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In magnetically confined fusion plasmas, a gyrotron is an essential auxiliary heating device for generating and sustaining plasma through electron cyclotron resonance heating owing to its ability to generate high-power microwaves. Microwaves emitted from a gyrotron are often transmitted through waveguides, and the transmitted power is monitored by a power monitor with a multi-hole directional coupler at the miter bend of the transmission line. Recently, a high-power dual-frequency gyrotron has been installed and operated in the Large Helical Device. A power monitor with good sensitivity to multiple frequencies is required to monitor the power transmission of the different frequencies at the same transmission line. In order to realize the power monitor, which can couple with the multiple-frequency microwaves, we focused on a sub-waveguide shape in the power monitor and investigated the influence of the tapered sub-waveguide by conducting electromagnetic simulations using a simple model. We also performed the high-power test using a power monitor with a tapered sub-waveguide. The experimental result was different from the simulation, but enough receiving power was obtained at both 116 and 154 GHz. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During bursty MHD events, transient ion cyclotron emission (ICE) is observed from deuterium plasmas in the large helical device (LHD) heliotron-stellarator. Unusually, the frequencies of the successive ICE spectral peaks are not close to integer multiples of the local cyclotron frequency of an energetic ion population in the likely emitting region. We show that this ICE is probably driven by a subset of the fusion-born protons near their birth energy E H = 3.02 MeV. This subset has a kinetic energy component parallel to the magnetic field, m H v ∥ 2 / 2 , significantly greater than its perpendicular energy m H v ⊥ 2 / 2 , for which v ⊥ ∼ V A , the AlfvĂ©n speed. First principles computations of the collective relaxation of this proton population, within a majority thermal deuterium plasma, are carried out using a particle-in-cell approach. This captures the full gyro-orbit kinetics of all ions which, together with an electron fluid, evolve self-consistently with the electric and magnetic fields under the Maxwellâ€"Lorentz equations. The simulated ICE spectra are derived from the Fourier transform of the fields which are excited. We find substantial frequency shifts in the peaks of the simulated ICE spectra, which correspond closely to the measured ICE spectra following the resonance condition ω = k ∥ v ∥ + n Ω H for n th proton harmonic. This suggests that the transient ICE in LHD is generated by the identified subset of the fusion-born protons, relaxing under the magnetoacoustic cyclotron instability. So far as is known, this is the first report of a collective radiation signal from fusion-born ions in anon-tokamak magnetically confined plasma. Disambiguation between two or more energetic ion species that could potentially generate complex observed ICE spectra is an increasing challenge, and the results and methodology developed here will assist this. Our approach is also expected to be relevant to ICE driven by ion beams with lower parallel velocities, for example in cylindrical plasma experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A heating source with off-axis electron cyclotron heating (ECH) alone produced a plasma with a quasi-steady-state hollow electron-temperature profile in the Large Helical Device. The clear formation of this quasi-steady-state hollow electron-temperature profile can be explained by adding the outward heat convection term to the diffusion term, as a simple model to describe the electron heat flux, using the energy conservation equation. In addition, we directly observed the non-locality of the non-diffusive (convective) contribution in transient electron thermal transport in the condition that power-modulated on-axis ECH was applied to the plasma sustained by off-axis ECH. The experimentally evaluated flux-gradient relation shows two different positive values of the electron heat flux at zero temperature gradient by going back and forth between positive and negative temperature gradient regions in the transport hysteresis phenomenon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Until 2009, three high-power, over 1MW each, 77GHz gyrotrons have been installed and applied to the LHD experiment. In addition, a 154GHz gyrotron of 1MW was installed in 2012. The 77GHz gyrotrons suffer gradual increases of internal pressure during long-pulse operation delivering power to LHD. To mitigate the problem, quasi-steady operation by combination of on-off operations of the 77GHz gyrotrons was performed. Applying two 77GHz gyrotrons alternately with intervals of two minutes and an 84GHz gyrotron continuously, a 30 min. long-pulse discharge with the line average electron density ne_ave of 0.7×1019m−3 and the central electron temperature Te0 of 1.7keV was achieved by the time average injection power Pinj of 260kW in 2012, showing significant progress in sustained density from the former 65 min. discharge with ne_ave of 0.15×1019m−3 and Te0 of 1.7keV by Pinj of 110kW of 84GHz wave. In 2013, one of the 77GHz gyrotron was improved to furnish a sub-window to remove stray radiation inside the tube. And the new 154GHz gyrotron was applied to the long-pulse discharge experiment. Using three gyrotrons: 154, the improved and an existing 77GHz with Pinj of 340kW in total, higher temperature plasma having steep temperature gradient typical for internal transport barrier, with ne_ave of 1.1×1019m−3 and Te0 of 3.5keV was quite stably sustained for 325s.

