All opinions expressed herein are those of the authors and should not be reproduced, quoted in publications, or
used as a reference without the author’s consent.
Oak Ridge National Laboratory is managed by UT-Battelle, LLC, for the U.S. Department of Energy.
Published by Fusion Energy Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Building 5700 P.O. Box 2008 Oak Ridge, TN 37831-6169, USA
Editor: James A. Rome Issue 130 February 2011
E-Mail: [email protected] Phone (865) 482-5643
On the Web at http://www.ornl.gov/sci/fed/stelnews
The Australian Plasma Fusion
Research Facility upgrade
The “Super Science Initiative Scheme,” announced in the
2009–10 Australian Budget, provided for a major infrastructure
upgrade to the Facility, which is now known as
the Australian Plasma Fusion Research Facility. This provides
$7M to upgrade the H-1 facility infrastructure,
including RF heating systems, vacuum quality, and diagnostics
data access (to be covered in a future issue). In
addition to consolidating and automating many existing
diagnostics, new diagnostic instruments are being funded
including a high-speed synchronous imaging camera,
which produced the images shown in Fig. 1; spatially
interferometric coherence imaging cameras to measure ion
temperature and flow; and Thomson scattering. The development
of such diagnostic tools, which it is hoped will
ultimately be installed on the international fusion experiment
ITER, was identified as a central plank of the “Strategy
for Australian Fusion Science and Engineering”
developed by the Australian ITER Forum in consultation
with the Australian fusion community.
In addition to several technical and engineering staff
recently appointed for the infrastructure upgrade, we have
been joined by the Plasma Theory and Modelling Group,
led by Prof. R. Dewar, and Future Fellow Dr. Matthew
Hole. The Plasma Research Laboratory was also fortunate
to attract Dr. Cormac Corr, who was recently awarded a
Future Fellowship in the area of plasma-surface interactions.
Cormac will play a leading role in the development
of the Materials Diagnostic Test Facility, which is
described below, following a brief description of two of
the new diagnostics.
Synchronous imaging camera
An example of data from the new synchronous imaging
camera is shown in Fig. 1. Images of plasma light were
acquired in a stroboscopic manner, by gating the intensifier
of a Princeton Instruments PI-MAX 3 camera with a
phase-locked loop, synchronized with the magnetic fluctuations
of a mode in the Alfvén range. The horizontal projections
of intensity are similar to the profile of lineintegrated
density. This shows that under the right conditions,
spectral line intensity can be used as a proxy for
density fluctuation measurements. The advantage of this
indirect approach is that acquisition can be automated, the
camera can be moved to any port with a window and view
dump, and it provides two-dimensional (2D) data.
Toroidal Mirnov array
To complement the two existing poloidal arrays, a toroidal/
helical magnetic probe array has been installed, consisting
of 16 sets of 3 mutually perpendicular coils housed
inside a vacuum-tight thin stainless steel bellows (Fig. 2).
The bellows is essentially transparent to magnetic field in
the Alfvén frequency range and follows a toroidal helical
path near the ring conductor. Proximity to the plasma produces
large signal amplitudes, and traversal of regions of
various magnetic curvature may enable ballooning and
interchange modes to be distinguished.
More than 80 channels of Mirnov data are now connected
to a new standalone D-tAcq DT132 2MS/sec 14 bit digi-
In this issue . . .
The Australian Plasma Fusion Research Facility
upgrade
The Australian Plasma Fusion Research Facility at
ANU in Canberra is undergoing a major infrastructure
upgrade. ................................................................. 1
Meeting announcements
18th International Stellarator/Heliotron Workshop .. 3
8th Coordinated Working Group Meeting, NIFS and
Kyoto Univ., Japan .................................................. 4
International Energy Agency (IEA) Implementing
Agreement (IA) for Cooperation in Development
of the Stellarator-Heliotron Concept: Web
page
http://iea-shc.nifs.ac.jp/ ........................................... 4
Stellarator News -2- February 2011
tiser system and preconditioned by a locally made programmable
high gain filter/amplifier. A travelling wave
mode in the Alfvén range of frequencies can be seen in the
first data shown in Fig. 3, and it is clear that the mode is
well sampled so that previous ambiguities in toroidal
mode number can be resolved.
