[en] An electronics system has been installed and tested for the readout of avalanche photodiode (APD) detectors for the National Spherical Torus Experiment (NSTX) Thomson scattering system. Similar to previous designs, it features preamps with a fast and a slow output. The fast output uses pulse shaping to optimize sensitivity for the 8 ns scattered light pulse while rejecting noise in the intrinsic plasma background. A low readout noise of ∼25 photoelectrons is achieved at an APD gain of 75. The design incorporates a number of features to provide flexibility for various modes of calibration

[en] The two-dimensional (2D) structure of plasma density turbulence in a magnetically confined plasma can potentially be measured using a Thomson scattering system made from components of the Nova laser of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. For a plasma such as the National Spherical Torus Experiment at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, the laser would form an ∼10-cm-wide plane sheet beam passing vertically through the chamber across the magnetic field. The scattered light would be imaged by a charge coupled device camera viewing along the direction of the magnetic field. The laser energy required to make 2D images of density turbulence is in the range 1--3 kJ, which can potentially be obtained from a set of frequency-doubled Nd:glass amplifiers with diameters in the range of 208--315 mm. A laser pulse width of ≤≤100 ns would be short enough to capture the highest frequency components of the expected density fluctuations

[en] The prompt loss of neutral beam ions from the National Spherical Torus Experiment is expected to be between 12% and 42% of the total 5 MW of beam power. There may, in addition, be losses of fast ions arising from high harmonic fast wave (HHFW) heating. Most of the lost ions will strike the HHFW antenna or the neutral beam dump. To measure these losses in the 2000 experimental campaign, thermocouples in the antenna, several infrared camera views, and a Faraday cup lost ion probe will be employed. The probe will measure loss of fast ions with E>1 keV at three radial locations, giving the scrape-off length of the fast ions

[en] Spatially resolved measurements of deuterium Balmer and Paschen line emission have been performed in the divertor region of the National Spherical Torus Experiment using a commercial 0.5 m Czerny-Turner spectrometer. While the Balmer emission lines, as well as the Balmer and Paschen continua in the ultraviolet and visible regions have been extensively used for tokamak divertor plasma temperature and density measurements, the diagnostic potential of infrared Paschen lines has been largely overlooked. We analyze Stark broadening of the lines corresponding to 2-n and 3-m transitions with principal quantum numbers n=7-12 and m=10-12 using recent model microfield method calculations [C. Stehle and R. Hutcheon, Astron. Astrophys., Suppl. Ser. 140, 93 (1999)]. Densities in the range (5-50)x10¹⁹ m^-3 are obtained in the recombining inner divertor plasma in 2-6 MW neutral beam heated H-mode discharges. The measured Paschen line profiles show good sensitivity to Stark effects and low sensitivity to instrumental and Doppler broadenings. The lines are situated in the near-infrared wavelength domain, where optical signal extraction schemes for harsh nuclear environments are practically realizable and where a recombining divertor plasma is optically thin. These properties make them an attractive recombining divertor density diagnostic for a burning plasma experiment

[en] ITER represents the next step towards practical magnetic confinement fusion power. Its primary physics objective is to study plasmas in which the fusion power exceeds the external heating power by a factor of 5 to 10; its technological objectives include the use of superconducting magnets and remote maintenance. We will describe the ITER experiment and then detail the fundamental roles that will be played by atomic physics processes in facilitating the achievement of ITER's objectives. First, atoms and molecules generated by the interaction of the ITER plasma with surrounding material surfaces will impact and, in some respects, dominate the particle, momentum, and energy balances in both the adjacent and confined, core plasmas. Second, impurity radiation in the edge plasma, either from intrinsic or extrinsic species, will ensure that heat coming out from the core is spread more uniformly over the surrounding material surfaces than it would otherwise. Third, many of the diagnostics used to monitor the dense (ne ∼ 1020 m-3), hot (∼ 1 x 108 K) core plasma leverage off of atomic physics effects

[en] Advancements have been made in the diagnostic techniques to measure accurately the total radiated x-ray yield and power from z-pinch implosion experiments at the Z machine with high accuracy. The Z machine is capable of outputting 2 MJ and 330 TW of x-ray yield and power, and accurately measuring these quantities is imperative. We will describe work over the past several years which include the development of new diagnostics, improvements to existing diagnostics, and implementation of automated data analysis routines. A set of experiments on the Z machine were conducted in which the load and machine configuration were held constant. During this shot series, it was observed that the total z-pinch x-ray emission power determined from the two common techniques for inferring the x-ray power, a Kimfol filtered x-ray diode diagnostic and the total power and energy diagnostic, gave 449 TW and 323 TW, respectively. Our analysis shows the latter to be the more accurate interpretation. More broadly, the comparison demonstrates the necessity to consider spectral response and field of view when inferring x-ray powers from z-pinch sources

