Advances, Challenges, and Future Perspectives of Microwave Reflectometry for Plasma Position and Shape Control on Future Nuclear Fusion Devices - Université de Lorraine
Journal Articles Sensors Year : 2023

Advances, Challenges, and Future Perspectives of Microwave Reflectometry for Plasma Position and Shape Control on Future Nuclear Fusion Devices

Bruno Gonçalves
  • Function : Author
Paulo Varela
Antóni Silva
  • Function : Author
Filipe da Silva
  • Function : Author
Jorge Santos
Emanuel Ricardo
  • Function : Author
Alberto Vale
Raúl Luís
  • Function : Author
Yohanes Nietiadi
Art Malaquias
Jorge Belo
  • Function : Author
José Diaz
  • Function : Author
Jorge Ferreira
  • Function : Author
Thomas Franke
  • Function : Author
Wolfga Biel
Stéphane Heuraux
Tiago Ribeiro
  • Function : Author
Gianluca de Masi
  • Function : Author
Onofrio Tudisco
  • Function : Author
Roberto Cavazzana
  • Function : Author
Giuseppe Marchiori
Ocleto D Arcangelo
  • Function : Author

Abstract

Providing energy from fusion and finding ways to scale up the fusion process to commercial proportions in an efficient, economical, and environmentally benign way is one of the grand challenges for engineering. Controlling the burning plasma in real-time is one of the critical issues that need to be addressed. Plasma Position Reflectometry (PPR) is expected to have an important role in next-generation fusion machines, such as DEMO, as a diagnostic to monitor the position and shape of the plasma continuously, complementing magnetic diagnostics. The reflectometry diagnostic uses radar science methods in the microwave and millimetre wave frequency ranges and is envisaged to measure the radial edge density profile at several poloidal angles providing data for the feedback control of the plasma position and shape. While significant steps have already been given to accomplish that goal, with proof of concept tested first in ASDEX-Upgrade and afterward in COMPASS, important, groundbreaking work is still ongoing. The Divertor Test Tokamak (DTT) facility presents itself as the appropriate future fusion device to implement, develop, and test a PPR system, thus contributing to building a knowledge database in plasma position reflectometry required for its application in DEMO. At DEMO, the PPR diagnostic's in-vessel antennas and waveguides, as well as the magnetic diagnostics, may be exposed to neutron irradiation fluences 5 to 50 times greater than those experienced by ITER. In the event of failure of either the magnetic or microwave diagnostics, the equilibrium control of the DEMO plasma may be jeopardized. It is, therefore, imperative to ensure that these systems are designed in such a way that they can be replaced if necessary. To perform reflectometry measurements at the 16 envisaged poloidal locations in DEMO, plasma-facing antennas and waveguides are needed to route the microwaves between the plasma through the DEMO upper ports (UPs) to the diagnostic hall. The main integration approach for this diagnostic is to incorporate these groups of antennas and waveguides into a diagnostics slim cassette (DSC), which is a dedicated complete poloidal segment specifically designed to be integrated with the water-cooled lithium lead (WCLL) breeding blanket system. This contribution presents the multiple engineering and physics challenges addressed while designing reflectometry diagnostics using radio science techniques. Namely, short-range dedicated radars for plasma position and shape control in future fusion experiments, the advances enabled by the designs for ITER and DEMO, and the future perspectives. One key development is in electronics, aiming at an advanced compact coherent fast frequency sweeping RF back-end [23-100 GHz in few µs] that is being developed at IPFN-IST using commercial Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuits (MMIC). The compactness of this back-end design is crucial for the successful integration of many measurement channels in the reduced space
Fichier principal
Vignette du fichier
sensors-23-03926.pdf (15.17 Mo) Télécharger le fichier
Origin Publisher files allowed on an open archive

Dates and versions

hal-04066332 , version 1 (12-04-2023)

Licence

Identifiers

Cite

Bruno Gonçalves, Paulo Varela, Antóni Silva, Filipe da Silva, Jorge Santos, et al.. Advances, Challenges, and Future Perspectives of Microwave Reflectometry for Plasma Position and Shape Control on Future Nuclear Fusion Devices. Sensors, 2023, 23, pp.3926. ⟨10.3390/s23083926⟩. ⟨hal-04066332⟩
36 View
14 Download

Altmetric

Share

More