The upcoming operation of Wendelstein 7-X (W7-X) will be supported by an Electron Cyclotron Resonance Heating (ECRH) system working at 140 GHz in second harmonic at the nominal magnetic field of 2.5T. Because the optimization of the plasma breakdown is crucial to ensure a successful plasma build-up, dedicated plasma start-up experiments were performed on three stellarator/heliotron devices: Heliotron J, LHD and WEGA. Start-up behavior and dependencies on ECRH injected power, neutral gas pressure and rotational transform were obtained in X2 heating. Plasma start-up delay time decreases with the increase in ECRH input power. However, this behavior saturates when low pre-fill neutral gas pressure conditions are met. Both the delay time and the electron density are an increasing function of the gas pressure. On Heliotron J and WEGA devices, the higher the rotational transform is, the faster the start-up and the higher the plasma density are. Analysis of the temporal evolution of the plasma start-up shows that plasma start-up on stellarators is a two-step process. In addition, off-axis heating experiments are characterized by a longer plasma start-up duration compared to on-axis heating discharges. Third harmonic in X-mode has been attempted on LHD for different neutral gas puffing settings but no plasma breakdown was achieved. This multi-machine study was useful to define ECRH start-up scenarios for W7-X.

In a high power Electron Cyclotron Resonance Heating (ECRH) system, a long-distance and low-loss transmission system is required to realize effective heating of nuclear fusion-relevant plasmas. A millimeter-wave beam position and profile monitor, which can be used in a high-power, evacuated, and cooled transmission line, is proposed, designed, manufactured, and tested. The beam monitor consists of a reflector, Peltier-device array and a heat-sink. It was tested using simulated electric heater power or gyrotron output power. The data obtained from the monitor were well agreed with the heat source position and profile. The methods of data analysis and mode-content analysis of a propagating millimeter-wave in the corrugated wave-guide are proposed.

Homodyne interferometry using a motorized phase rotator for calibration of sine–cosine detection of the phase shift of a 70 GHz probe beam through a plasma has been developed. Four interferometers based on this interferometry have been installed on the low aspect ratio torus experiment (LATE) device with four horizontal probe beams on the mid-plane, which has measured the line-integrated electron densities with a time resolution of 10 μs and a resolution of line-integrated density of 5 × 1015 m−2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ion cyclotron emission (ICE) driven by perpendicular neutral beam-injected (NBI) deuterons, together with the distinctive ICE driven by tangential NBI, have been observed from heliotron–stellarator plasmas in the large helical device (LHD). Radio frequency radiation in the lower hybrid range has also been observed Saito K. et al (2018 Plasma Fusion Res. 13 3402043), with frequency dependent on plasma density. Here we focus on recent measurements of ICE from deuterium plasmas in LHD, which show substantial variation in spectral character, between otherwise similar plasmas that have different local density in the emitting region. We analyse this variation by means of first principles simulations, carried out using a particle-in-cell (PIC) kinetic approach. We show, first, that this ICE is driven by perpendicular NBI deuterons, freshly ionised near their injection point in the outer midplane edge of LHD. We find that these NBI deuterons undergo collective sub-Alfvénic relaxation, which we follow deep into the nonlinear phase of the magnetoacoustic cyclotron instability (MCI). The frequency and wavenumber dependence of the saturated amplitudes of the excited fields determine our simulated ICE spectra, and these spectra are obtained for different local densities corresponding to the different LHD ICE-emitting plasmas. The variation with density of the spectral character of the simulated ICE corresponds well with that of the observed ICE from LHD. These results from heliotron–stellarator plasmas complement recent studies of density-dependent ICE from tokamak plasmas in KSTAR Thatipamula S.G. et al (2016 Plasma Phys. Control. Fusion 58 065003); Chapman B. et al (2017 Nucl. Fusion 57 124004), where the spectra vary on sub-microsecond timescales after an ELM crash. Taken together, these results confirm the strongly spatially localised character of ICE physics, and reinforce the potential of ICE as a diagnostic of energetic ion populations and of the ambient plasma. