Development of vacuum ultraviolet spectroscopy for measuring edge impurity emission in the EAST tokamak

The dominant wavelength range of edge impurity emissions moves from the visible range to the vacuum ultraviolet(VUV) range, as heating power increasing in the Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak(EAST). The measurement provided by the existing visible spectroscopies in EAST is not sufficient for impurity transport studies for high-parameters plasmas. Therefore, in this study, a VUV spectroscopy is newly developed to measure edge impurity emissions in EAST. One Seya-Namioka VUV spectrometer(McPherson 234/302) is used in the system, equipped with a concave-corrected holographic grating with groove density of 600 grooves mm~(–1). Impurity line emissions can be observed in the wavelength range ofλ=50–700 nm, covering VUV, near ultraviolet and visible ranges. The observed vertical range is Z=-350–350 mm. The minimum sampling time can be set to 5 ms under full vertical binning(FVB) mode. VUV spectroscopy has been used to measure the edge impurity emission for the 2019 EAST experimental campaign. Impurity spectra are identified for several impurity species, i.e., lithium(Li), carbon(C), oxygen(O), and iron(Fe). Several candidates for tungsten(W) lines are also measured but their clear identification is very difficult due to a strong overlap with Fe lines. Time evolutions of impurity carbon emissions of CII at 134.5 nm and CIII at97.7 nm are analyzed to prove the system capability of time-resolved measurement. The measurements of the VUV spectroscopy are very helpful for edge impurity transport study in the high-parameters plasma in EAST.     

Measurement and analysis of the extreme ultraviolet emission band of laser-produced antimony plasmas

The temporal evolution of extreme ultraviolet (EUV) emission spectra of laser-produced antimony (Sb) plasmas has been measured in the 7–16 nm wavelength region using spatio- temporally resolved lase-produced plasma spectroscopy technique. The spectral profiles involve an intense quasi-continuous band with superimposed intense characteristic radiation and are different with the increase of delay time. The spectral structures were also analyzed according to Hartree–Fock calculations with configuration interaction effects and contributed from 4d–4f, 4d–4p, and 4d–5f unresolved transition arrays of Sb⁷⁺ – Sb¹³⁺. A steady-state collisional- radiative model was used to estimate the electron temperature and density range of Sb plasmas. This work would enrich the spectral data of highly-charged ions and provided a possible selection for developing EUV light sources.     

Spectroscopic studies of fuel recycling and impurity behaviors in the divertor region of Wendelstein 7-X

The first divertor operation phase(OP1.2 a) was carried out on Wendelstein 7-X in the second half of 2017.Fuel recycling and impurity behaviors in the divertor region were investigated by employing a newly built ultraviolet–visible–near infrared overview spectroscopy system.The characteristic spectral lines of the working gases(hydrogen and helium),intrinsic impurities(carbon,oxygen and iron),and seeded impurities(neon and nitrogen) were identified and analyzed.The divertor electron temperature and density were measured using He I(667.8,706.5,and 728.1 nm) line intensity ratios.The Hα(656.3 nm),He I(587.6 nm),C II(514.5 nm),and O I(777.2 nm) emissions were investigated over a wide range of operating conditions.The results showed that fuel and impurity emissions in the divertor region exhibit a strong dependence on magnetic topology and plasma conditions.The levels of Hα,He I,C II,and O I emissions are all reduced moving from the standard configuration to the high mirror configuration,and even further reduced for the high iota configuration,which is associated with decreasing connection length in these island divertor configurations.The H/He influx ratio shows that the plasma is a mixture of helium and hydrogen.The neutral and impurity influxes from the divertor target tend to increase with increasing divertor electron temperature.     

贝叶斯反卷积在EAST电荷交换复合光谱分析中的应用

电荷交换复合光谱(Charge e Xchange Recombination Spectroscopy,CXRS)诊断是核聚变装置上测量等离子体离子温度和旋转速度的常规诊断之一。然而在实验中,诊断光通过光谱仪后,由于仪器函数的卷积效应,会使测量到的光谱出现明显展宽,影响数据处理的精度,所以需要对实验测量到的光谱进行反卷积处理。本文采用的反卷积方法是基于贝叶斯条件概率公式推导得出,并结合标准灯获取的仪器函数来进行反卷积,分别从仿真和实验两个方面验证了该方法的可靠性。结果表明将贝叶斯反卷积运用到先进实验超导托卡马克(Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak,EAST)电荷交换复合光谱分析中,能有效提高实验测量精度。结合快速极紫外谱仪(Extreme ultraviolet,EUV),对EAST实验中经过贝叶斯反卷积后测量到的光谱进行了杂质谱线识别工作,进一步提高了精度。     