[en] When used for the production of an x-ray imaging backlighter source on Sandia National Laboratories' 20 MA, 100 ns rise-time Z accelerator [M. K. Matzen et al., Phys. Plasmas 12, 055503 (2005)], the terawatt-class, multikilojoule, 526.57 nm Z-Beamlet laser (ZBL) [P. K. Rambo et al., Appl. Opt. 44, 2421 (2005)], in conjunction with the 6.151 keV, Mn-He_α curved-crystal imager [D. B. Sinars et al., Rev. Sci. Instrum. 75, 3672 (2004)], is capable of providing a high quality x radiograph per Z shot for various high-energy-density physics experiments. Enhancements to this imaging system during 2005 have led to the capture of inertial confinement fusion capsule implosion and complex hydrodynamics images of significantly higher quality. The three main improvements, all leading effectively to enhanced image plane brightness, were bringing the source inside the Rowland circle to approximately double the collection solid angle, replacing direct exposure film with Fuji BAS-TR2025 image plate (read with a Fuji BAS-5000 scanner), and generating a 0.3-0.6 ns, ∼200 J prepulse 2 ns before the 1.0 ns, ∼1 kJ main pulse to more than double the 6.151 keV flux produced compared with a single 1 kJ pulse. It appears that the 20±5 μm imaging resolution is limited by the 25 μm scanning resolution of the BAS-5000 unit, and to this end, a higher resolution scanner will replace it. ZBL is presently undergoing modifications to provide two temporally separated images ('two-frame') per Z shot for this system before the accelerator closes down in summer 2006 for the Z-refurbished (ZR) upgrade. In 2008, after ZR, it is anticipated that the high-energy petawatt (HEPW) addition to ZBL will be completed, possibly allowing high-energy 11.2224 and 15.7751 keV Kα₁ curved-crystal imaging to be performed. With an ongoing several-year project to develop a highly sensitive multiframe ultrafast digital x-ray camera (MUDXC), it is expected that two-frame HEPW 11 and 16 keV imaging and four-frame ZBL 6.151 keV curved-crystal imaging will be possible. MUDXC will be based on the technology of highly cooled silicon and germanium photodiode arrays and ultrafast, radiation-hardened integrated circuitry

[en] Sandia has successfully integrated the capability to apply uniform, high magnetic fields (10–30 T) to high energy density experiments on the Z facility. This system uses an 8-mF, 15-kV capacitor bank to drive large-bore (5 cm diameter), high-inductance (1–3 mH) multi-turn, multi-layer electromagnets that slowly magnetize the conductive targets used on Z over several milliseconds (time to peak field of 2–7 ms). This system was commissioned in February 2013 and has been used successfully to magnetize more than 30 experiments up to 10 T that have produced exciting and surprising physics results. These experiments used split-magnet topologies to maintain diagnostic lines of sight to the target. We describe the design, integration, and operation of the pulsed coil system into the challenging and harsh environment of the Z Machine. We also describe our plans and designs for achieving fields up to 20 T with a reduced-gap split-magnet configuration, and up to 30 T with a solid magnet configuration in pursuit of the Magnetized Liner Inertial Fusion concept

[en] There has been a substantial international research effort in the fusion community to identify tokamak operating regimes with either small or no periodic bursts of particles and power from the edge plasma, known as edge-localized modes (ELMs). While several candidate regimes have been presented in the literature, very little has been published on the characteristics of the small ELMs themselves. One such small ELM regime, also known as the Type V ELM regime, was recently identified in the National Spherical Torus Experiment [M. Ono, S. M. Kaye, Y.-K. M. Peng et al., Nucl. Fusion 40, 557 (2000)]. In this paper, the spatial and temporal structure of the Type V ELMs is presented, as measured by several different diagnostics. The composite picture of the Type V ELM is of an instability with one or two filaments that rotate toroidally at ∼5-10 km/s, in the direction opposite to the plasma current and neutral beam injection. The toroidal extent of Type V ELMs is typically ∼5 m, whereas the cross-field (radial) extent is typically ∼10 cm (3 cm), yielding a portrait of an electromagnetic, ribbon-like perturbation aligned with the total magnetic field. The filaments comprising the Type V ELM appear to be destabilized near the top of the H-mode pedestal and drift radially outward as they rotate toroidally. After the filaments come in contact with the open field lines, the divertor plasma perturbations are qualitatively similar to other ELM types, albeit with only one or two filaments in the Type V ELM versus more filaments for Type I or Type III ELMs. Preliminary stability calculations eliminate pressure driven modes as the underlying instability for Type V ELMs, but more work is required to determine if current driven modes are responsible for destabilization

[en] We report on the use of a liquid crystalline host medium to align single-walled carbon nanotubes in an electric field using an in-plane electrode configuration. Electron microscopy reveals that the nanotubes orient in the field with a resulting increase in the DC conductivity in the field direction. Current versus voltage measurements on the composite show a nonlinear behavior, which was modelled by using single-carrier space-charge injection. The possibility of manipulating the conductivity pathways in the same sample by applying the electrical field in different (in-plane) directions has also been demonstrated. Raman spectroscopy indicates that there is an interaction between the nanotubes and the host liquid crystal molecules that goes beyond that of simple physical mixing