Use of internal probes for diagnostics of pulse plasma

The paper describes the use of internal magnetic and electric probes for determination of the plasma parameters in the rail accelerator. Suitability of the electric probe is verified by comparison of the floating potential and plasma potential. The intrinsic magnetic field in the cluster, axial component of the electric field, current density and density of electrones in the cluster were measured by these two probes. On the base of obtained results the degree of ionisation and average value of the intrinsic magnetic field were determined.     

Interaction of plasma clusters with an axially symmetric magnetic field

The paper reports about measurements of the magnetic flux of a probe coil excited by a plasma cluster, moving in an axially symmetric magnetic field. The effective diamagnetic current, inductance and resistance of the cluster are derived from the dependence of the measured flux on the distance between the standard coil and the coil forming the magnetic field, as well as from the estimated main dimensions of the cluster.In conclusion the author wishes to express his thanks to Mr. J. Divíek for his devoted work in assembling the apparatus and to Mr, J. Bacílek for his work connected with the vacuum technique.     

Upgrade of the magnetic diagnostic system for restart of HT-6M operation

The HT-6M tokamak at the Thailand Institute of Nuclear Technology has been restarted. In order to ensure the smooth breakdown of plasma and obtain plasma discharge parameters, optimization of the poloidal field coils and upgrade of the magnetic diagnostics are described in this article. A perfect null field (stray field in the main chamber < 10 G) is obtained using an ohmic heating field. To obtain important information about the plasma, an external magnetic diagnostics system is designed and calibrated, including a Rogowski coil (measuring plasma current), a magnetic probe (measuring external field), diamagnetic loops (measuring β_p) and so on. In order to realize high-frequency signal measurement and transmission, a series of frequency responses with the magnetic probe and transmission line are tested. Later, to verify the null field, a fitting code is developed to reconstruct the stray field in the vacuum chamber based on magnetic probe measurements and flux loops. The results show that the error is within 1.5%. This indicates the accuracy of the magnetic measurement system and ensures the preparation for the breakdown of plasma.     

The influence of the external magnetic field on the velocity of the plasma cluster

The general method for design of the pulse electromagnet with the rectangular coil is given in this paper. By means of this method the external magnetic field for the plasma cluster acceleration in the rail accelerator has been realized. The experimentally obtained dependences of the plasma cluster path and velocity on the external magnetic field are included.     

Electrostatic Probes for Studying Transport Properties in Tokamak Plasmas

Electrostatic probes for measuring the boundary plasma in tokamaks are reviewed and presented. Transport properties in JFT‐2, the ion temperature and the magnetic surface in JFT‐2M and floating potential fluctuations during the strong additional heating in JT‐60 are measured by several types of electrostatic probe the above‐mentioned purposes. The Langmuir probe including the double probe is applied to measure the spatial profile of boundary plasma in JFT‐2. The ion sensitive probe, the rotating cylindrical double probe, the asymmetric double probe and the differential double probe are applied to measure the ion temperature and magnetic surface in JFT‐2M. The reciprocating Langmuir probe applied to JFT‐2M observes the potential and density fluctuations and a new type probe is proposed for the quick diagnostic of core hot plasmas as a development of this probe. The fluctuation observed in JT‐60 is identified to be the ion cyclotron instability of the hot plasma caused by the strong anisotropy of the ion distribution function (© 2011 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Viscoelasticity of dynamically self-assembled paramagnetic colloidal clusters

Paramagnetic particles in a liquid above a solid dynamically self-assemble into two-dimensional (2D) viscoelastic clusters in a processing magnetic field if the precession angle exceeds the magic angle. Hexagonal clusters rotate with a frequency proportional to the precession frequency of the magnetic field. The rotation is explained by viscoelastic shear waves excited in the clusters that can be visualized slightly above the magic angle. The cluster rotation and the visualization of viscoelastic modes are independent techniques to probe the rheological properties of the cluster. We find agreement between both techniques when determining the 2D cluster viscosity eta(c) approximately 10(-11) N s/m.     

Plasma cluster acceleration by means of external magnetic field

The possibility to employ external magnetic field for acceleration of plasma clusters is discussed in this paper both theoretically and experimentally. The optimum value of the magnetic field has been found for the “snow plough” model, in which case there is the maximum cluster acceleration. The obtained results show a real possibility of further increasing the plasma cluster velocity in the electromagnetic shock tube.     

