Physics Department Seminar University of Alaska Fairbanks


J O U R N A L    C L U B

 

Energy Confinement Time Measurements in the
CDX-U Plasma Device

 
by
 
Dr. Jef Spaleta
HIPAS Observatory
 
 
ABSTRACT

Lithium plasma facing components possess several traits that make them desirable for use in fusion relevant plasmas. The recent focus of CDX-U research has been the investigation of the effects on plasma performance due to liquid lithium limiters and thin lithium coatings. Energy confinement times derived from plasma equilibrium reconstructions in the presence of clean lithium surfaces indicate an improvement in plasma performance over that expected by energy confinement time scalings based on earlier tokamak results and previous CDX-U energy confinement time measurement where lithium surfaces were not present. As part of the effort to create equilibrium reconstructions in CDX-U, a novel calibration technique for magnetic field sensors involving eddy current response function analysis was implemented for the first time. This talk hopes to provide an accessible overview of the principles of fusion energy, with an emphasis on energy confinement time as a measure of performance. The talk will then describe the effort to measure energy confinement times on the CDX-U device.

 
Friday, 19 January 2007
Globe Room, Elvey Building
3:45 PM