Experimental techniques in determination of electron cyclotron power deposition profiles in thermonuclear plasmas

Abstract

Electron cyclotron waves are widely used in magnetic confinement devices, specially in those involved in nuclear fusion research, to heat the electrons and achieve the ignition temperature. A still unsolved issue is the determination of the exact position where the cyclotron power is absorbed by the plasma. Although a verified theoretical method exists to determine the absorbed zone, it relies on local and integral density and temperature values, quantities that are not known with sufficient precision. The basics of a technique that allow determining the cyclotron power deposition profile independently have been developed in this thesis, which is applicable to recent and historical FTU tokamak data and can be used as a reliable real-time closed-loop control system of MHD instabilities in future tokamaks.