Study on Radial Position of Impurity Ions in Core and Edge Plasma of LHD Using Space-Resolved EUV Spectrometer

Radial profiles of impurity ions of carbon, neon and iron were measured for high-temperature plasmas in large helical device (LHD) using a space-resolved extreme ultraviolet (EUV) spectrometer in the wavelength range of 60 to 400?. The radial positions of the impurity ions obtained are compared with the local ionization energies, Ei of these impurity ions and the electron temperatures TeZ there. The impurity ions with 0.3?Ei?1.0 keV are always located in outer region of plasma, i.e., 0.7?ρ?1.0, and those with Ei?0.3keV are located in the ergodic layer, i.e., 1.0?ρ?1.1, with a sharp peak edge., where ρ is the normalized radial position. It is newly found that TeZ is approximately equal to Ei for the impurity ions with Ei?0.3keV, whereas roughly half the value of Ei for the impurity ions with 0.3?Ei?1.0keV. It is known that TeZ is considerably lower than Ei in the plasma edge and approaches to Ei in the plasma core. Therefore, this result seems to originate from the difference in the transverse transport between the plasma edge at ρ?1.0 and the ergodic layer at ρ?1.0. The transverse transport is studied with an impurity transport simulation code. The result revealed that the difference appearing in the impurity radial positions can be qualitatively explained by the different values of diffusion coefficient, e.g., D=0.2 and 1.0m2/s, which can be taken as a typical index of the transverse transport.     

High-speed VUV spectroscopy for edge impurity line emission measurements in HL-2A tokamak

A 20 cm focal length normal incidence vacuum ultraviolet (VUV_20 cm) monochromator with a fast time response has been developed for measuring edge impurity line emission in the wavelength range of 300–2000 Å on an HL-2A tokamak. An aberration corrected concave holographic grating with 1200 grooves/mm is adopted in the monochromator, which provides a wavelength dispersion of 40 Åmm ⁻¹ . The aperture is f/4.5. A channel electron multiplier is used as a detector. The time resolution of the system is 17 μs. Wavelength calibration of the system has been done by using a hollow cathode light source in the laboratory with helium and argon gases. The obtained signals of helium and argon spectra are very strong since the inner surface of the monochromator vacuum chamber is blackened and the stray light level is then significantly reduced. The optical property of the system has been examined by scanning the width of the entrance and exit slits. The system is then installed at the mid-port of the HL-2A tokamak and typical line emissions from the HL-2A plasma are measured. Time behaviors of edge impurity line emissions are observed with the fast time response system in different plasma confinement regimes, especially in the H-mode discharges. The result shows that the VUV_20 cm system works very well to measure the edge impurity line emissions in the edge localized modes phase of H-mode discharges.     

Measurement of tungsten impurity spectra with a two-crystal X-ray crystal spectrometer on EAST

Spectral measurement of tungsten (W) impurity is essential to study impurity transport. Therefore, an X-ray crystal spectrometer (XCS) on EAST was used to measure the line spectra from highly ionized W ions. On EAST, both poloidal XCS and tangential XCS have been developed to measure the plasma temperature as well as the rotation velocity. Recently, He-like and H-like argon spectra have also been obtained using a two-crystal setup. W lines are identified in this study. Through a careful analysis, the W lines of 3.9336, 3.9321, and 3.664 Å are found to be diffracted by He-like or H-like crystals. The lines are confirmed with the NIST database. We also calculated the ion temperature with Doppler broadening of these lines. The ion temperature from the W lines is entirely consistent with that from Ar line spectra. The measurement of these W line spectra could be used to study W impurity transport in future work.     

