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At the Wendelstein 7-X stellarator, a 174 GHz Collective Thomson Scattering (CTS) diagnostic will be implemented. One of the 140 GHz Electron Cyclotron Resonance Heating (ECRH) gyrotrons will be operated at around 174 GHz in a higher cavity mode, using it as source for the CTS mm-wave probing beam. To prevent any damage to the CTS receiver, a notch filter cuts out the high-power gyrotron signal at the entrance of the receiver. The bandwidth of the gyrotron signal determines the notch filter bandwidth. First proof-of-principle experiments on frequency stabilization were conducted on W7-X ECRH gyrotrons employing Phase-Locked Loop techniques. The gyrotron output frequency was controlled with the accelerating voltage, which is applied between the anode and cathode of the gyrotron diode-type Magnetron Injection Gun. Frequency stabilization experiments with 10 ms pulses were conducted at the gyrotron nominal frequency of 140 GHz as well as at 174 GHz. It is concluded that the gyrotron frequency could be stabilized for at least 3 ms at 140 GHz and 8 ms at 174 GHz. In the frequency spectrum, a clear main peak of the gyrotron frequency at 140 GHz with a full -15 dB linewidth of below 500 Hz was achieved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vacuum windows are required in magnetically confined fusion experiments to provide possibilities to observe the plasma in a wide range of electromagnetic wavelengths. The window disk consists of a dielectric, e.g. Fused Silica (SiO 2), Sapphire or Chemically Vapourised Diamond (CVD). As electromagnetic waves pass through the disk, a fraction of the beam power is dissipated resulting in a temperature increase of the disk. In Electron Cyclotron Waves (ECW) heated plasmas the dissipation in the window disk can be very high. The computation of dielectric losses for a collimated beam with known incidence angle, polarisation and loss tangent (measure for the intrinsic dielectric loss) is well established. However, the dielectric losses in diagnostic windows mostly result from microwave stray radiation , which results from a modest, but inevitable, fraction of non-absorbed ECW. This fraction diffuses in the vessel by many reflections into rays with random k-vector and with random polarisation. In this work the thermal load on the window disk by microwave stray radiation is assessed. The load by a collimated beam is studied as a function of incidence angle and polarisation allowing to average over a distribution of incident rays. An experiment was commissioned measuring the loss tangent of a number of commercially available SiO 2 disks at low power in an open resonator, and subsequently measuring the dielectric heating of these disks at high power stray radiation using the facility 'MISTRAL' at Wendelstein-7X. The experimental results are compared to modelling and it is demonstrated that, in the parameter range considered, single-pass fractional absorption may be applied while taking a safety margin that arises from the minima and maxima due to multiple reflections. • Measurement and modelling of stray radiation dielectric losses in vacuum windows. • Measurement data on loss tangent and permittivity at millimetre range frequencies. • Stray radiation exposure of a dielectric slab. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In electron cyclotron resonance heating systems, high-power multiplexers can be employed as power combiners, adjustable power dividers, fast switches to toggle the power between two launchers, as well as frequency sensitive directional couplers to combine heating and diagnostic applications on one launcher. In the paper, various diplexer designs for quasi-optical and corrugated waveguide transmission systems are discussed. Numerical calculations, low-power tests and especially high-power experiments performed at the ECRH system of W7-X are shown, which demonstrate the capability of these devices. Near term plans for applications on ASDEX Upgrade and FTU are presented. Based on the present results, options for implementation of power combiners and fast switches in the ECRH system of ITER is discussed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The development of high power gyrotrons for plasma physics research needs properly matched calorimetric loads able to absorb and measure the power, which nowadays is foreseen to be as high as 2MW during CW operations. To this end IFP/CNR has developed a family of matched loads useful in the mm-wave frequency band for applications ranging from a few ms to CW in pulse length. The different loads in the family, made of an integrating sphere with a partially reflecting coating on the inner wall, are characterized by having the same absorbing geometry for the incoming beam and a different heat removal system for the specific application. Some important advances have been recently achieved from the point of view of the uniformity of power distribution on the absorbing wall and of the load construction. With the high precision achieved in the coating thickness a better control of the heating power distribution is possible by proper shaping of the local reflectivity, in addition to the shaping of the mirror dispersing the input beam. A more sophisticated model describing the power distribution has been developed, taking into account a variable thickness of the absorbing coating, the proper shape of the spreading mirror, the frequency of the incoming radiation and the shape of the input beam. Lower coating thickness is shown to be preferable, for a given local reflectivity, from the point of view of a lower peak temperature and thermal stress. The paper describes a load with variable coating thickness along the meridian of the sphere, showing a uniform power deposition on the inner walls. The cooling pipe is completely electroformed on the spherical copper shell, ensuring the maintenance of the correct curvature of the inner surface and fast heat conduction from the absorbing coating to the water through the thin copper body. For CW use all heated parts of the load must be cooled and this is achieved with 16 electroformed spiral channels. Both short pulse loads (0.1–1s) and the CW version at 2MW, 170GHz, are described in the paper. High power tests on short-pulse loads have been done using a double frequency gyrotron, 105GHz/600kW for 0.5s and 140GHz/800kW for 1s. Also a method for emulating 2MW conditions while using 1MW gyrotron has been applied to test the load to be used for the European 2MW coaxial cavity gyrotron development programme. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The stellarator W7-X, which is currently under construction at IPP Greifswald, Germany, will be equipped with a 10MW ECRH system working at 140GHz in CW regime. The microwave power will be generated by 10 gyrotrons delivering 1MW each and will be transmitted from the gyrotron hall to the W7-X stellarator ports via a fully optical system. The status of the construction of the transmission lines and the design of the launchers is reported. Low-power tests of a prototype system at IPF Stuttgart are reviewed. Now, the first two gyrotrons are operating at IPP Greifswald, and high-power long-pulse tests have started. Measurements on transmission performance, behaviour of the water-cooled mirrors under thermal and microwave loads as well as alignment issues, characteristics of directional couplers, calorimetric loads, and other diagnostics are discussed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]