Microwave Imaging Reflectometry for the Visualization of Turbulence in Tokamaks
Author: E. Mazzucato
Date of PPPL Report: December 1999
Published in: Nucl. Fusion 41 (February 2001) 203-213.
Understanding the mechanism of anomalous transport in magnetically confined plasmas requires the use of sophisticated diagnostic tools for the measurement of short-scale turbulent fluctuations. This paper describes the conceptual design of an experimental technique for the global visualization of density fluctuations in tokamaks. The proposed method is based on microwave reflectometry and consists in using a large diameter probing beam, collecting the reflected waves with a large aperture antenna, and forming an image of the reflecting plasma layer onto a 2D array of microwave receivers. Based on results from a series of numerical simulations, the theoretical feasibility conditions of the proposed method are discussed.