Corrugated Horn Antenna for Low-Power Testing of the Quasioptical Transmission Lines at TJ-II Stellerator

This paper presents the design and characterisation of a millimetre-wave corrugated horn antenna to perform low power measurements of the main parameters of the quasioptical transmission lines of the Electron Cyclotron Resonance Heating (ECRH) at TJ-II stellerator experiment working in Madrid (E). The antenna generates a practically pure Gaussian Beam at 53.2 GHz that simulates the stellerator gyrotron output beam. Simulations of the designed corrugated horn, by using a specially developed computer code, are presented. The far field radiation pattern of the constructed prototype was measured at the ESTEC Compact Antenna Test Range (CATR). The measurement results are in excellent agreement with those obtained from simulations.     

Beam waveguide for ECRH at TJ-II

In this paper we present the main parameters of the transmission line system for Electron Cyclotron Resonance Heating (ECRH) for the TJ-II experiment at theAsociación Euratom Ciemat para Fusión in Madrid. This heating system is based on two quasioptical transmission lines carrying 400 kW and 0.5 sec. of pulse length each line and operating at the frequency of 53.2 GHz. The principal parameters of the designed mirrors and those of the guided beams are given in this paper. The first transmission line has already been built at the Ciemat workshop, the second one is under construction.     

An Optimum Sectional Waveguide Taper for Quasioptical Transmission Lines

The paper considers an optimum sectional waveguide taper (OSWT) which at a shortest length of the transition region provides nearly adiabatic propagation of the fundamental mode between circular, widely different in diameter quasioptical transmission lines of class hollow dielectric waveguide (HDW). Derived as a consequence of coaxial circular-horn sections, the OSWT offers all the advantages of a simple geometry and lends itself to simple fabrication techniques. The relationships among the critical geometrical parameters and the loss calculation formulae are presented. The comparison studies show that even at a few sections, the OSWT is almost as good in performance as the parabolic taper, but the OSWT is much better from a mechanical viewpoint. And compared to the ordinary linear taper, the OSWT allows essential cut in length and loss with the broadbandness kept. The HDW-based four-sectional OSWT has been fabricated and tested in a quite broad wave range 2,5-8 mm. The testing results lend a good support to the analytical formulae lying at the basis of the design software.     

Edge Turbulence During Limiter Biasing Experiments in the TJ-II Stellarator

The influence of limiter biasing on plasma confinement, turbulence and plasma flows has been investigated in the TJ-II stellarator. Experimental results show that it is possible to modify global particle confinement and edge plasma parameters with both positive and negative biasing. Significant and minor modifications in the structure of plasma fluctuations have been observed during the transition to improved confinement regimes induced by limiter biasing. These results show evidence of electric field induced improved confinement via multiple mechanisms. The investigation of the relaxation of plasma potential and electric fields shows evidence of two different characteristic decay times.     

Identification of Zonal Flows and Their Spatial Distribution in the TJ-II Stellarator Plasmas

JETP Letters - The magnetic and electronic properties of quasi-one-dimensional iron chalcogenide compound KFeS2 have been calculated within two DFT + U approaches based on the simplified LSDA + U...     

The ECRH Transmission System for HL-2A Tokamak

Electron cyclotron resonance heating and electron cyclotron current drive （ ECRH/ECCD ） have been developed significantly in recent years in many devices such as Tore Supra, JT-60U, Heliotron J. It has many advantages over other means of heating and current drive. The EC power can be injected as narrow gaussian beams, giving rise to so highly localized power deposition as to make ECRH an ideal candidate for local MHD control.     

Design of the Upgraded TJ-II Quasi-optical Transmission Line

TJ-II plasma start-up and heating are made by electron cyclotron resonance waves at the second harmonic of the electron cyclotron frequency. Two quasi-optical transmission lines transmit the microwave power of the gyrotrons to the vacuum vessel. The first line launches the microwave power under fixed injection geometry, i.e. there is no possibility to change the launching angle and the wave polarization. The second line has a moveable mirror installed inside the TJ-II vessel. To get high absorption efficiency and a narrow energy deposition profile the internal mirror focuses the wave beam at plasma center.To get more flexibility in the experiments on heating and current drive the first transmission line needs to be upgraded. The design is presented in this paper. The new launching antenna includes an internal mirror to focus the beam and to change the injection angle. Both launchers are then symmetrical. A polarizer consisting of two corrugated mirrors is used to get any wave polarization. Two mirrors with an array of coupling holes and calorimetric measurements of the energy absorbed in the barrier window allow the estimation of the microwave power launched into the TJ-II.     

