Experimental study of high power mm-waves scattering by plasma turbulence in TCV plasmas

Abstract

Understanding the propagation of high power mm-wave in plasmas is of tremendous importance in the route to fusion considering their extensive use in magnetically confined fusion devices. Mm-beams, launched from the outside of the vessel must propagate through plasma edge-turbulence before reaching their target region. Until recently, the effect of edge-turbulence on the beam propagation was neglected, but it has been estimated for ITER that it could lead to significant differences in the time-averaged and instantaneous beam profiles, leading to a loss of efficiency in their use. In this paper, we present first direct experimental measurements of high power beam after propagation in simple magnetized toroidal plasmas in TCV.