Line identification of boron and nitrogen emissions in extreme- and vacuum-ultraviolet wavelength ranges in the impurity powder dropping experiments of the Large Helical Device and its application to spectroscopic diagnostic

An impurity powder dropper was installed in the 21st campaign of the Large Helical Device experiment (Oct. 2019–Feb. 2020) under a collaboration between the National Institute for Fusion Science and the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory for the purposes of real-time wall conditioning and edge plasma control. In order to assess the effective injection of the impurity powders, spectroscopic diagnostics were applied to observe line emission from the injected impurity. Thus, extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) and vacuum-ultraviolet (VUV) emission spectra were analyzed to summarize observable impurity lines with B and BN powder injection. Emission lines released from B and N ions were identified in the EUV wavelength range of 5–300 Å measured using two grazing incidence flat-field EUV spectrometers and in the VUV wavelength range of 300–2400 Å measured using three normal incidence 20 cm VUV spectrometers. BI–BV and NIII–NVII emission lines were identified in the discharges with the B and BN powder injection, respectively. Useful B and N emission lines which have large intensities and are isolated from other lines were successfully identified as follows: BI (1825.89, 1826.40) Å (blended), BII 1362.46 Å, BIII (677.00, 677.14, 677.16) Å (blended), BIV 60.31 Å, BV 48.59 Å, NIII (989.79, 991.51, 991.58) Å (blended), NIV 765.15 Å, NV (209.27, 209.31) Å (blended), NVI 1896.80 Å, and NVII 24.78 Å. Applications of the line identifications to the advanced spectroscopic diagnostics were demonstrated, such as the vertical profile measurements for the BV and NVII lines using a space-resolved EUV spectrometer and the ion temperature measurement for the BII line using a normal incidence 3 m VUV spectrometer.     

Divertor detachment operation in helium plasmas with ITER-like tungsten divertor in EAST

Detachment in helium (He) discharges has been achieved in the EAST superconducting tokamak equipped with an ITER-like tungsten divertor. This paper presents the experimental observations of divertor detachment achieved by increasing the plasma density in He discharges. During density ramp-up, the particle flux shows a clear rollover, while the electron temperature around the outer strike point is decreasing simultaneously. The divertor detachment also exhibits a significant difference from that observed in comparable deuterium (D) discharges. The density threshold of detachment in the He plasma is higher than that in the D plasma for the same heating power, and increases with the heating power. Moreover, detachment assisted with neon (Ne) seeding was also performed in L- and H-mode plasmas, pointing to the direction for reducing the density threshold of detachment in He operation. However, excessive Ne seeding causes confinement degradation during the divertor detachment phase. The precise feedback control of impurity seeding will be performed in EAST to improve the compatibility of core plasma performance with divertor detachment for future high heating power operations.     

Radiative Cooling Rates for Low-Z Impurities in Non-coronal Equilibrium State

The local or transient radiation losses in tokamak plasmas can greatly exceed those in the coronal equilibrium. This excess is especially pronounced at the plasma edge. The reason for the increase of radiation in a peripheral plasma is as follows. The impurities are lost fast from the plasma edge and the new impurity source is supplied to this region. The charged states of impurities, therefore, do not reach their coronal equilibrium ones. These impurity ions have more electrons than those in the coronal equilibrium, and as a result emit the higher radiation power. In the simplest case, the non-coronal radiative rate can be determined only by two parameters: the electron temperature \(T_{\text {e}}\) and the so-called “residence parameter” \(n_{\text {e}}\tau _{\text {i}}\), where \(\tau _{\text {i}}\) is the impurity residence time in the plasma. Despite the strong simplification, such an approach allows to do simple estimates of non-coronal radiation. In this paper, two dimensional polynomial fits describing radiative cooling rates and mean charge are obtained for eight impurity species: helium, lithium, beryllium, carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, neon, and argon. The results are presented in figures and tables. The figures show curves calculated from the original atomic database and least-squares polynomial fits to these curves. The tables contains coefficients for this fits. The obtained fits can be useful for qualitative estimates and simple numerical calculations.     

Measurement of the first Townsend's ionization coefficient for atmospheric pressure neon by a dielectric barrier discharge

Fast photography and optical emission spectroscopy are implemented in a 5 mm neon gap dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) at atmospheric pressure with quartz glass used as the dielectric layer. Results show that it starts with a Townsend discharge and ends at a sub-normal glow discharge in neon DBD. Based on the Townsend discharge, the first ionization coefficient of neon is measured. The measurements are consistent with those at low pressure. Optical emission spectroscopy indicates that the spectra are mainly composed of atomic lines of neon, molecular bands and molecular ion bands originating from inevitable gas impurities (mainly nitrogen). Moreover, spectral lines emitted from atomic neon corresponding to the transitions (2p⁵ 3p → 2p⁵ 3s) are predominant. Although the second positive system of N₂(C³Π_u → B³Π_g) is observed, their intensities are too weak compared with neon's spectrum. The molecular nitrogen ion line of 391.4 nm is observed. It reveals that Penning ionization between high energy neon excited states and the inevitable gas impurities plays an important role in the value of the α coefficient.     