Hybrid Transmission Line for ECRH in the Helically Symmetric Experiment

The HSX oversized, mode-converting ECRH transmission line has been upgraded to a hybrid system to increase launched microwave power and reduce electrical arcing. Filtering of high-order, spurious modes ensures efficient coupling to a Gaussian beam for optimal electron heating. A Vlasov mode converter and two phase-correcting ellipsoidal mirrors convert the TE₀₂ gyrotron output mode to a symmetric, linearly polarized, microwave beam. A swappable twist reflector plate rotates beam polarization for 2nd-harmonic X-mode or fundamental O-mode ECRH. Long distances are traversed by coupling the beam to a dual-mode (TE₁₁ + TM₁₁), smooth, circular cross-section waveguide. This system has been successfully tested without arcing for 50 ms pulses and over 100 kW of launched power. Analysis of the microwave beam for 50 kW, 2 ms microwave pulses reveals agreement with predicted beam shapes at two beam locations. The new system has also demonstrated increased plasma stored energy for ECRH plasmas with equal launched power.     

Study of the plasma potential evolution during ECRH in the T-10 tokamak and TJ-II stellarator

Comparison of the plasma electric potential evolution in the T-10 tokamak and TJ-II stellarator was performed. The core potential was measured by the heavy-ion beam probing and the edge potential was measured by Langmuir probe. The intrinsic potentials in both devices are different in sign, positive in TJ-II low-density discharge and negative in T-10 higher-density discharges, but during ECRH they evolve similarly: the potential becomes more positive, and increase of ECRH power leads to stronger rise of core potential. Presented at the Workshop “Electric Fields, Structures and Relaxation in Edge Plasmas”, Tarragona, Spain, July 3–4, 2005.     

Quasioptical multilayered interferometer for gasoline testing

Results of an experimental study and a calculation of the quasi-optical multilayered structure formed by an adjustable dielectric interferometer and a liquid investigated filling its gabs are presented. It is shown that this structure may be used for quality tests of liquid petroleum products, for measurement and investigation of physical parameters of liquid media in the millimeter wavelengths region. This structure is realized practically in the form of uncomplicated adjustable quazi-optical quvette filled with liquid and connected with beam-guiding elements. Comparison of experimental data with theoretical calculations gives us the opportunity to choose a value region of the values for the physical parameters interesting for us for each material under investigation.     

High-Temperature Superconducting Microstrip Transmission Lines

A model calculation of a two-wire Josephson transmission line with a quasi-transverse electromagnetic wave is performed. The dispersion characteristics of the wave are estimated. The group velocity is shown to be (4.1–2.5)·10⁷ m/s for a temperature of 76–85.9 K, a critical current of 10⁹ A/m², a dielectric plate thickness of 10 m, and a relative permittivity of 40. The wave attenuation in this temperature range is 2 db/dm at a frequency of 10 GHz. The rough estimates suggest the feasibility of designing microstrip transmission lines based on granular high-temperature superconducting films. These lines will provide delays up to 1 s and picosecond pulse transmission.     

Quasioptical superconducting hot electron bolometer for submillmeter waves

We report on a superconducting hot electron bolometer coupled to radiation via a broadband antenna. The bolometer, a structured NbN film, was patterned on a thin dielectric membrane between terminals of a gold slotline antenna. We investigated the response to submillimeter radiation (wave-lengths 0.1 mm to 0.7 mm) in the fundamental Gaussian mode. We found that the directivity of the antenna was constant within a factor of 2.5 through the whole experimental range. The noise equivalent power of the bolometer at 119 µm was 3 · 10^–13 W/Hz^1/2; a time constant of 160 ps was estimated.     

Quasioptical hardware for a flexible FIR-EPR spectrometer

In this paper we present and summarize recent accomplishments of the Freed High Field Electron Paramagnetic Resonance group. In particular, we discuss the application of quasioptical design techniques to instrumentation problems in the far-infrared. We stress that there is no “universal spectrometer” or “universal resonator”. Rather, we demonstrate with a variety of examples from the liquid and solid state that the spectrometer configuration and the resonator used should be optimized for the experiment at hand in order to achieve the ultimate in sensitivity. Quasioptical techniques and methods of analysis offer a unified framework to analyze the expected performance of a proposed spectrometer design, as well as suggest the important control parameters for optimizing the sensitivity of a given experiment as we show in the text. The flexibility of quasioptical methods will also be demonstrated with a variety of resonator designs and sample configurations.     

