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A heterodyne detection scheme is combined with a 10.59 μm CO2 laser dispersion interferometer for the first time to allow large bandwidth measurements in the 10-100 MHz range. The approach employed utilizes a 40 MHz acousto-optic cell operating on the frequency doubled CO2 beam which is obtained using a high 2nd harmonic conversion efficiency orientation patterned gallium arsenide crystal. The measured standard deviation of the line integrated electron density equivalent phase resolution obtained with digital phase demodulation technique, is 4 × 1017 m-2. Air flow was found to significantly affect the baseline of the phase signal, which an optical table cover was able to reduce considerably. The heterodyne dispersion interferometer (DI) approach is found to be robustly insensitive to motion, with measured phase shifts below baseline drifts even in the presence of several centimeters of retroreflector induced path length variations. Plasma induced dispersion was simulated with a wedged ZnSe plate and the measured DI phase shifts are consistent with expectations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a need for a real time, reliable density measurement compatible with the restricted access and radiation environment on International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER). Due to the large plasma path length, high density and field, refraction, and Faraday rotation effects makes the use of contemporary long wavelength (> 50 µm) interferometers impractical. In this paper we consider the design of a short wavelength vibration compensated interferometer which allows operation without a prohibitively large vibration isolated structure and permits the optics to be conveniently mounted directly in or on the tokamak. A density interferometer design for ITER incorporating a 10.6 µm CO[sub 2] interferometer with vibration compensation provided by a 3.39 µm HeNe laser is discussed. The proposed interferometer design requires only a small intrusion into the ITER tokamak without a large support structure, refraction and Faraday rotation problems are avoided, and it provides a density resolution of at least 0.5%. Results are presented from an interferometer installed on the DIII-D tokamak incorporating essential elements of the proposed ITER design including 10.6 and 3.39 µm lasers, a retroreflector mounted on the vacuum wall of the DIII-D tokamak and real-time density feedback control. In this paper we consider a short wavelength interferometer design that incorporates vibration compensation for use on ITER. Our primary concern is to develop an interferometer design that will produce a reliable real time density monitor. We use the ITER conceptual design activity report as the basis of the design. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A multichannel, two-color, quadrature heterodyne interferometer is used to measure the line density in the DIII-D tokamak. The unique feature of this real-time vibration-compensated interferometer is the combination of high speed (1 MHz), high resolution (2π/256), and wide range (± 8193 fringes). Quadrature phase information from a CO[sub 2] laser (10.6 µm) and a He-Ne laser (0.63 µm) are digitized with high-speed (6 MHz) flash digitizers. Zero crossings of the signals are counted with digital circuitry yielding quarter fringe resolution with a 4-MHz bandwidth. Farther fringe resolution of 1/256 is provided at 350 kHz by a PROM which uses the digital signals as input to a look-up table. Analog line density is presently available at 80 kHz with a system noise equivalent phase shift of ± 2/256. Error monitoring is provided for low signal amplitude and exceeding the maximum fringe rate. In addition, a method to prevent coating of invessel mirrors due to plasma and vessel wall cleaning discharges has been developed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A fiber optic, heterodyne, two-color interferometer utilizing wavelength division multiplexing technology has been developed for measuring electron density in plasmas. Vibration compensation is accomplished via common path 1.31 and 1.55 μm distributed feedback laser interferometers. All beam combining, splitting, frequency modulation, and collimation are accomplished by shared single-mode fiber optic components. Measurements of an argon radio-frequency generated plasma with electron densities of 1020 m-3 show effective vibration compensation and typical line-density resolution of approximately 2×1019 m-2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In order to compensate for vibrations while simultaneously measuring plasma line-averaged density, the existing real-time interferometer on DIII-D uses both a HeNe and CO2 laser operating at 10.59 and 0.632 μm, respectively. The line density resolution is 1018 m-2 which is predominantly determined by the measurement electronics. In particular, errors resulting from detection of the CO2 phase shift and finite bit size in the processing electronics are the major limiting factors. This article describes a method for postshot error correction generally applicable to two-color interferometers that utilize analog quadrature phase detection. The error correction scheme exploits the facts that error introduced by the phase comparator is periodic and that measurements can be made while the density is zero and only the errors are recorded. Application of this method will reduce unphysical density oscillations which are purely a result of vibration induced phase shifts. Application to DIII-D data shows a 25% reduction in noise amplitude on line density measurements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel imaging diagnostic has recently become operational on the DIII-D tokamak for the study of density fluctuations at the outer edge of the plasma. The phase contrast imaging approach overcomes the limitations of conventional scattering techniques in the spectral range of interest for transport-related phenomena, by allowing detection of long-wavelength modes (up to 7.6 cm) with excellent spatial resolution (5 mm) in the radial direction. Additional motivation for the diagnostic is provided by wave-plasma interactions during heating and current drive experiments in the ion cyclotron range of frequencies. Density perturbations of 4 × 10[sup 7] cm[sup -3] with a 1-MHz bandwidth can be resolved. The diagnostic employs a 7.6-cm-diam CO[sub 2] laser beam launched vertically across the plasma edge. An image of the plasma is then created on a 16-element detector array: the detector signals are directly proportional to the density fluctuations integrated along each chord. Wavelengths and correlation lengths can be inferred from the spatial mapping. The phase contrast method and its application to DIII-D are described and tests and first plasma data are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A dispersion interferometer based on the second-harmonic generation of a carbon dioxide laser in orientation-patterned gallium arsenide has been developed for measuring electron density in plasmas. The interferometer includes two nonlinear optical crystals placed on opposite sides of the plasma. This instrument has been used to measure electron line densities in a pulsed radio-frequency generated argon plasma. A simple phase-extraction technique based on combining measurements from two successive pulses of the plasma has been used. The noise-equivalent line density was measured to be 1.7 × 1017 m-2 in a detection bandwidth of 950 kHz. One of the orientation-patterned crystals produced 13 mW of peak power at the second-harmonic wavelength from a carbon dioxide laser with 13 W of peak power. Two crystals arranged sequentially produced 58 mW of peak power at the second-harmonic wavelength from a carbon dioxide laser with 37 W of peak power. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the systems planned for the measurement of electron density in ITER is a multi-channel tangentially viewing combined interferometer-polarimeter (TIP). This work discusses the current status of the design, including a preliminary optical table layout, calibration options, error sources, and performance projections based on a CO2/CO laser system. In the current design, two-color interferometry is carried out at 10.59 μm and 5.42 μm and a separate polarimetry measurement of the plasma induced Faraday effect, utilizing the rotating wave technique, is made at 10.59 μm. The inclusion of polarimetry provides an independent measure of the electron density and can also be used to correct the conventional two-color interferometer for fringe skips at all densities, up to and beyond the Greenwald limit. The system features five chords with independent first mirrors to reduce risks associated with deposition, erosion, etc., and a common first wall hole to minimize penetration sizes. Simulations of performance for a projected ITER baseline discharge show the diagnostic will function as well as, or better than, comparable existing systems for feedback density control. Calculations also show that finite temperature effects will be significant in ITER even for moderate temperature plasmas and can lead to a significant underestimate of electron density. A secondary role TIP will fulfill is that of a density fluctuation diagnostic; using a toroidal Alfvén eigenmode as an example, simulations show TIP will be extremely robust in this capacity and potentially able to resolve coherent mode fluctuations with perturbed densities as low as δn/n ≈ 10-5. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]