Texas Helimak

Helimak is an experimental approximation to the ideal cylindrical slab, a onedimensional magnetized plasma with magnetic curvature and shear. The Texas Helimak realizes this approximation to a large degree; the finite size of the device can be neglected for many phenomena. Specifically, the drift-wave turbulence characteristic of a slab is observed with scale lengths small compared with the device size. The device and the general features of its behavior are described here. The device is capable of studying drift-wave turbulence, scrape-off layer （SOL） turbulence, and the stabilization of turbulence by imposing velocity shear.     

Electron Transport Coefficients and Effective Ionization Coefficients in SF6-O2 and SF6-Air Mixtures Using Boltzmann Analysis

The electron drift velocity, electron energy distribution function （EEDF）, densitynormalized effective ionization coefficient and density-normalized longitudinal diffusion velocity are calculated in SF6-O2 and SFs-Air mixtures. The experimental results from a pulsed Townsend discharge are plotted for comparison with the numerical results. The reduced field strength varies from 40 Td to 500 Td （1 Townsend=10-17 V.cm2） and the SF6 concentration ranges from 10% to 100%. A Boltzmann equation associated with the two-term spherical harmonic expansion approximation is utilized to gain the swarm parameters in steady-state Townsend. Results show that the accuracy of the Boltzlnann solution with a two-term expansion in calculating the electron drift velocity, electron energy distribution function, and density-normalized effective ionization coefficient is acceptable. The effective ionization coefficient presents a distinct relationship with the SF6 content in the mixtures. Moreover, the E/Ncr values in SF6-Air mixtures are higher than those in SF6-O2 mixtures and the calculated value E/Ncr in SF6-O2 and SF6-Air mixtures is lower than the measured value in SFB-N2. Parametric studies conducted on these parameters using the Boltzmann analysis offer substantial insight into the plasma physics, as well as a basis to explore the ozone generation process.     

Scattering of Electromagnetic Waves by Drift Vortex in Plasma

In a quasi-two-dimensional model, the scattering of incident ordinary electromag- netic waves by a dipole-electrostatic drift vortex is studied with first-order Born approximation. The distribution of the scattering cross-section and total cross-section are evaluated analytically in different approximate conditions, and the physical interpretations are discussed. When the wavelength of incident wave is much longer than the vortex radius （kia〈〈1）, it is found that the angle at which the scattering cross-section reaches its maxim depends significantly on the approximation of the parameters of the vortex used. It is also found that the total scattering cross-section has an affinitive relation with the parameters of the plasma, while it is irrelevant to the frequency of the incident wave in a wide range of parameters of the vortex. In a totally different range of parameters when incident wave is in the radar-frequency range （then kia 〈〈 1, the wavelength of incident wave is much shorter than the vortex radius）, the numerical procedure is conducted with computer in order to obtain the distribution and the total expression of the scattering crosssection. Then it is found that the total scattering cross-section in the low frequency range is much larger than that in high frequency range, so the scattering is more effective in the low frequency range than in high frequency range.     

Preliminary Results of Drift Instability by Fast Optical Images in KT-5D Toroidal Plasma

Drift instability in plasma generated by electron cyclotron resonance （ECR） in KT- 5D device was investigated by using a fast camera and Langmuir probes. The similarity between the distribution of light intensity from the images and the plasma pressure indicates a nearly linear relationship. The discharge images taken by the camera and the plasma parameters measured by the probes also indicate the existence of low frequency turbulent events with a time scale less than a few mini-seconds.     

Investigation of the Parallel Flow in the Edge Plasma of EAST

The effects of the E × B drift and ballooning-like transport on the edge plasma in EAST tokamak are investigated with a simplified fluid model. The simulation results show that the E × B drift and ballooning-like transport affect the plasma behavior. When the toroidal field is reversed, at the low field side the density is much larger and temperatures （both electron and ion） are lower, and the profiles of the density and temperatures become more symmetric. With the ballooning-like transport considered, the spatial ballooning-like distribution at the low field side is not very important, but the magnitude affects the ratios of the inner/outer particle flux and energy as well as the E × B drift. At the top of the scrape-off layer, the Mach number exceeding 0.3 for the normal toroidal field and approaching 0.2 for the reversed toroidal field in the simulation are obtained when the drift and ballooning-like transport are included in the model.     

Kinetic Monte Carlo Simulation of Deposition of Co Thin Film on Cu（001）

A kinetic Monte Carlo （kMC） simulation is conducted to study the growth of ultrathin film of Co on Cu（001） surface. The many-body, tight-binding potential model is used in the simulation to represent the interatomic potential. The film morphology of heteroepitaxial Co film on a Cu（001） substrate at the transient and final state conditions with various incident energies is simulated. The Co covered area and the thickness of the film growth of the first two layers are investigated. The simulation results show that the incident energy influences the film growth and structure. There exists a transition energy where the interracial roughness is minimum. There are some void regions in the film in the final state, because of the influence of the island growth in the first few layers. In addition, there are deviations from ideal layer-by-layer growth at a coverage from 0 - 2 monolayers （ML）.     