Pulse-burst laser-based 10kHz Thomson scattering measurements

Thomson scattering(TS),as a popular and reliable diagnostic technique,has successfully measured electron temperatures and electron number densities of plasmas for many years.However,conventional TS techniques using Nd:YAG lasers operate only at tens of hertz.Here,we present the development of a high-repetition-rate TS instrument based on a high-speed,pulse-burst laser system to greatly increase the temporal resolution of measurements.Successful instrument prototype testing was carried out by collecting TS light from laboratory helium and argon plasmas at 10 kHz.Calibration of the instrument detection sensitivity using nitrogen/oxygen rotational Raman scattering signal is also presented.Quantitative electron number densities and electron temperatures of the plasma were acquired at 10 kHz,for stable plasma discharges as,respectively,～0.9 eV and ～5.37×10~(21)m~(-3) for the argon plasma,and ～1eV and ～6.5×1021 m~(-3) for the helium plasma.     

Observation of Impurity Accumulation After Hydrogen Multi-Pellet Injection in Large Helical Device

Impurity accumulation is studied for neutral beam-heated discharges after hydrogen multi-pellet injection in Large Helical Device (LHD). Iron density profiles are derived from radial profiles of EUV line emissions of FeXV-XXIV with the help of the collisional-radiative model. A peaked density profile of Fe²³⁺ is simulated by using one-dimensional impurity transport code. The result indicates a large inward velocity of -6 m/s at the impurity accumulation phase. However, the discharge is not entirely affected by the impurity accumulation, since the concentration of iron impurity, estimated to be 3.3x10^-5 to the electron density, is considerably small. On the other hand, a flat profile is observed for the carbon density of C⁶⁺, which is derived from the Z_eff profile, indicating a small inward velocity of -1 m/s. These results suggest atomic number dependence in the impurity accumulation of LHD, which is similar to the tokamak result.     

A study on soft x-ray spectra from pulsed 1 μm Nd:YAG laser-induced ytterbium plasmas

The Nd:YAG laser with a wavelength of 1.064μm was used to generate plasmas on a high-purity solid ytterbium (₇₀Yb) target in a vacuum chamber. The soft x-ray time- and space-integration spectra from the Yb plasmas were measured in the wavelength range of 1.0–8.5 nm under different power densities. The atomic spectral data of the unresolved transition arrays from highly charged Yb ions were calculated based on Cowan's suite of codes, including configuration interaction. The calculated Gaussian envelope of the emission determined by the weighted spontaneous transition rates was compared with the experimental spectra, and a good agreement between them was obtained. The spatial-temporal evolutions of the plasmas under the experimental conditions are simulated based on the collisional-radiative model, enabling the understanding of the mechanism of the plasma conditions for optimal water window waveband emission output.     

Impurity Emission Behavior in the Soft X-Ray and Extreme Ultraviolet Range on EAST

Spectroscopy in the soft X-ray and extreme ultraviolet(XEUV) region is very important in magnetic fusion research.Recently,two flat-field spectrometers that utilize a varied line spacing grating to image the spectra of 1-13 nm and 5-50 nm were installed on EAST for core impurity emission monitoring and impurity transport study.The instruments were proven to be capable of observing spectral lines from low-Z impurities(Li,C,O,N,Ar,etc.) and highly ionized medium- and high-Z impurities(Fe,Cr,Ni,Cu,Mo,etc.).For example,spectra in the wavelength intervals of 1-2 nm and 5-13 nm contained strong metal lines,especially molybdenum lines during H-mode phases.Argon and nitrogen lines were also observed,which were injected for diagnostic purposes.Impurity lines were identified and compared to measurements on other magnetic fusion research devices.Detailed measurements of radial emission profiles from various impurity line emissions were also presented.     

