[en] Optical emission spectroscopy is used to investigate the effect of neon mixing on the excitation and vibrational temperatures of the second positive system in nitrogen plasma generated by a 13.56 MHz RF generator. The excitation temperature is determined from Ne I line intensities, using Boltzmann's plot. The overpopulation of the levels of the N₂ (C ³Π_u, ν') states with neon mixing are monitored by measuring the emission intensities of the second positive system of nitrogen molecules. The vibrational temperature is calculated for the sequence Δν = -2, with the assumption that it follows Boltzmann's distribution. But due to overpopulation of levels, e.g. 1, 4, a linearization process was employed for such distributions allowing us to calculate the vibrational temperature of the N₂ (C ³Π_u, ν') state. It is found that the excitation temperature as well as the vibrational temperature of the second positive system can be raised significantly by mixing neon with nitrogen plasma. It is also found that the vibrational temperature increases with power and pressure up to 0.5 mbar.

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[en] GLAST-III (Glass Spherical Tokamak) is a spherical tokamak with aspect ratio A = 2. The mapping of its magnetic system is performed to optimize the GLAST-III tokamak for plasma initiation using a Hall probe. Magnetic field from toroidal coils shows 1/ R dependence which is typical with spherical tokamaks. Toroidal field (TF) coils can produce 875 Gauss field, an essential requirement for electron cyclotron resonance assisted discharge. The central solenoid (CS) of GLAST-III is an air core solenoid and requires compensation coils to reduce unnecessary magnetic flux inside the vessel region. The vertical component of magnetic field from the CS in the vacuum vessel region is reduced to 1.15 Gauss kA⁻¹ with the help of a differential loop. The CS of GLAST can produce flux change up to 68 mVs. Theoretical and experimental results are compared for the current waveform of TF coils using a combination of fast and slow capacitor banks. Also the magnetic field produced by poloidal field (PF) coils is compared with theoretically predicted values. It is found that calculated results are in good agreement with experimental measurement. Consequently magnetic field measurements are validated. A tokamak discharge with 2 kA plasma current and pulse length 1 ms is successfully produced using different sets of coils. (paper)

[en] This work presents the first electrical and optical measurements of the initial phase of hydrogen discharge in the upgraded spherical tokamak GLAST-III, initiated with electron cyclotron heating (ECH). Diagnostic measurements provide insights into expected and unexpected physics issues related to the initial phase of discharge. A triple Langmuir probe (TLP) has been developed to measure time series of the floating potential, plasma electron temperature and number density over the entire discharge, allowing monitoring of the two phases of the discharge: the ECH pre-ionization phase following by the plasma current formation phase. A TLP has the ability to give time-resolved measurements of the floating potential (V _float), electron temperature (T _e) and ion saturation current $(I_{\mathrm{s}\mathrm{a}\mathrm{t}}\propto <!--\; ???\; -->n_{\mathrm{e}}\surd <!--\; ???\; -->k{T}_{\mathrm{e}}).$ The evolution of the ECH-assisted pre-ionization and subsequent plasma current phases in one shot are well envisioned by the probe. Intense fluctuations in the plasma current phase advocate for efficient equilibrium and feedback control systems. Moreover, the emergence of some strong impurity lines in the emission spectrum, even after only a few shots, suggests a crucial need for improvements in the base vacuum level. A noticeable change in the shape of the temporal profiles of the floating potential, electron temperature, ion saturation current (I _sat) and light emission has been observed with changing hydrogen fill pressure and vertical magnetic field. (paper)

[en] Glow discharge plasma nitriding of AISI 304 austenitic stainless steel has been carried out for different processing time under optimum discharge conditions established by spectroscopic analysis. The treated samples were analysed by X-ray diffraction (XRD) to explore the changes induced in the crystallographic structure. The XRD pattern confirmed the formation of an expanded austenite phase (γ_N) owing to incorporation of nitrogen as an interstitial solid solution in the iron lattice. A Vickers microhardness tester was used to evaluate the surface hardness as a function of indentation depth (μm). The results showed clear evidence of surface changes with substantial increase in surface hardness