Magnetization of Multifilamentary Superconductor Nb3Sn in Perpendicular Field

Hysteresis loss is one of the electromagnetic characteristics controlled by time evolution of magnetic field and current distribution inside the conductor. Brandt＇s method allows us to model the interaction of the conductor with an external magnetic field. Instead of the constant critical current density （Jc =CONST）, the Jc scaling law from current-voltage （I-V） measurement is used to model the magnetization loop. By comparing the calculated results with the measured data, it is shown that the Jc scaling law, i.e. the deviatoric strain model, is not useful in a very low field. To solve this problem, the Kim model about Jc as a function of applied field has been applied in the low field case. This method can be used to predict the hysteresis loss of Nb3Sn filamentary strand.     

Design of Magnetic Measurement System on SUNIST Spherical Tokamak

A magnetic measurement system consisting of magnetic probes and flux loops for spherical tokamak SUNIST, is uniquely designed due to the strongly shaped plasma cross section and the narrow space near the central solenoid. Plasma equilibrium reconstruction with the current filament method is performed to determine the number and positions of the magnetic probes and flux loops, as well as their design precision required.     

Methods of Power Balance Analysis and Estimation of Current Density Profile for LHCD and IBW Discharges in HT-7 Tokamak

In this paper a simple code has been developed to analyze power balance and qualitatively evaluate current profiles for discharges with lower hybrid current drive （LHCD） and ion Bernstein wave （IBW） heating in the HT-7 tokamak. Electron and ion thermal diffusivity, profiles of the bootstrap current density and total plasma current density can be estimated by this code using the experimental data. This code offers an easy and reasonable means to understand plasma transport in HT-7.     

Influence of Jet Angle and Ion Density of Cathode Side on Low Current Vacuum Arc Characteristics

In this study, the influence of the initial jet angles （IJAs） and ion number densities （INDs） at the cathode side on the low current vacuum arc （LCVA） characteristics is simulated and analysed. The results show that the ion temperature, electron temperature, ion number density, axial current density and plasma pressure all decrease with the increase of the cathode IJAs. It is also shown that LCVA can cause a current constriction for lower cathode IND, and the anode sheath potential is more nonuniform, which is mainly related to the nonuniform distribution of the axial current density at the anode side.     

Experimental Study of the Recovery Times of Spark Gap Switch with Different Gases

A two-pulse method is used to determine the insulation recovery time of the gas spark gap switch with different types of gas applied in a high power accelerator with a water dielectric pulse forming line. At the breakdown voltage of 450 kV, with the vacuum diode voltage of about 200 kV, and a current of 30 kA, recovery characteristics of H2, N2, SF6 were studied. The recovery percentages of the gas breakdown voltage and vacuum diode voltage were determined. The results show that hydrogen has the best recovery characteristics. At a pulse interval of 8.8 ms, the recovery percentages of both the gas breakdown voltage and vacuum diode voltage for hydrogen exceed 95%. For SF6 and N2 with an interval of 25 ms and 50 ms respectively, a 90% voltage recovery was obtained. The experiments also proved that the repetitive rate of the high power accelerator with a pulse forming line is mainly restricted by the gas switch repetitive rate; the recovery percentages of the vacuum diode voltage are limited by the recovery percentages of the gas switch breakdown voltage. The hydrogen switch can be employed for a high repetitive rate-high power accelerator with a pulse forming line.     

A Novel Crowbar Impulse Current Circuit for Testing the Switch-Type SPD

A crowbar impulse current circuit for testing the switch-type surge protective device （SPD） is presented. The crowbar circuit consists of a computer control circuit, a trigger voltage pulse generator, a main discharging switch, and a crowbar pseudospark switch. The active trigger technology was studied in the crowbar impulse current circuit. The circuit monitors the main discharging current and generates a trigger signal at a proper time for the crowbar pseudospark switch operation. The trigger characteristics of the main discharge switch and the crowbar pseu- dospark switch were investigated. By monitoring the preset applied capacitor voltage, the gap distance of the main discharging switch could be adjusted to ensure a discharging delay time less than 2 μs. Equipped with a surface ttashover trigger device made of high relative perimittivity dielectric material BaTiO3 （εr = 3460）, the discharge delay time of the crowbar pseudospark switch is less than 85 ns, and the minimum operating voltage is less than 1% of its self-breakdown voltage. With a storage capacitor of 9 μF , an inductor of 18 μH and a crowbar pseudospark switch, a load of 30 mΩ and an applied capacitor voltage of 40 kV, an impulse current waveform of maximum 25 kA was generated with a rise time and time to half peak value of 17.2 μs and 336μs respectively.     

