Return to search

Experimental study of density fluctuations in the STOR-M tokamak by small-angle microwave scattering

Density fluctuations in high temperature fusion plasmas have been a central challenge to the development of fusion power. They are the cause of excessive anomalous losses from the plasma and are still not fully understood. A microwave scattering experiment is performed on the Saskatchewan Torus-Modified (STOR-M) tokamak for the first time to study these density fluctuations with wave-numbers in the range <b><i>k</i></b> = 5 /cm to 10 /cm. The fluctuations are found to follow <i>k¦Ñ<sub>s</sub></i> scaling consistent with ion drift waves; signatures of the electron temperature gradient (ETG) mode connected with anomalous electron losses are not detected. The fluctuation level in the STOR-M is measured to be <i>n<sub>tilda</sub>/n</i> ¡Ö 0.1 at a mean perpendicular wave-number of <b><i>k</b><sub>perp</sub></b></i> ¡Ö 7 /cm and is reported for the first time. The fluctuation levels are inversely proportional to the energy confinement time suggesting that these fluctuations are driving anomalous particle and energy losses from the STOR-M. The system is now fully operational and this work paves the way for future experiments with this equipment.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:SSU.etd-01262006-133549
Date27 January 2006
CreatorsLivingstone, Stephen
ContributorsXiao, Chijin, Manson, Alan, Kasap, Safa O., Hussey, Glenn C., Hirose, Akira, Bradley, Michael P.
PublisherUniversity of Saskatchewan
Source SetsLibrary and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
Typetext
Formatapplication/pdf
Sourcehttp://library.usask.ca/theses/available/etd-01262006-133549/
Rightsunrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached hereto a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to University of Saskatchewan or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report.

Page generated in 0.0021 seconds