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.
Division Spotlight
Reactor Physics
The division's objectives are to promote the advancement of knowledge and understanding of the fundamental physical phenomena characterizing nuclear reactors and other nuclear systems. The division encourages research and disseminates information through meetings and publications. Areas of technical interest include nuclear data, particle interactions and transport, reactor and nuclear systems analysis, methods, design, validation and operating experience and standards. The Wigner Award heads the awards program.
Meeting Spotlight
2024 ANS Annual Conference
June 16–19, 2024
Las Vegas, NV|Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino
Standards Program
The Standards Committee is responsible for the development and maintenance of voluntary consensus standards that address the design, analysis, and operation of components, systems, and facilities related to the application of nuclear science and technology. Find out What’s New, check out the Standards Store, or Get Involved today!
Latest Magazine Issues
Apr 2024
Jan 2024
Latest Journal Issues
Nuclear Science and Engineering
May 2024
Nuclear Technology
Fusion Science and Technology
Latest News
College students help develop waste-measuring device at Hanford
A partnership between Washington River Protection Solutions (WRPS) and Washington State University has resulted in the development of a device to measure radioactive and chemical tank waste at the Hanford Site. WRPS is the contractor at Hanford for the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management.
N. C. Luhmann, Jr., H. Bindslev, H. Park, J. Sánchez, G. Taylor, C. X. Yu
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 53 | Number 2 | February 2008 | Pages 335-396
Technical Paper | Plasma Diagnostics for Magnetic Fusion Research | doi.org/10.13182/FST08-A1675
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Microwave-based diagnostics have found broad application in magnetic fusion plasma diagnostics and are expected to be widely employed in future burning plasma experiments (BPXs). Most of these techniques are based directly on the dispersive properties of the plasma medium that, as shown in the body of the paper, results in the microwave/millimeter wave portion of the electromagnetic spectrum being particularly well suited for a variety of measurements of both magnetic fusion plasma equilibrium parameters and their fluctuations. Electron cyclotron emission provides a measurement of electron temperature and its fluctuations while electron cyclotron absorption potentially can provide a measurement of electron pressure (the product of electron density and temperature) as well as information on the suprathermal electron distribution. Electron Bernstein wave emission is also employed for electron temperature radiometric measurements in devices including reversed field pinches, spherical tori, and higher-aspect-ratio tokamaks and stellarators that operate at high . The radar-based microwave reflectometry technique measures the electron density profile and its fluctuations by means of the reflection of electromagnetic waves at the plasma cutoff layer. Coherent Thomson scattering in the microwave region yields information on the fast ion population. Wave number resolved microwave collective scattering is also widely employed for measuring nonthermal (turbulent) density fluctuations or coherent electrostatic waves. The approach taken in this review is to address each technique separately beginning with the physical principles followed by representative implementations on magnetic fusion devices. In each case, the applicability to future BPXs is discussed. It is impossible in a short review to capture fully the numerous significant accomplishments of the many clever scientists and engineers who have advanced microwave plasma diagnostics technology over many decades. Therefore, in this paper, we can reveal only the basic principles together with some of the most exciting highlights while outlining the major trends, and we hope it will serve as an exciting introduction to this rich field of plasma diagnostics.