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the large helical device (LHD), fundamental electron cyclotron resonance heating (ECRH) by the electron Bernstein wave (EBW) excited via the ordinary-extraordinary–EBW (O-X-B) mode conversion process was performed with high power (~1MW) launching. Profiles of increase of the electron temperature (Te) and the soft X-ray signals during the power injection suggest power absorption in the core region. Effects of the local modification of the rotational transform l/2π(=1/q) by electron cyclotron current drive (ECCD) on the formation and sustainment of the electron internal transport barrier (e-ITB) was investigated for the first time. Co ECCD raised l/2π close to 0.5 in the core region and caused the flattening of the Te profile. Additional ECRH power is required to form the e-ITB. On the contrary, counter (cntr.) ECCD separates l/2π from 0.5 in the core region and avoids the flattening of the Te profile. The e-ITB can be formed and sustained without additional ECRH. Analysis of the heat pulse transport with use of the modulation ECRH (MECH) shows the good confinement region extends to the l/2π =0.5 rational surface in the case of cntr. ECCD.

The central bulk electron temperature of more than 20 keV is achieved in LHD as a result of increasing the injection power and the lowering the electron density near 2 × 1018 m−3. Such collision-less regime is important from the aspect of the neoclassical transport and also the potential structure formation. The presences of appreciable amount of high energy electrons are indicated from hard X-ray PHA, and the discrepancy between the stored energy and kinetic energy estimated from Thomson scattering. ECE spectrum are also sensitive to the presence of high energy electrons and discussed by solving the radiation transfer equation. The ECRH power absorption to the bulk and the high energy electrons are dramatically affected by the acceleration and the confinement of high energy electrons. The heating mechanisms and the acceleration process of high energy electrons are discussed by comparing the experimental results and the ray tracing calculation under assumed various density and mean energy of high energy electrons.

A real-time interlock system for power injection in electron cyclotron resonance heating (ECRH) was developed to be applied to Large Helical Device (LHD) plasma. This system enabled perpendicular injection, thus improving the performance of ECRH more than has ever been achieved before in LHD. Perpendicular propagation of the electron cyclotron wave at 77 GHz became more insensitive to the effect of refraction in comparison to the conventional oblique propagation. The achieved central electron temperature in the case of perpendicular injection was approximately 2 keV higher than that in the case of standard oblique injection for a central electron density of 1 × 1019 m−3 by 1 MW injection. With such improved performance of ECRH, high-density ECRH plasma of 8 × 1019 m−3 was successfully sustained after the injection of multiple hydrogen ice pellets for the first time in LHD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper introduces a recent innovation in dealing with non-periodic behavior often referred to as transients in perturbative experiments. These transients can be the result from the unforced response due to the initial condition and other slow trends in the measurement data and are a source of error when performing and interpreting Fourier spectra. Fourier analysis is particularly relevant in system identification used to build feedback controllers and the analysis of various pulsed experiments such as heat pulse propagation studies. The basic idea behind the methodology is that transients are continuous complex-valued smooth functions in the Fourier domain which can be estimated from the Fourier data. Then, these smooth functions can be subtracted from the data such that only periodic components are retained. The merit of the approach is shown in two experimental examples, i.e. heat pulse propagation (core transport analysis) and radiation front movement due to gas puffing in the divertor. The examples show that the quality of the data is significantly improved such that it allows for new interpretation of the results even for non-ideal measurements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we perform a comprehensive comparison of the transport hysteresis width in deuterium (D) plasmas, hydrogen (H) plasmas, and D-H mixed plasmas. The core focused modulation electron cyclotron resonance heating (MECH) is applied as the heat source perturbation, and the heat flux is evaluated using the energy conservation equation with the measured electron temperature response and the ECH deposition profile calculated by the ray-tracing scheme. Systematic density scan