Advanced analysis of electron cyclotron emission measurements
Two PhD candidates dedicated their work to the investigation and exploitation of electron cyclotron emission radiation emitted by the plasma confined in a tokamak.
![An electron temperature profile successfully reconstructed from 3rd harmonic ECE measurements for a high density plasma, where conventional ECE measurements are impossible. This temperature profile is verified with the shown Thomson scattering measurements of the electron temperature and the ECE measurements are compared to the respective model data.](/4644296/original-1557753511.jpg?t=eyJ3aWR0aCI6MjQ2LCJvYmpfaWQiOjQ2NDQyOTZ9--71f36b6760b299b30daf6d3b469df5fc6fe28c31)
At the end of January 2019 two PhD candidates, who worked mainly at the tokamak ASDEX Upgrade, have successfully defended their theses and can now be proudly called Doctor. Both have dedicated the last four years to the investigation and exploitation of electron cyclotron emission (ECE) radiation emitted by the plasma confined in a tokamak. Severin Denk (TU Munich) has further developed the ECE-radiation transport modelling including effects such as relativistic electrons, refraction and contributions of multiple harmonics. He successfully investigated plasmas with non-thermal electron distribution functions [1]. Branka Vanovac (TU Eindhoven) applied the radiation transport modelling to the edge plasma, where she characterised hydrodynamic modes in terms of their location, structure and velocity with a 2D ECE-imaging diagnostic [2]. Both theses shed light on transport processes in the tokamak, one in the center, the other at the edge of the plasma.
[1] S. S. Denk et al., 2018, Plasma Phys. Control. Fusion 60 105010
[2] B. Vanovac et al., 2018, Nucl. Fusion 58 112011
![Spatio-temporal representation of the electron temperature allowing to determine the structure and velocity of an edge mode.](/4644328/original-1557321212.jpg?t=eyJ3aWR0aCI6MjQ2LCJvYmpfaWQiOjQ2NDQzMjh9--4d66991c8954fa2bd2fcceadc6ac157c69f33aff)