ANS is committed to advancing, fostering, and promoting the development and application of nuclear sciences and technologies to benefit society.
Explore the many uses for nuclear science and its impact on energy, the environment, healthcare, food, and more.
Explore membership for yourself or for your organization.
Conference Spotlight
2026 ANS Annual Conference
May 31–June 3, 2026
Denver, CO|Sheraton Denver
Latest Magazine Issues
Mar 2026
Jan 2026
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
April 2026
Nuclear Technology
February 2026
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
Going Nuclear: Notes from the officially unofficial book tour
I work in the analytical labs at one of Europe’s oldest and largest nuclear sites: Sellafield, in northwestern England. I spend my days at the fume hood front, pipette in one hand and radiation probe in the other (and dosimeter pinned to my chest, of course). Outside the lab, I have a second job: I moonlight as a writer and public speaker. My new popular science book—Going Nuclear: How the Atom Will Save the World—came out last summer, and it feels like my life has been running at full power ever since.
I. Yamada, K. Narihara, H. Funaba, T. Minami, H. Hayashi, T. Kohmoto, LHD Experiment Group
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 58 | Number 1 | July-August 2010 | Pages 345-351
Chapter 8. Diagnostics | Special Issue on Large Helical Device (LHD) | doi.org/10.13182/FST10-A10820
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The Large Helical Device (LHD) Thomson scattering system measures electron temperature and density profiles of LHD plasmas along the LHD major radius at a horizontally elongated section. The LHD Thomson scattering system has an oblique backward-scattering configuration. The number of observation points and typical spatial resolution are 144 and 17 mm, respectively. The temporal sampling frequency is 10 to 100 Hz. Measurable temperature and density ranges are Te = 5 eV to 20 keV and ne 1018 m-3 , respectively. The LHD Thomson scattering system consists of several subsystems: laser system, light collection optics, polychromators, and data acquisition system. In the past decade, we have continued our efforts to improve the performance and reliability of the LHD Thomson scattering system through extension of measurable temperature and density ranges, Raman and Rayleigh calibrations for absolute density measurements, new laser beam positioning system, and plasma light monitor system for increasing data reliability. In this paper, we describe the recent progress of the LHD Thomson scattering system in detail.