Magnetic-Field Propagation across a Weakly Conducting Layer

Magnetic-field propagation from a plasma to a probe through a partially ionized layer of low conductivity is studied. The model includes dispersive properties of the layer and a radiation condition in the probe wall dielectric. A mixed problem of initial and boundary conditions is solved by Laplace transform techniques. The results are applied to the discussion of magnetic probe reliability in plasma focus measurements. Attenuation of the magnetic field may be severe but the effect of finite diffusion time scales on the magnetic-field profile is negligible. Distortion of the signal may nevertheless arise due to changes of the attenuation with the time evolution of the layer.     

Plasma-wall interactions in DC discharges and sheath of Langmuir probes

The plasma-wall interactions in various DC discharges and sheath of Langmuir probe are analyzed and discussed. The methods of their investigations are discussed including fluid and PIC MC. Various assumptions used in fluid models e.g. plasma neutrality, Bohm criterion, Boltzmann electrons approximation, etc. are analyzed. Ion heating and electron cooling effect at the DC plasma wall is discussed and explained. Langmuir probes measurements in high-temperature and ion thruster plasma are analyzed. The secondary electron emission influences the IV characteristic of Langmuir probe especially at positive voltages. However, only elastic reflection processes really contribute significantly to the probe current. The elastic SEE processes reflect electrons from probe with the same relatively high speed. It was observed that the axial magnetic field influences probe characteristics and floating potential more significantly than radial field. The axial field deflects all electrons approaching probe.     

The polarization of the plasma cluster in a rail plasma accelerator

In a rail plasma accelerator a polarization of the plasma cluster can occur. The electrons outrun the ions and so a polarization field arises. Some part of energy from the condenser battery corresponds to this field. Simple relations for the maximum polarization length and the polarization energy are derived under conditions of constant cross section area of the plasma cluster and negligible internal magnetic field.     

Coaxial Discharge and Transverse Magnetic Field

The study deals with the effect of an applied transverse magnetic field on the dynamics and parameters of the focused and expanded plasma in a coaxial discharge. The experimental results were found with a 3 kJ Plasma focus device of a Mather geometry. The discharge takes place in hydrogen gas with base pressure of 0.5 Torr. The experiments are conducted with a 10 kV bank voltage, which corresponds to 100 kA peak discharge current with rise time 8 μs. Helmholtz magnetic coils are placed outside the expansions chamber to produce a transverse magnetic field with intensity 280 G perpendicular to the plasma expanded from the coaxial electrodes. The investigations have shown that the plasma flow along the expansion chamber axis is restricted when applying the externally transverse magnetic field and the maximum axial velocity of the expanded plasma is decreased by 33%. X-ray probe has been used to measure the focused plasma electron temperature (T_e). The experimental results and the calculations showed that T_e is decreased from 2.2 keV to 800 eV with the application of a transverse magnetic field. The expanded plasma electron temperature and density have been measured by an electric double probe, the results cleared that the expanded plasma electron temperature is decreased by 2.6 times while its density is increased by 9 times, when a transverse magnetic field is applied.     

Temperature and density measurements in a non-axisymmetric,continuously operating fusion experiment using a heavy ion beam probe

Two-dimensional electron temperature and density data have been obtained in the midplane of the non-axisymmetric magnetic confinement device ELMO Bumpy Torus (EBT) through the use of a heavy ion beam probe. This beam probe differs from others operated on toroidal or open magnetic geometries in its combination of complete computer control with the steady-state nature of EBT which allows, under normal operating conditions, for extensive calibration of the system in situ, minimizing both alignment and acquisition errors, along with the use of synchronous detection to dramatically improve the quality of the detected signal over what is typically possible in fast pulse devices. These techniques are important and applicable to long pulse devices where the beam probe may be an ideal diagnostic to measure, for example, parameters of the edge plasma. While the EBT beam probe was implemented to obtain profiles of plasma space potential, we have found that it can also be used effectively to measure the temperature and density profiles in the midplane between magnetic field coils. The data obtained support the contention that the formation of a hollow temperature profile in the T-Mode sufficiently inverts the plasma pressure such that stability of the core plasma would be expected even without diamagnetic effects from the hot electron rings which have previously been considered essential     

Plasma acceleration in additional magnetic field and its applications

Conclusion The presented paper gives the theoretical calculation of the plasma cluster velocity depending on the magnetic induction of the external magnetic field. The result has been verified for one case of the rail accelerator parameters. The resonance magnetic fields for which maximum velocities are obtained are presented here as well. All these parameters are very important for a great number of plasma accelerators applications.     