in plasmas with different ion mass reveals that there is no significant isotope effect in their hysteresis width. It is found that plasmas with heavier isotope mass can easily form the electron internal transport barrier. As the hysteresis width is insensitive to the isotope mass, the classical part of the diffusivity is considered to be responsible for the isotope effect in the transport barrier formation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Isotope effects of ECRH plasma in LHD were investigated in detail. A clear difference of transport and turbulence characteristics in H and D plasmas was found in the core region, with normalized radius ρ < 0.8 in high collisionality regime. On the other hand, differences of transport and turbulence were relatively small in low collisionality regime. Power balance analysis and neoclassical calculation showed a reduction of the anomalous contribution to electron and ion transport in D plasma compared with H plasma in the high collisionality regime. In core region, density modulation experiments also showed more reduced particle diffusion in D plasma than in H plasma, in the high collisionality regime. Ion scale turbulence was clearly reduced at ρ < 0.8 in high collisionality regime in D plasma compared with H plasma. The gyrokinetic linear analyses showed that the dominant instability ρ = 0.5 and 0.8 were ion temperature gradient mode (ITG). The linear growth rate of ITG was reduced in D plasma than in H plasma in high collisionality regime. This is due to the lower normalized ITG and density gradient. More hollowed density profile in D plasma is likely to be the key control parameter. Present analyses suggest that anomalous process play a role to make hollower density profiles in D plasma rather than neoclassical process. Electron scale turbulence were also investigated from the measurements and linear gyrokinetic simulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A diagnostic technique for detecting the wave numbers of electron density fluctuations at electron gyro-scales in an electron cyclotron frequency range is proposed and the validity of the idea is checked by means of a particle-in-cell (PIC) numerical simulation. The technique is a modified version of the scattering technique invented by Novik et al. [Plasma Phys. Controlled Fusion 36, 357-381 (1994)] and Gusakov et al., [Plasma Phys. Controlled Fusion 41, 899-912 (1999)]. The novel method adopts forward scattering of injected extraordinary probe waves at the upper hybrid resonance layer instead of the backward-scattering adopted by the original method, enabling the measurement of the wave-numbers of the fine scale density fluctuations in the electron-cyclotron frequency band by means of phase measurement of the scattered waves. The verification numerical simulation with the PIC method shows that the technique has a potential to be applicable to the detection of electron gyro-scale fluctuations in laboratory plasmas if the upper-hybrid resonance layer is accessible to the probe wave. The technique is a suitable means to detect electron Bernstein waves excited via linear mode conversion from electromagnetic waves in torus plasma experiments. Through the numerical simulations, some problems that remain to be resolved are revealed, which include the influence of nonlinear processes such as the parametric decay instability of the probe wave in the scattering process and so on. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Two-dimensional spatial profiles of potential fluctuation were measured with the heavy ion beam probe (HIBP) in the Large Helical Device (LHD). For 2D spatial profile measurements, the probe beam energy has to be changed, which requires the adjustment of many deflectors in the beam transport line to optimize the beam trajectory, since the transport line of LHD-HIBP system is long. The automatic beam adjustment system was developed, which allows us to adjust the beam trajectory easily. By analyzing coherence between potential fluctuation and magnetic probe signal, the noise level of the mode power spectrum of the potential fluctuation can be reduced. By using this method, the 2D spatial profile of potential fluctuation profile was successfully obtained. Published by AIP Publishing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides a software application of the sampling scope concept for fusion research. The time evolution of Thomson scattering data is reconstructed with a high temporal resolution during a modulated electron cyclotron resonance heating (MECH) phase. The amplitude profile and the delay time profile of the heat pulse propagation are obtained from the reconstructed signal for discharges having on-axis and off-axis MECH depositions. The results are found