
loop signals respectively. The tuning of vertical field coil 1034 nm is recoded to investigate the intensity distribution
system i.e. to minimize the induced effect of OH solenoid of selected spectral lines and impurity contents [15]. A
on the vertical coils system is also necessary for the suc- typical spectrum of the discharge is presented in Fig. 8.
cessful tokamak startup. This is done by firing the OH Emission lines in the spectrum are indentified and labeled
solenoid at small voltage (*100 V) and measuring the by using NIST data. Intense neon lines with different
induced voltage across the vertical system. The induced intensity distribution can be easily recognized in the
voltage is reduced to the minimum possible value by spectrum. Moreover, some impurity atomic and molecular
adjusting the number of turns and the direction of current in lines belonging to oxygen and hydrogen are also observed
each of the coils. in the spectrum suggesting wall conditioning and
improvement in the vacuum conditions.
Sequential imaging of fusion plasmas is well-established
Electrical Measurements technique to get information about temporal progression of
the discharge [16]. Owing to recent advancements in the
Electrical characterization [9–13] of different subsystem of fast-framing camera technology, visible imaging has pro-
the device along with plasma is essential to correlate dif- ven to be extremely powerful diagnostic tool. Fast plasma
ferent quantities and optimization of the mechanism. imaging provides information about plasma shape and
Herein plasma current and loop voltage has been measured temporal evolution of discharge during operation. In fast-
using Rogowski coil encircling the cross section of plasma framing ([1 kHz) cameras, often fast imaging comes with
column and toroidal loop of wire at equatorial plane. enhanced temporal resolution. The number of useable
Plasma current, loop voltage and BPX65 photodiode sig- pixels depends on the camera frame rate. A high speed
nals without application of VF and with application of VF camera with a frame rate of 5000 fps is used to record the
are shown in Figs. 4a, b respectively. Corresponding tem- discharge dynamics. It can be seen from the plasma images
poral profiles of currents flowing through TF and VF coil that color visibility and brightness is different for shots
systems are presented in Fig. 5. Whereas Fig. 6 shows with VF and without VF. The plasma discharge with VF
oscillograms of plasma current, loop voltage, plasma seems to be brighter compared to the shot without VF and
induced light emission in (350–1100 nm) and also appears to occupy the whole volume of the spherical
(653–660 nm) recorded using Rogowski coil, flux loop, vessel. This fact may be ascribed to enhancement of
PBX65 photodiode and PMT coupled with monochroma- plasma current and consequent optical emission owing to
tor, respectively. electron impact excitation and ionization process. The
To characterize the GLAST discharge and consequent spreading of the discharge over whole volume may be
electron temperature Spitzer’s formulation is used for attributed to field helicity provided by VF and conse-
plasma resistivity measurements [14]. quently radial force apart from toroidal electron drift.
Temporal evolution of the ECR pre-ionization assisted
ln A
gSpitzer ½ohm m ¼ 0:53 104 GLAST-II discharge along with images at maximum
k
T3=2
e ½eV plasma current is presented in Fig. 9.
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J Fusion Energ (2016) 35:529–537 533
Fig. 3 a Illustration of A
compensation coils system with
equivalent circuit for GLAST-
II. b Differential loop signals Coil Radius Posion Turns
with single pair and two pairs of pairs (cm) (cm) of
compensation coils coil
CC1 14 Z=±32 5
CC2 26 Z=±24 1
B 500
400 OH solenoid
OH solenoid + CC1
300 OH solenoid + CC1+ CC2
200
Differential Loop (mV)
100
-100
-200
-300
-400
-500
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Time (ms)
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534 J Fusion Energ (2016) 35:529–537
A B
Ip(kA)
2
5
0
0 -2
Loop Voltage (V)
-20 -10
Microwave (arb.u)
Microwave (arb.u)
Fig. 4 a Temporal evolution of ECRH-assisted plasma current in assisted plasma current in GLAST-II with VF. The signals from top to
GLAST-II without VF. The signals from top to bottom illustrate the bottom illustrate the plasma induced light emission, plasma current,
plasma induced light emission, plasma current, loop voltage and loop voltage and microwave absorption respectively
microwave absorption respectively. b Temporal evolution of ECRH-
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J Fusion Energ (2016) 35:529–537 535
delay between TF and the microwave injection. Figure 6 at t = 2.6 ms and then starts to decay and terminates at
shows the oscillograms of plasma current, loop voltage and t = 3 ms while the visible glow ends at t = 4 ms. Fig-
plasma induced optical emission. A sudden dip in the loop ure 9b shows the comparison between the central frames
voltage corresponding to plasma current indicates charged recoded at the peak value of plasma current. It is obvious
particle generation and consequently reduction in plasma from the figure that discharge fills the whole volume of the
resistivity. vessel when VF is applied and consequently increases the
The cross-sectional average electron temperature of overall emission intensity.