Numerical studies of the influence of seeding locations on D-SOL plasmas in EAST

Impurity seeding has been found effective for divertor detachment operations and the seeding location plays a key role in this process. In this work, we use the fluid code SOLPS-ITER to study the influence of seeding locations on divertor and scrape-off layer (D-SOL) plasmas in Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST) with neon seeding. Simulation results indicate that the neon is a highly effective impurity in mitigating the heat flux and electron temperature peaks on the target of the divertor and achieving the partial detachment on both inner and outer targets. Further, by comparing results of the seeding at the private-flux region (PFR) plate (called 'TP' location) and the outer target (called 'XP' location), we find that the impurity density and power radiation for TP case are higher in core and upstream regions and lower in the divertor region than that for seeding at the XP, and the difference becomes more and more obvious as the seeding rate increases. It clearly demonstrates that the seeding at the XP location is more appropriate than at the TP location, especially in high seeding rate conditions.     

DIVIMP Modeling of Impurity Transport in EAST

Simulations of carbon impurity transport in SOL/divertor plasmas with Ohmic heating on EAST tokamak were performed using the two-dimensional（2D）Monte Carlo impurity transport code DIVIMP.The background plasmas for DIVIMP simulations were externally taken from B2.5/Eirene calculation.Besides the basic output of DIVIMP,the 2D density distributions of the carbon impurity with different ionization states and neutral carbon atoms were obtained,the2D distributions of CII and CIII emissivities from C＋1and C＋2radiation respectively were also calculated.Comparison between the measured and calculated CIII emissivities showed favorable agreement,indicating that the impurity physics transport models,as implemented in the DIVIMP code,are suitable for the EAST tokamak plasma condition.     

Influence of lithium coatings with large-area coverage on EAST plasma performance

Over the last two EAST campaigns, lithium coatings by oven evaporation were carried out as a routine wall conditioning method and significant progresses has been achieved. By upgrading the EAST lithium coating systems, lithium area coverage increased from ∼35% in 2010 to ∼85% in 2012. Accompanying the increased lithium coverage, carbon, oxygen and molybdenum impurities were decreased to extremely low levels. In addition, hydrogen concentration was further decreased with the H/(H + D) ratio falling as low as 2.5%. The effective recycling coefficient decreased step-by-step to ∼0.89 and remained below unity for ∼100 discharges. This allowed for effective feedback control of the plasma density. The wall retention rate increased from 55% to 75%, which also indicated stronger pumping of deuterium particles with increased Li coverage. With the help of increased lithium coverage, H-mode plasmas were generally easier to obtain and the EAST parameter space was enlarged.     

Influence of impurity seeding on the plasma radiation in the EAST tokamak

Plasma radiation characteristics in EAST argon(Ar) gas and neon(Ne) gas seeding experiments are studied.The radiation profiles reconstructed from the fast bolometer measurement data by tomography method are compared with the ones got from the simulation program based on corona model.And the simulation results coincide roughly with the experimental data.For Ar seeding discharges,the substantial enhanced radiations can be generally observed in the edge areas at normalized radius ρ_(pol)~0.7–0.9,while the enhanced regions are more outer for Ne seeding discharges.The influence of seeded Ar gas on the core radiation is related to the injected position.In discharges with LSN divertor configuration,the Ar ions can permeate into the core region more easily when being injected from the opposite upper divertor ports.In USN divertor configuration,the W impurity sputtered from the upper divertor target plates are observed to be an important contributor to the increase of the core radiation no matter impurity seeding from any ports.The maximum radiated power fractions f_(rad)(P_(rad)/P_(heat)) about 60%–70% have been achieved in the recent EAST experimental campaign in 2015–2016.     

Formation and destruction of striation plasmas in helium glow discharge at medium pressures

The striation plasmas are usually generated within a positive column of glow discharge, where rich and complex physical interactions are involved, especially, in the medium or high pressures. Along these lines, our work aims to thoroughly investigate the formation and destruction of helium striation plasmas at kPa level pressures. The characteristics of the helium striation plasmas, and especially the optical emission properties are explored. The emission lines of 706.52 nm and 391.44 nm related to the energetic electrons and the high-energy metastable helium atoms respectively, were focused on in this work. The formation of striation plasmas in a helium glow discharge, is mainly associated with the instability originating from the stepwise ionization of high-energy metastable state atoms, Maxwellization of the electron distribution functions and gas heating. Additionally, the destruction effect of helium striation plasmas is of great significance when a small amount of nitrogen or oxygen is mixed into the discharge plasmas. The reduction of the mean electron energy and the consumption of the high-energy metastable helium atoms are considered as the underlying reasons for the destruction of striation plasmas.