to be consistent with the MECH deposition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The polarizer is one of the critical components in a high-power millimeter-wave transmission line. It requires full and highly efficient coverage of any polarization states, high-power tolerance, and low-loss feature. Polarizers with rounded shape at the edge of the periodic groove surface are designed and fabricated by the machining process for a mega-watt long-pulse millimeter-wave transmission line of the electron cyclotron resonance heating system in the large helical device. The groove shape of λ/8- and λ/4-type polarizers for an 82.7 GHz transmission line is optimally designed in an integral method developed in the vector theories of diffraction gratings so that the efficiency to realize any polarization state can be maximized. The dependence of the polarization states on the combination of the two polarizer rotation angles Φλ/8,Φλ/4) is examined experimentally in a low-power test with the newly developed polarization monitor. The results show that the measured polarization characteristics are in good agreement with the calculated ones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We report the observation of electromagnetic radiation at high harmonics of the electron cyclotron frequency that was considered to be converted from electrostatic waves called electron Bernstein waves (EBWs) during magnetic reconnection in laboratory overdense plasmas. The excitation of EBWs was attributed to the thermalization of electrons accelerated by the reconnection electric field around the X-point. The radiative process discussed here is an acceptable explanation for observed radio waves pulsation associated with major flares. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Enhancement of the output power per gyrotron has been planned in the Large Helical Device (LHD). Three 77-GHz gyrotrons with an output power of more than 1MW have been operated. In addition, a high power gyrotron with the frequency of 154 GHz (1 MW/5 s, 0.5MW/CW) was newly installed in 2012, and the total injection power of Electron cyclotron resonance heating (ECRH) reached 4.6MW. The operational regime of ECRH plasma on the LHD has been extended due to the upgraded ECRH system such as the central electron temperature of 13.5 keV with the line-averaged electron density ne_fir-=1×1019 m-3. The electron thermal confinement clearly improved inside the electron internal transport barrier, and the electron thermal diffusivity reached neoclassical level. The global energy confinement time increased with increase of ne_fir. The plasma stored energy of 530 kJ with ne_fir=3.2×1019 m-3, which is 1.7 times larger than the previous record in the ECRH plasma in the LHD, has been successfully achieved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a handshake shape (HAS) antenna phasing dipole for ion cyclotron heating (ICH), the heating efficiency was higher than that using a previous poloidal array antenna in the Large Helical Device. In order to sustain the dipole operation, real-time feedback for impedance matching and maintaining the same phase and power was adopted during long-pulse discharge. The HAS antenna was designed to reduce parasitic losses associated with energetic particle and radio-frequency (RF) sheath effects by field-aligned current concentration on the midplane. Local hot spots and the inhomogeneity of the diverter heat profile in the toroidal direction were reduced. The long-pulse discharge with an electron density (ne0) of 1 × 1019 m-3, center electron temperature (Te0) of 2.5 keV, a plasma duration time (td) of 19min, and RF heating power (PRF) of 1MW was achieved by ICH and electron cyclotron heating. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the Large Helical Device (LHD), evident electron Bernstein wave (EBW) heating was successfully performed. The experiment was carried out using the electron cyclotron heating (ECH) system that was upgraded by installation of high-power, long-pulse 77 GHz gyrotrons. The EBW heating was achieved by a mode conversion from injected EC wave to EBW by the so-called slow-XB technique where an X-mode wave is injected to the plasma from the high magnetic field side. The specific magnetic configuration of LHD provides a good opportunity to realize the slow-XB technique, which is generally difficult for tokamaks. With the slow-XB technique, increases in kinetically evaluated electron energy Wpe and electron temperature Te were observed in overdense plasmas. An electron heating in the so-called super dense core plasma in LHD, which is characterized with an internal diffusion barrier and a steep density gradient at the plasma core, was successfully demonstrated in the plasma core region where