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Notes: A traveling electric potential hill has been used to generate an ion beam with an energy distribution that is mass dependent from a monoenergetic ion beam of mixed masses. This effect can be utilized as a novel method for mass separation applied to identification or enrichment of ions (e.g., of elements, isotopes, or molecules). This theory for mass-selective acceleration is presented here and is shown to be confirmed by experiment and by a time-dependent particle-in-cell computer simulation. Results show that monoenergetic ions with the particular mass of choice are accelerated by controlling the hill potential and the hill velocity. The hill velocity is typically 20%–30% faster than the ions to be accelerated. The ability of the hill to pickup a particular mass uses the fact that small kinetic energy differences in the lab frame appear much larger in the moving hill frame. Ions will gain energy from the approaching hill if their relative energy in the moving hill frame is less than the peak potential of the hill. The final energy of these accelerated ions can be several times the source energy, which facilitates energy filtering for mass purification or identification. If the hill potential is chosen to accelerate multiple masses, the heaviest mass will have the greatest final energy. Hence, choosing the appropriate hill potential and collector retarding voltage will isolate ions with the lightest, heaviest, or intermediate mass. In the experimental device, called a Solitron, purified 20Ne and 22Ne are extracted from a ribbon beam of neon that is originally composed of 20Ne:22Ne in the natural ratio of 91:9. The isotopic content of the processed beam is determined by measuring the energy distribution of the detected current. These results agree with the theory. In addition to mass selectivity, our theory can also be applied to the filtration of an ion beam according to charge state or energy. Because of this variety of properties, the Solitron is envisioned to have broad applications. The primary application is for the enrichment of stable isotopes for medical and industrial tracers. Other applications include mass analysis of unknown gases (atomic and molecular) and metals, extracting single charge states from a multiply charged beam, accelerating the high energy tail in a beam or plasma with a velocity distribution, and beam bunching.

Notes: The TARA Tandem Mirror Experiment has recently begun operation. The set of diagnostics available at this time is discussed. The following diagnostics are now in use: diamagnetic loops, a multichord microwave interferometer, Langmuir and emissive probes, pick-up loops, and secondary-emission detectors. End-loss diagnostics include net current detector arrays, Faraday cup arrays, swept particle analyzer arrays, and calorimetry. Light-emission measurements are made in the visible and VUV regions. A multichord fiber-optic array for plasma position detection is also used. In addition, a three-channel charge exchange analyzer, a hard x-ray system, and fast pressure gauges are available.

Notes: Collective Thomson scattering in the Tara Tandem Mirror axicell at MIT was accomplished with a 137-GHz, ∼0.4-kW, 75-ms pulsed gyrotron. Ion cyclotron waves, ion Bernstein wave harmonics, and other plasma fluctuations possibly due to microinstabilities and magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) activity have been observed during ion cyclotron resonance frequency (ICRF) heating. The observation of ion Bernstein waves may be due to an enhanced ion thermal fluctuation spectrum in an ICRF heated plasma.

Notes: The preliminary design of a multichord imaging interferometer system used to measure the density profiles in the scrape-off layer of the Alcator C-Mod tokamak is presented. The system is envisioned to be a two-color vibration compensated double-pass interferometer based on a CO2 laser with λ=10.6 μm; the second color will either use He–Ne emission at 632.8 nm or 3.39 μm, depending on how serious the vibrations are expected to be. A toroidal view of the plasma near the vertical midplane is considered. We present systematic studies of the requirements on fringe resolution and edge density range, from which reasonably accurate profiles can be inferred. Requirements on the spatial resolution, number of detectors, and the possibility of obtaining 2-D images of the edge will be addressed. Longer wavelength alternatives using a FIR laser will also be studied; in this case the main concern is beam refraction caused by the density gradients in the edge region of interest. This work was supported by U. S. DOE Contract No. DE-AC02-78ET51013.