The Materials Diagnostic Development Facility
(MDF)
A small linear device (Fig. 4) is under construction to provide
a test bed specifically for developing and testing diagnostics
for plasma-materials interaction under conditions
relevant to the edge of fusion reactors. The device aims to
achieve high plasma densities (~1019m-3 H+) and power
densities. Three different sources will be employed: an RF
helicon wave source, an electron beam source and a
plasma gun source. Recent results [1] show that plasma
densities of ~1019m-3 can be achieved in hydrogen if helicon
waves are launched into a tailored, increasing magnetic
field. This will enable testing of advanced imaging
and line diagnostics of the sheath, flows, and plasma-surface
interactions including erosion on small samples
placed in the high density region, and will benefit from
synergistic links with a wide range of materials researchers
in Australia.
An addition, the MDF will allow researchers to prepare
experiments ultimately intended for larger international
fusion materials facilities. A prototype will soon be operating
with RF powers of several kilowatts and magnetic
fields up to 0.15 T. The final device will be able to exploit
the higher powers from H-1 systems.
Fig. 2. The toroidal Mirnov array terminating in a special
coil set enclosed in a metallized glass tube for high frequency
response. The existing poloidal array is in the foreground
(bean-shaped tube), and CAD detail of a coil set is
inset.
Fig. 3. First data from the new toroidal/helical Mirnov array
in H:He plasma at 0.5 T. The s v (singular value) decomposition
shows cosine and sine-like components, indicating a
travelling wave with much higher toroidal resolution than
previously achieved on H-1.
Fig. 1. At left: Phase-resolved side view of optical emission from MHD fluctuations in H-1 viewing between the toroidal field
coils. At right: A vertical section along the line indicated shows an even mode structure (m = 4).
Stellarator News -3- February 2011
Reference
[1] Y. Mori, H. Nakashima, F. W. Baity, R. H. Goulding,
Plasma Sources Sci. Technol. 13 (2004) 424–435.
Boyd Blackwell
Plasma Research Laboratory
Director, H-1 National Plasma Fusion Research Facility
Rm 431 Bldg 60, Research School of Physics and Engineering
The Australian National University
Canberra ACT 0200 Australia
E-Mail: [email protected]
Telephone: 02 6125 2482
The 18th International Stellarator/
Heliotron Workshop
Following discussions at the Princeton International Stellarator/
Heliotron Workshop (ISHW) and the Daejeong
IAEA meeting, it was decided that the next ISHW will be
held jointly with the 10th Asia Pacific Plasma Theory
Conference (APPTC) in Australia, from Sunday 29 January
2012 to Friday 3 February 2012. This timing avoids
the congestion of conferences in November to early
December 2011 and allows access to economical accommodation
in Canberra (2 nights) and at the South Coast
Conference Centre in Murramarang,
http://www.murramarangresort.com.au/conferences.html
The weather in Canberra is usually hot and dry (average
maximum 28°C, minimum 13°C). This is one reason why
we have opted for the South Coast Conference Centre,
which has a much better seaside climate, for the main part
of the conference. Opening the conference in Canberra
allows us access to an excellent theatre and to H-1, and
allows us to simplify transport to the South Coast by hiring
two buses, which will return delegates to Canberra
after the conference. The accommodations at Murramarang
are very reasonably priced for delegates who are willing
to share a villa that has two completely separate
bedroom and bathroom facilities and a common kitchen/
living area.
It is anticipated that the conference will be largely conducted
as a single session, with only some highly specialized
topics in parallel sessions. The program committee
will correspondingly be joint, breaking out for specialized
sessions.