Structure of an exploding laser-produced plasma

We describe the first-ever volumetric, time-resolved measurements performed with a moving probe within an expanding dense plasma, embedded in a background magnetized plasma. High-resolution probe measurements of the magnetic field and floating potential in multiple 2D cut planes combined with a 1 Hz laser system reveal complex three-dimensional current systems within the expanding plasma. Static (ωreal=0) flutelike density striations are observed at the leading edge of the plasma, which are correlated to variations in the current layer at the edge of the expanding plasma.     

Stochasticity from external magnetic field measurements

To determine whether or not magnetic field lines inside a tokamak plasma are stochastic we need the Fourier coefficients of any perturbing radial field inside the plasma. Usually what is measured with magnetic pick-up coils is the root mean square poloidal field outside the plasma. Although no unique transformation is available, we present a model which allows an interpretation of the measured (external) root mean square field in terms of the internal Fourier harmonics. The results are applied to particular TEXT discharges, and suggest a link between magnetic stochasticity and an increasing (more positive) radial electric field, as measured with a heavy ion beam probe     

Experimental Study of Planar Langmuir Probe Characteristics in Electron Current-Carrying Magnetized Plasma

Experimental study of planar Langmuir probe characteristics in a magnetized plasma with an electron current along the direction of the magnetic field shows that the usual procedure for determination of the electron temperature and plasma density, which is applicable in a current-free magnetized plasma, gives erroneous results for these plasma parameters. When this procedure is applied on the characteristics measured at two opposite orientations of the probe collecting surface with respect to the direction of the electron drift, different values of the electron temperature are obtained. These virtual electron temperatures and corresponding plasma densities calculated from the measured ion saturation currents are higher and/or smaller than the exact local electron temperature and plasma density. Calculation of particular averages of these quantities is proposed as a possible way to obtain correct results for the local electron temperature and plasma density. These averages are used in the approximate evaluation of the electron drift velocity from the electron saturation currents measured at the two orientations of the probe collecting surface.     

On the question of ambient medium heating in a tube of the rail accelerator

The analysis of plasma cluster energy losses which evoke ambient medium heating is done in this article. Temperature measuring in the ambient medium has been completed for different voltages and capacities of the condenser battery, for the one-cluster regime and the multi-cluster regime, as well as in the absence of the magnetic field and with the magnetic field at magnitude 1.1 T. It is shown that the heat energy which the interelectrode space gets is negligible in comparison with the kinetic energy at the plasma cluster.     

EAST装置的磁探针设计

介绍了EAST装置中磁探针设计中的结构、安装位置、匝面积的标定、幅频响应,并给出了该磁探针的标定误差和Mirnov线圈幅频响应特征图。两轮EAST放电试验表明,电磁测量的信号满足装置运行和等离子体控制的需要。     

On the mechanism of own rotation of dust particles

We analyze the physical reason for own rotation of dust particles. We propose from analysis of literature data and our previous studies that own rotation of dust particles is due to azimuth-symmetric flow of ions to the particle surface, which is associated with a nonuniform distribution of the surface charge. This assumption is in conformity with the results of experiments in which the plasma flow is changed by introducing particles in the horizontal plane (horizontal cluster) and particles aligned along the discharge current (vertical cluster) and with the observation of the rotation threshold for the discharge current and the magnetic field. The experiments are performed with spherical particles using the coordinate tracing method. Our results make it possible to construct a model of spinning of charged dust tops for describing magnetic properties of a complex plasma.     

氧等离子体刻蚀CVD金刚石膜的影响机理

采用电子回旋共振(ECR)等离子体在不同的磁场位形和工作气压下刻蚀化学气相沉积(CVD)金刚石膜,运用双探针和离子灵敏探针法对等离子体进行了诊断,研究了等离子体参数对刻蚀效果的影响。结果表明:磁场由发散场向收敛场转变时,离子温度、电子温度和等离子体密度都随之增大,刻蚀效果逐渐增强;当工作气压由低气压向高气压变化时,等离子体参数先增大后减小,CVD金刚石膜表面粗糙度降低程度也出现了相同的趋势。