plasma is estimated from the plasma resistivity using loop
voltage and plasma current, and is presented in Fig. 7.
Temporal profile shows fluctuating behavior of electron Conclusion
temperature for both cases with change in magnitude and
rise-time. A significant enhancement in the electron tem- In conclusion, plasma current is successfully generated in
perature is observed with the application of VF. This fact GLAST-II spherical tokamak. Besides the toroidal field
may be attributed to additional drift and shaping increasing (TF), a vertical field (VF) is also applied during the
plasma current and consequent reduction of loop voltage microwave injection to produce magnetic helicity and
and plasma resistivity by application of VF. additional toroidal electron drift. The prominent spectral
Optical emission spectrum (Fig. 8) shows that promi- lines in the spectrum are identified to find out the impurity
nent spectral lines belong to working gas, except tiny lines content as well as excited state population of the emitting
coming from impurities such as O2, H etc. It must be noted species in the plasma discharge. The temporal evolution of
that optical measurements are time integrated and line of plasma current and loop voltage is examined to investigate
sight averaged, and for the whole discharge including the effect of vertical field on discharge dynamics. Plasma
microwave plasma and plasma current region. A high electron temperature is estimated using Spitzer’s resistivity
speed camera with a frame rate of 5000 fps is used to method. Plasma imaging shows that the discharge with VF
record the temporal behavior of resonance layer and also seems to be brighter than the discharge without VF and also
the whole discharge scenario. The first visible layer appears appears to occupy the whole volume of the vessel. The
at time 1.2 ms after the firing of microwave at t = 0. The plasma current formation during a short period (2.3–2.7 ms)
emission intensity and the size of resonant layer increase may be explained by field null formation at that time.
with time (see Fig. 9a) up to about t = 2.2 ms. The plasma Additionally, abrupt fall of the plasma current may be
current formation starts at about t = 2.4 ms, maximum is attributed to energy loss and consequent cooling due to
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536 J Fusion Energ (2016) 35:529–537
10 A
With VF
0
2.2 ms 2.4 ms 2.6 ms 2.8 ms 3.0 ms
10
-5
Without VF
3.2 ms 3.4 ms 3.6 ms 3.8 ms 4.0 ms
5
B
kTe(eV)
0
With vertical field Without vertical field
Ne-I(640.22 nm)
H-I(656.27 nm)
6
magnetic fusion research community.
Ne-I(667.82 nm)
Ne-I(633.44 nm)
H2 (609.82 nm)
Ne-I(692.94 nm)
Ne-I(626.64 nm)
Ne-I(671.70 nm)
Ne-I(594.48 nm)
Ne-I(558.93 nm)
Ne-I(724.51 nm)
O2(777.9 nm)
to Dr. Badar Suleman (Ex. Member Science), Dr. S.M. Javed Akhter
(Member Science) and Mr. Maqbool Ahmed Ch., Director General,
2 TNO for providing guidance throughout the experiment and faithful
discussions. The authors also wish to thank the staff of the NILOP and
O-Lab Mechanical Workshops for providing technical assistance
500 550 600 650 700 750 800
during fabrication of GLAST. Support from IAEA through CRP No
Wavelength (nm)
166997 ‘‘on utilization of a network of small magnetic confinement
fusion devices of main stream fusion research’’ is also acknowledged.
Fig. 8 Typical spectrum of the neon plasma integrated over the entire
discharge duration
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