Topics will include:
◆ Basic plasma science (including laser plasmas and
astronomical plasmas)
◆ Plasma theory, modeling, and numerical simulation
◆ Magnetic equilibria/stochastic fields/high beta
◆ Fast particle and high-energy physics
◆ D effects in tokamaks and RFPs
◆ Divertor and edge physics
◆ Transport, turbulence, and confinement improvement
◆ MHD equilibrium and stability
◆ Progress and technical reports
◆ General plasma theory, modeling, and numerical simulation
◆ Fusion materials/plasma-wall interaction/reactor
materials/plasma-facing components
◆ Industrial applications of plasma technology
◆ Diagnostics
Fig. 4. The Materials Diagnostic Facility prototype device,
showing the helicon antenna at the low-field end of the
device. The target is placed at the far end (high-field
region). L-R: Cameron Samuell, Juan Caneses, John
Wach and Cormac Corr.
Stellarator News -4- February 2011
A second Announcement will be made in March with all
information available at:
http://h1nf.anu.edu.au/PLASMA2012.
Contacts: Dr. Boyd Blackwell, Dr. Matthew Hole
E-mail: [email protected]
8th Coordinated Working
Group Meeting, NIFS and
Kyoto Univ., Japan
The 8th Coordinated Working Group Meeting (CWGM) to
be held at the National Institute for Fusion Science (NIFS)
15–17 March 2011 followed by an extension meeting at
Kyoto University on 18 March. The CWGM implements
and coordinates international collaborations in stellaratorheliotron
research. The work is intended to contribute to
the International Stellarator-Heliotron Confinement and
Profile Database [ISH-C(P)DB].
CWGMs have the character of a working meeting. The
sessions are organized around a well-specified working
goal. Proposals for sessions are welcome at any time; the
realization of a session, however, depends on the availability
of time slots and its importance for joint collaborations.
CWGM and its related database activities have been conducted
under the auspices of the IEA Implementing
Agreement for Cooperation in Development of the Stellarator-
Heliotron Concept (http://iea-shc.nifs.ac.jp/).
A tentative list of topics is:
◆ Stellarator-heliotron H-mode survey
◆ High-beta, MHD physics
◆ Magnetic island/iota/shear
◆ Validation of transport models
◆ Edge turbulence database
◆ Energetic particles (to be established, but still in negotiation)
◆ Joint experiments: Proposals/planning
If you are interested in attending the meeting/receiving
information, please contact the local organizer.
Masayuki Yokoyama, Local organizer
E-mail: yokoyama @LHD.nifs.ac.jp)
International Energy Agency
Implementing Agreement for
Cooperation in Development
of the Stellarator-Heliotron
Concept: Web page
Multilateral research collaborations in our stellaratorheliotron
community have been extensively developed in
the framework of the International Energy Agency (IEA)
Implementing Agreement (IA) for Cooperation in the
Development of Stellarator-Heliotron Concept (concluded
on 2 October 1992).
In accordance with the IEA’s initiative to have Web pages
for its IAs (for fusion-related IAs, please see
http://www.iea.org/techno/technologies/fusion.asp), we
have opened our IA’s Web page at
http://iea-shc.nifs.ac.jp/.
Currently, the following links have been arranged:
◆ Contracting Parties (including links to major contributing
institutions)
◆ History of International Stellarator-Heliotron Workshop
◆ Coordinated Working Group Meeting (CWGM)
[jointly hosted by IPP site and NIFS site]
◆ Stellarator News
◆ Executive Committee Annual Report to the Fusion
Power Coordination Committee [FPCC, http://
www.iea.org/about/FPCC.asp]
◆ Written Agreement (amended as of 14 October 2009)
◆ “About the IEA,” where you can find the brief introduction
of the IEA and its link with the Implementing
Agreement
The Web page is managed by NIFS which represents the
current Chair party. Contents will be updated according to
your cooperation. Please send comments, suggestions and
materials to
[email protected]
It would be appreciated if you could include a link to our
Web page on your institution Web page, to enhance its visibility
and to heighten awareness of this IA.
Hiroshi Yamada
National Institute for Fusion Science
Secretary to Stellarator-Heliotron Executive Committee, IEAImplementing
Agreement
Stellarator News -5- February 2011
Stellarator News -6- February 2011
The Stellarator-Heliotron IA Web page at http://iea-shc.nifs.ac.jp/.