The conceptual design of an electron cyclotron emission imaging system for studying ITER-like high temperature plasmas

The design of an electron cyclotron emission imaging (ECEI) system for two-dimensional (2D) observation of the magnetohydrodynamical modes in high temperature ITER (from 'International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor') H-mode-like plasmas (5.3 T and 25 keV) based on fundamental ordinary mode (O1-mode) and second-harmonic extraordinary mode (X2-mode) measurements is explored conceptually. For studying the spatial resolution in high temperature plasmas, the relativistic broadening and inward shift of the emission layer in the mid-plane are calculated. The radial spatial resolution is significantly degraded in the range R < 5.1 m for the O1-mode and in the range R < 6.9 m for the X2-mode. The region with R < 6.5 m is inaccessible for X2-mode study. The emission layer width is enlarged in a narrow region of the pedestal due to the magnetic field being modified by the large pressure gradient. The broadening and shift in the poloidal plane are also calculated, to investigate their effects on 2D measurements. The frequency range of electron cyclotron emission measurements is selected to protect the system from stray radiations of the 170 GHz electron cyclotron resonance heating source and to avoid harmonic overlap. The frequency ranges of 115–160 GHz for the O1-mode and 230–320 GHz for the X2-mode provide radial coverage of 5.9 < R < 8.2 m or −0.15 < r/a < 1.The ECEI system utilizes a dual-array detection technique which provides a simultaneous measurement at two radial positions, and each array has 8 by 16 (radial by vertical) channels. The radial image size with 8 channels is ∼41–76 cm for the O1-mode and ∼19–36 cm for the X2-mode, with sufficient resolution. The front-end optics, which focuses the electron cyclotron emission to the low loss corrugated transmission waveguides, is designed with two flat mirrors and two focusing mini-lens arrays. The vertical image size with 16 channels is ∼150 cm and the spot size of each channel is 8–15 cm in the plasma region, taking into account the sensitivity pattern of the waveguide. The refraction effect due to inhomogeneous plasma enlarges the vertical image size up to 20% and 5% for the O1-mode and X2-mode cases, respectively. The horizontal distortion due to the relativistic inwards shift is reduced by the increased toroidal field in the core region.