A Heavy Ion Beam Probe for the Madison Symmetric Torus
U. Shah, K.A. Connor, J. Lei, P.M. Schoch, J.G. Schatz, T.P. Crowley, D.R. Demers (Rensselaer Polytechnic Insitute)

 

A Heavy Ion Beam Probe is being developed for application on the Madison Symmetric Torus (MST). Centered around a 200 kV accelerator, this system will utilize a variety of ions such as Li, K and Na to probe the plasma cross section of MST, under a wide variety of operating conditions. The HIBP will be used to make measurements of \Phi(r), fluctuating \Phi(r) , n_e(r), fluctuating n_e(r), and E(r) from the core to the edge region of the plasma in MST. Key issues related to particle and energy transport as well as confinement improvement will be addressed through the measurement of these quantites (potential fluctuation and particle flux). The HIBP's sensitivity to magnetic fluctuations may also enable its measurement under some limited conditions. The feasibility of the different measurements made by the HIBP will be investigated during the first year of operation. MST provides a host of challenges not encountered in previous HIBP's. Among them are relatively large levels of plasma and UV flux, small access ports, somewhat unknown magnetic field structure and high levels of broadband magnetic fluctuations due to sawtooth phenomena. The impact of these challenges will also be presented. Installation of MST-HIBP will begin at the end of summer 1998. Calibration and initial tests are planned for the remainder of this year. * Work Supported by US-DOE.