CO₂ Laser Collective Thomson Scattering Diagnostic of -Particles in Burning Plasmas

Collective Thomson scattering (CTS) diagnostic based on a pulsed CO₂ laser (wavelength 10.6 m) has been developed to establish a diagnostic method of confined -particles in burning plasmas. A high-repetition and high-energy transversely excited atmospheric (TEA) laser has been developed as a source of the CTS diagnostic. In order to obtain single-mode output, which is needed for CTS diagnostic, seed laser is injected into the cavity with unstable resonator. Pulse energy of 17 J with a repetition rate of 15 Hz has been achieved in a single-mode operation. This result gives a prospect for the CTS diagnostic on International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), which requires energy of 20 J with repetition rate of 40 Hz. Proof-of-principle test will be carried out in the JT-60U tokamak by using the newly developed laser. Preliminary consideration of the CTS diagnostic in the tandem mirror GAMMA 10 shows that axial profiles of ion temperature will be obtained using a circumferential collection mirror of scattered power.