Notes: A narrow linewidth (〈100 kHz), 1-kW, 137-GHz gyrotron and an efficient TE03 to TE11 cylindrical waveguide mode converter set (〉97% TE11 mode output) have been built for collective Thomson scattering diagnostics. The main goal will be to study instability driven ion density fluctuations in the Tara plug such as the drift cyclotron loss cone (DCLC), the axial loss cone (ALC), harmonics of the DCLC and ALC, and the ion two-stream instability. The heterodyne receiver and signal optics have been installed on Tara. Background electron cyclotron emission (ECE) at 139±1.5 GHz after electron cyclotron resonance heating (ECRH) in the Tara plug corresponded to equivalent blackbody temperatures of 453 and 70 eV for extraordinary and ordinary emission, respectively. The well-collimated receiver field of view completely through the Tara plug has allowed for excellent polarization discrimination of the ECE. The high-power capability of this gyrotron will allow weak fluctuation levels (ñ/n〈10−6) to be detected above this background during ECRH in the plugs.

Notes: A laser fluorescence diagnostic has been used for measuring the neutral hydrogen density in the central cell of the Tara thermal barrier tandem mirror. Experiments have been performed using laser-induced, resonance fluorescence detection of Hα (6563-A(ring)) radiation. Measurements were made at a number of radial positions with 1-cm resolution, from the magnetic axis to near the plasma limiter. Stray laser light contributions to the signal were eliminated with a double-pulse technique. For comparison, the chord-averaged plasma Hα radiation was analyzed under the identical conditions for which laser fluorescence data were taken.

Notes: An E (parallel) B end-loss ion spectrometer from the Livermore TMX-U tandem mirror experiment was installed on Tara for high-resolution ion spectroscopy. This diagnostic contains parallel electric and magnetic fields, separating the masses and energies of the ions over 128 collector plates. The ion energy distribution nominally yields confining potentials and parallel ion temperatures. Additional experiments have diagnosed the resonance position of the central cell ion cyclotron heating, rf enhanced losses of high-energy sloshing ions in the axicell ("plug''), and observation of MHD instabilities at higher time resolution (20 kHz).

Notes: A 1- to 10-kW,〉30-ms pulsed, narrow linewidth (〈1 MHz), 137-GHz gyrotron is being fabricated for collective Thomson scattering plasma diagnostics on the TARA tandem mirror experiment. The drift cyclotron loss cone, the axial loss cone, harmonics of these instabilities, and the ion two stream instability in the TARA plugs will be studied with this diagnostic.

Notes: Techniques developed for the alignment of high-energy accelerators have been applied to the alignment of the Tara tandem mirror magnetic confinement device. Tools used were: a transit/laser surveyor's system for establishing an invariant reference; optical scattering from ferromagnetic crystallites for establishing magnetic centers in the quadrupole anchor/transition modules; an electron-optical circle-generating wand for alignment of the solenoidal plug and central cell modules; and four differently configured electron emissive probes, including a 40-beam flux mapping e gun, for testing the alignment of the coils under vacuum. Procedures are outlined, and results are given which show that the magnetic axes of the individual coils in the Tara set have been made colinear with each other and with the reference to within ±1.0 mm over the length of the machine between the anchor midplanes.

Notes: A divertor coil set has been installed on the Tara tandem mirror [Nucl. Fusion 22, 549 (1982); Plasma Physics and Controlled Nuclear Fusion Research 1984 (IAEA, Vienna, 1985), Vol. 2, p. 285] for stabilization of m=1 flutelike modes. The effectiveness of divertor stabilization is discussed in experiments where m=1 modes are driven to instability by plug electron cyclotron heating (ECH) in an ion cyclotron heated (ICH) plasma. The instability onset is characterized by thresholds in ECH power, fueling rate, ICH power, and mapping radius of the divertor null. In general, the stability is enhanced by mapping the null radially inwards into the plasma. The interdependence of these parameters and their effect on equilibrium profiles and stability boundaries are discussed.