Broadband Polarizers for High-Power Multi-Frequency ECRH Systems

A new broadband ECRH (Electron Cyclotron Resonance Heating) system is currently under construction at the ASDEX Upgrade tokamak. This system will employ multi-frequency gyrotrons step-tunable in the range 105–140 GHz. A set of two corrugated polarizer mirrors will be applied to provide for an arbitrary polarization of the Gaussian beam injected into the plasma. The principal bandwidth of such a two-polarizer setup has been evaluated. It can be shown that two mirrors with sinusoidal grooves and corrugation depths adjusted to the center frequency of 122.5 GHz will satisfy the requirements.     

The Influence of Stochastic Layers of Magnetic Field Lines on Transport Barrier Formation in a Stellarator System

The results of local measurements of RF discharge plasma parameters in the process of internal transport barriers (ITB) formation in the vicinity of rational magnetic surfaces in the Uragan-3M torsatron are presented. The following phenomena were observed in the process of ITB formation: widening of the radial density distribution, formation of plateaus on radial density and electron temperature distributions, formation of regions with high shear of poloidal plasma rotation velocity and radial electric field in the vicinity of stochastic layers of magnetic field lines, decrease of density fluctuations and their radial correlation length, decorrelation of density fluctuations, and increase of the bootstrap current.After the ITB formation, the transition to the improved plasma confinement regime takes place. The transition moves to the beginning of the discharge with the increase of heating power. The possible mechanism of ITB formation near rational surfaces is discussed.     

Low-Power Testing of Losses in Millimeter-Wave Transmission Lines for High-Power Applications

We report the measurement of small losses in transmission line (TL) components intended for high-power millimeter-wave applications. Measurements were made using two different low-power techniques: a coherent technique using a vector network analyzer (VNA) and an incoherent technique using a radiometer. The measured loss in a 140 GHz 12.7 mm diameter TL system, consisting of 1.7 m of circular corrugated waveguide and three miter bends, is dominated by the miter bend loss. The measured loss was 0.3 ± 0.1 dB per miter bend using a VNA; and 0.22 ± 0.1 dB per miter bend using a radiometer. Good agreement between the two measurement techniques implies that both are useful for measuring small losses. To verify the methodology, the VNA technique was employed to measure the extremely small transmission loss in a 170 GHz ITER prototype TL system consisting of three lengths of 1 m, 63.5 mm diameter, circular corrugated waveguide and two miter bends. The measured loss of 0.05 ± 0.02 dB per miter bend may be compared with the theoretical loss of 0.027 dB per miter bend. These results suggest that low-power testing of TL losses, utilizing a small, simple TL system and a VNA, is a reliable method for evaluating performance of low-loss millimeter-wave TL components intended for use in high-power applications.     

Quantum-Secured Data Transmission in Urban Fiber-Optics Communication Lines

Quantum key distribution (QKD) provides theoretic information security in communication based on the laws of quantum physics. In this work, we report an implementation of quantum-secured data transmission in the infrastructure of Sberbank of Russia in standard communication lines in Moscow. The experiment is realized on the basis of already deployed urban fiber-optics communication channels with significant losses. We realize the decoy-state BB84 QKD protocol using the one-way scheme with polarization encoding for generating keys. Quantum-generated keys are then used for continuous key renewal in the hardware devices for establishing a quantum-secured VPN Tunnel between two offices of Sberbank. The hybrid approach used offers possibilities for long-term protection of the transmitted data; it is promising for integrating in the already existing information security infrastructure.     

Small Gap Experiments in Magnetically Insulated Transmission Lines

We have performed experiments using magnetically insulated transmission. lines (MITL's) with anode-cathode gaps ranging from 0.15 to 0.40 cm. We have studied cathode plasma formation using laser schlieren photography, time resolved visible photography, and visible spectroscopy. Cathode plasma formation occurs within 10 ns of the application of the voltage pulse. Densities of 1015 cm-3-1017 cm-3 are inferred from the schlieren measurements. Negative ion formation in MITL's has also been observed which may result in losses in high-current-density small-gap power feeds.