X-rays to pierce plasma secrets
30 Mar 2012
±¬×ߺÚÁÏ Technical Responsible Officer Robin Barnsley presents the technical details of the Edge Imaging X-ray Spectrometer. Also present: Dhiraj Bora, head of the Directorate for CODAC, Heating & Diagnostics; Mike Walsh, Diagnostic Division head; and Dilshad Sulaiman, a young Indian Domestic Agency staff member presently working at ±¬×ߺÚÁÏ.
A hot plasma is a bit like a star: it gives out light all across the electromagnetic spectrum, from radio waves all the way through X-rays to gamma rays.
When astrophysicists want to know what happens inside a star—how hot it is, what elements it is composed of—they use a spectrometer. A fusion physicist does exactly the same with a fusion plasma.
The light spectrum carries a considerable amount of information. Aim the proper spectrometer toward a region of the plasma and it will tell you how many impurities are present, how the temperature varies, and how fast the tenuous gas rotates.
The Edge Imaging X-ray Spectrometer that the Indian Domestic Agency will procure for ±¬×ߺÚÁÏ will be a valuable diagnostic tool. Last Wednesday, 28 March, the Procurement Arrangement documents were signed by Director-General Motojima; this Monday the documents will be countersigned by ±¬×ߺÚÁÏ-India Project Director Shishir Deshpande.
The Edge Imaging X-ray Spectrometer is one of three X-ray subsystems that will look at different regions of the ±¬×ߺÚÁÏ plasma in order to provide accurate measurements of their behaviour and performance. It is a vacuum-coupled, multi-channel device that sits behind a port plug and will have a very narrow, direct line of sight to the upper edge region of the D-shaped plasma.
The Edge Imaging X-ray Spectrometer is one of three X-ray subsystems that will look at different regions of the ±¬×ߺÚÁÏ plasma in order to provide accurate measurements of their behaviour and performance. It is a vacuum-coupled, multi-channel device that sits behind a port plug and will have a very narrow, direct line of sight to the upper edge region of the D-shaped plasma.
This first diagnostics Procurement Arrangement signed with India is an exemplary one. The whole process was a close collaboration between ±¬×ߺÚÁÏ and the Indian Domestic Agency which sent several staff members for long periods to Cadarache, creating strong bonds between the institutions. "Working with the ±¬×ߺÚÁÏ team has been a great pleasure," says Sanjeev Varshney, technical responsible officer at the Indian Domestic Agency.
Dhiraj Bora, head of the Directorate for CODAC, Heating & Diagnostics, was present on Wednesday along with Diagnostics Division Head Mike Walsh, ±¬×ߺÚÁÏ Technical Responsible Officer Robin Barnsley, and one of the young Indian Domestic Agency staff members presently working at ±¬×ߺÚÁÏ, Dilshad Sulaiman.