the central electron density ne0 of 17 x 1019 m-3 was about 1.2 times higher, at the beginning of the EC-wave injection, than the left-hand cut-off density of applied 77 GHz EC waves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The steady-state operation of high-performance plasmas in the Large Helical Device (LHD) has progressed since the 2010 IAEA Conference in Korea by means of a newly installed ion cyclotron heating (ICH) antenna (HAS antenna) and an improved electron cyclotron heating (ECH) system. The HAS antenna can control the launched parallel wave number and heat the core plasma efficiently in the case of dipole mode operation. Understanding of the physics and technology of wave heating, particle and heat flow balances, and plasma-wall interactions in LHD has also improved. The heating power of steady-state ICH and ECH exceeded 1MWand 500kW, respectively, and a higher density helium plasma with minority hydrogen ions was maintained using the HAS antenna and new 77 GHz gyrotrons. As a result, plasma performance improved, e.g. electron temperature of more than 2 keV at a density of more than 2 × 1019 m-3became possible for more than 1 min. Heat flow balance and particle flux balance of steady-state operation were evaluated. Particle balance analysis indicated that externally fed helium and hydrogen particles were mainly absorbed by the chamber wall and divertor plates, even after the 54 min operation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The latest development achievements in the University of Tsukuba of over-1MW power level gyrotrons required in present-day fusion devices, GAMMA 10, Large Helical Device (LHD), QUEST, Heliotron J and NSTX, are presented. The obtained maximum outputs are 1.9MW for 0.1 s on the 77 GHz LHD tube and 1.2MW for 1ms on the 28 GHzGAMMA10 one, which are new records in these frequency ranges. In long-pulse operation, 0.3MWfor 40 min at 77 GHz and 0.54MW for 2 s at 28 GHz are achieved. A new programme of 154 GHz 1MW development has started for high-density plasma heating in LHD. On the first 154 GHz tube, 1.0MW for 1 s is achieved. As a next activity of the 28 GHz gyrotron, an over-1.5MW gyrotron is designed and fabricated to study the multi-MW oscillation. The possibility of 0.4MWcontinuous wave and 2MWlevel output in operations of a few seconds, after the improvements of output window and mode converter, is shown. Moreover, a new design study of dual-frequency gyrotron at 28 and 35 GHz has started, which indicates the practicability of the multi-purpose gyrotron. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Collective Thomson scattering (CTS) system has been constructed at LHD making use of the high power electron cyclotron resonance heating (ECRH) system in Large Helical Device (LHD). The necessary features for CTS, high power probing beams and receiving beams, both with well defined Gaussian profile and with the fine controllability, are endowed in the ECRH system. The 32 channel radiometer with sharp notch filter at the front end is attached to the ECRH system transmission line as a CTS receiver. The validation of the CTS signal is performed by scanning the scattering volume. A new method to separate the CTS signal from background electron cyclotron emission is developed and applied to derive the bulk and high energy ion components for several combinations of neutral beam heated plasmas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A wave detector, a newly designed magnetic probe, is installed in the large helical device (LHD). This wave detector is a 100-turn loop coil with electrostatic shield. Comparing a one-loop coil to this detector, this detector has roughly constant power coupling in the lower frequency range of 40 MHz, and it can easily detect magnetic wave in the frequency of a few megahertz. During high-harmonic fast wave heating, lower frequency waves (<10 MHz) were observed in the LHD for the first time, and for the power density threshold of lower frequency wave excitation (7.5 MHz) the power density of excited pumped wave (38.47 MHz) was approximately -46 dBm/Hz. These lower frequencies are kept constant for electron density and high energy particle distribution, and these lower frequency waves seem to be ion cyclotron waves caused by nonlinear wave-particle interaction, for example, parametric decay instability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Achieving steady-state plasma operation at high plasma temperatures is one of the important goals of worldwide magnetic fusion research. A high temperature of approximately 2 keV, and steady-state plasma-sustainment operation of the Large Helical Device (LHD) [O. Motojima, K. Akaishi, H. Chikaraishi et al., Nucl. Fusion 40, 599 (2000)] is reported. High-temperature