X-ray spectroscopic diagnostics of core ion confinement in large (JET) and medium size (COMPASS) tokamaks

Sophisticated X-ray spectroscopic instruments have been developed and used for confinement studies in tokamaks at JET and Culham Laboratory. The Bragg rotor survey spectrometer, when programmed to operate in monochromatic or limited spectral range (LSR) modes, has been used to derive transport coefficients from the transient spectral signature of injected, non-recycling, test ions. The coefficients appropriate to specific confinement regimes have been investigated with respect to ion charge state and tokamak machine parameters. The LSR mode allows discrimination against background X-:ray light, a particularly serious problem at high electron density, ne ≈ 1020 m−3, in H mode where there is evidence, in COMPASS-D, for modest accumulation of impurities. Impurity ion accumulation is observed most clearly in passive spectroscopic studies of the 1s2 − 1s2p line emission from intrinsic impurity ions such as CI(XVI) using a high resolution Johann configuration crystal spectrometer. Line shapes and line ratios within the limited spectral range 4.45-4.50 Å are interpreted in terms of ion and electron temperature and ion fluid velocity. In particular, the ‘q’/‘w’ line intensity ratios are interpreted in terms of the relative abundance of the CI(XV)/CI(XVI) ions which are modelled in terms of ion transport. These continuous, passive measurements of ion confinement are compared with results from the transient injection method. Absolute levels of the X-ray continuum, adjacent to the Cl(XVI) lines, are used to derive Zeff. Both the Bragg and Johann X-ray spectrometers have been calibrated for absolute photon sensitivity. The efficiencies of the diffractors in these instruments can be measured using a newly developed, two-axis goniometer.