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.
W. Kasparek, R. Van Den Braber, N. Doelman, E. Fritz, V. Erckmann, F. Hollmann, G. Michel, F. Noke, F. Purps, W. Bongers, B. Krijger, M. Petelin, L. Lubyako, A. Bruschi, ECRH Groups at IPP Greifswald and IPF Stuttgart
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 59 | Number 4 | May 2011 | Pages 729-741
Technical Paper | Sixteenth Joint Workshop on Electron Cyclotron Emission and Electron Cyclotron Resonance Heating (EC-16) | doi.org/10.13182/FST11-A11738
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Electron cyclotron resonance heating (ECRH) systems for next-step large fusion devices operate in continuous wave power in the multimegawatt range. The unique feature of narrow and well-localized power deposition assigns a key role to ECRH for different tasks, such as plasma start-up, electron heating, current drive, magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) control and profile shaping. The integration of high-power microwave diplexers in the transmission lines will improve the flexibility and efficiency while simultaneously reducing the complexity of large ECRH systems. They can serve as power or beam combiners, as slow and fast directional switches to toggle the power from continuously operating gyrotrons between two launchers, and as discriminators of low-power electron cyclotron emission (ECE) signals from high-power ECRH using a common transmission line and antenna. Among various design options a resonant diplexer with a narrow resonance was selected for application at ASDEX Upgrade. The design is driven by the specific physics requirements for MHD control experiments and possible use for line-of-sight ECE. The compact, waveguide-compatible design features a feedback-controlled mirror drive for tracking of the resonator to the gyrotron frequency. High-power, long-pulse tests were performed with the 140-GHz ECRH system for the stellarator W7-X. Results on the transmission characteristics, power combination, and stationary and controlled distribution of the input power to two outputs are presented. The qualification for in-line ECE was investigated.