plasmas were created and maintained for more than 30 min with a world record injected heating power of 1.3 GJ. The three-dimensional heat-deposition profile of the LHD helical divertor was modified and during long-pulse discharges it effectively dispersed the heat load using a magnetic-axis swing technique developed at the LHD. A sweep of only 3 cm of the major radius of the magnetic axis position (less than 1% of the major radius of the LHD) was enough to disperse the divertor heat load. The modification of the heat-load profile was explained well by field-line tracing. The steady-state plasma was heated and sustained mainly by hydrogen minority ion heating using ion cyclotron range of frequencies. The operation lasted until a sudden increase of radiation loss occurred, presumably because of wall metal flakes dropping into the plasma. The sustained line-averaged electron density was approximately 0.7–0.8×1019 m-3. The average input power was 680 kW, and the plasma duration was 31 min 45 s. This successful long operation shows that the heliotron configuration has a high potential as a steady-state fusion reactor. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to evaluate the electron cyclotron (EC) heating power inside the Large Helical Device vacuum vessel and to investigate the physics of the interaction between the EC beam and the plasma, a direct measurement system for the EC beam transmitted through the plasma column was developed. The system consists of an EC beam target plate, which is made of isotropic graphite and faces against the EC beam through the plasma, and an IR camera for measuring the target plate temperature increase by the transmitted EC beam. This system is applicable to the high magnetic field (up to 2.75 T) and plasma density (up to 0.8 x 1019 m-3). This system successfully evaluated the transmitted EC beam profile and the refraction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A control system for a fast steering mirror has been newly developed for the electron cyclotron heating (ECH) launchers in the large helical device. This system enables two-dimensional scan during a plasma discharge and provides a simple feedback control function. A board mounted with a field programmable gate array chip has been designed to realize feedback control of the ECH beam position to maintain higher electron temperature by ECH. The heating position is determined by a plasma diagnostic signal related to the electron temperature such as electron cyclotron emission and Thomson scattering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new type monitor of power and polarization states of millimeter-waves has been developed to be installed at a miter-bend, which is a part of transmission lines of millimeter-waves, for electron cyclotron resonance heating on the Large Helical Device. The monitor measures amplitudes and phase difference of the electric field of the two orthogonal polarizations which are needed for calculation of the power and polarization states of waves. The power and phase differences of two orthogonal polarizations were successfully detected simultaneously. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Large Helical Device (LHD) experiments, an electron temperature (Te) more than 15 keV has been observed by the yttrium-aluminum-garnet (YAG) laser Thomson scattering diagnostic. Since the LHD Thomson scattering system has been optimized for the temperature region, 50 eV≤Te≤10 keV, the data quality becomes worse in the higher Te region exceeding 10 keV. In order to accurately determine Te in the LHD high-Te experiments, we tried to increase the laser pulse energy by simultaneously firing three lasers. The technique enables us to decrease the uncertainties in the measured Te. Another signal accumulation method was also tested. In addition, we estimated the influence of high-energy electrons on Te obtained by the LHD Thomson scattering system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the Large Helical Device, the stray microwave radiation is monitored by using so-called sniffer probes during electron cyclotron heating. In monitoring the stray radiation, we changed the microwave beam injection angle and search the O-X-B mode-conversion window to excite electron Bernstein waves (EBWs). When the microwave beam is injected toward the vicinity of the predicted O-X-B mode-conversion window, the electron temperature rises in the central part of overdense plasmas. In that case, the stray radiation level near the injection antenna becomes low. These results indicate that monitoring the stray radiation near the injection antenna is helpful in confirming the effectiveness of excitation of EBWs simply without precise analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]