Numerical Simulation of Low Current Vacuum Arc Supersonic Flow

Based on a two-dimensional axisymmetric magneto-hydrodynamic （MHD） model, low current vacuum arc （LCVA） characteristics are studied. The influence of cathode process under different axial magnetic fields and different anode radii on LCVA characteristics is also simulated. The results show that the influence of both cathode process and anode radii on LCVA is significant. The sign of anode sheath potentials can change from negative to positive with the decrease of anode radii. The simulation results are in part verified by experimental results. Especially, as the effect of ion kinetic energy is considered, ion temperature is improved significantly; which is in agreement with experimental results.     

Longitudinal Drift and Fine dE/dx Sampling in Various Gas Mixtures

Results of measurements realized at 15 GeV/c in a tagged e/?/p beam are presented. A longitudinal drift detector of 88 cm total length consisting of 16 stages of 4.7 cm drift each was used. Fast shaped signals from the detector were processed in a set of Flash ADC's with 25 ns sampling interval, corresponding to 0.3 - 2.6 mm distance in the drift space. Resolution and particle separation efficiency obtained in mixtures of Ne + 10% C3H8, Ar + 5% C3H8, Ar + 20% CO2, C3H8 + 20% C2H6 and in pure CH4 are compared to the performance of a classical method of charge integration over large samples.     

Development of Data Acquisition Card Driver for ICRH System on EAST

Presented in this paper is the development of the driver for the data acquisition card with a peripheral component interconnection （PCI） local bus on the ion cyclotron range of frequency heating （1CRH） system. The driver is mainly aimed at the embedded VxWorks system （real-time operating system） which is widely used in various fields of real-time systems. An efficient way is employed to develop this driver, which will advance the real-time control of the ICRH system on the experimental advanced superconductor tokamak （EAST）. The driver is designed using the TORNADO integrated development environment （IDE）, and implemented in C plus language. The details include the hardware configuration, analogue/digital （A/D） and digital/analogue （D/A） conversion, input and output （I/O） operation of the driver to support over five cards. The data acquisition card can be manipulated in a low-level program and meet the requirements of A/D conversion and D/A outputs.     

Simultaneous Oxidization of NOx and SO2 by a New Non-thermal Plasma Reactor Enhanced by Catalyst and Additive

The non-thermal plasma as one of the most promising technologies for removing NOx and SO2 has attrm~ted much attention. In this study, a new plasma reactor combined with catalyst and additive was developed to effectively oxidize and remove NOx and SO2 in the flue gas. The experimental results showed that TiO2 could improve the oxidation efficiency of SO2 in the case of applying plasma while having a negative effect on the oxidation process of NO and NOx. With the addition of NH3, the oxidation rates of NOx, NO and SO2 were slightly increased. However, the effect of adding NH3 on NOx oxidation was negative when the temperature was above 200℃.     

Role of Ion Beam Irradiation and Annealing Effect on the Deposition of AlON Nanolayers by Using Plasma Focus Device

AlON nanolayers are synthesized on Al substrate by the irradiation of energetic nitrogen ions using plasma focusing. Samples are exposed to multiple （5, 10, 15, 20 and 25） focus shots. Ion energy and ion number density range from 80 keV to 1.4 MeV and 5.6×10^19 m^- 3 to 1.3×10^19 m ^-3, respectively. Moreover, the effect of continuous annealing （473 K and 523 K） on an AlN surface layer synthesized with 25 focus shots is also examined. The main features of the X-ray diffraction （XRD） patterns with increasing focus shots are： （i） variation in the crystallinity of AlN along （111）, （200） and （311） planes, （ii） increasing average crystallite size of AlN （111） plane, and （iii） stress relaxation observed in AlN （111） and （200） planes. The crystallinity of AlN surface layer is comparatively better at 473 K annealing temperature. A broadened diffraction peak related to an aluminium oxide phase showing weak crystallinity is observed for 15 focus shots while non-bounded oxides are present in all other deposited layers. Raman and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy （FTIR） analysis confirm the presence of AlN and Al203 for the surface layer annealed at 473 K temperature. Raman analysis shows that the overlapping of AlN and Al2Oa results in the development of residual stresses. Scanning electron microscope （SEM） results demonstrate that the formation of rounded grains （range from 20 nm to 200 nm） and variations in their microstructures features depend on the increasing number of focus shots. Decomposition of larger clusters into smaller ones is observed.     

Simulation of Electron-Beam Generating Plasma at Atmospheric Pressure

As electron-beam generating plasma is widely applied, the software tool EGS4 （Electron-Gamma Shower） was used to simulate the transmission and energy deposition of electron-beam in air. The simulation results indicated that the range of the electron-beam was inversely proportional to the gas pressure in a wide range of gas pressure, and the electron-beam of 200 keV could generate a plasma with a density 10^11 cm^-3 in air of latm. In addition, the energy distribution of the beam-electron and plasma density profile produced by the beam were achieved.