Alcator C-Mod Weekly Highlights March 1, 2004 Last week was a maintenance week at Alcator C-Mod. No runs were scheduled. Research operations are scheduled to resume this week. The C-Mod Program Advisory Committee met at MIT Monday through Wednesday last week. PAC members participating included Vincent Chan (GA) (Chair), Richard Majeski (PPPL), John Sarff (U. Wisc.), Alan Sykes (UKAEA), George Tynan (UCSD), Yuichi Takase (U. Tokyo), Dennis Whyte (U. Wisc.), and Rich Groebner (GA). Attending from DoE OFES were John Willis and Rostom Dagazian. The PAC heard presentations on all aspects of the C-Mod research program from Miklos Porkolab, Earl Marmar, Steve Wolfe, Ron Parker, Peter Catto, Martin Greenwald, Steve Wukitch, Bruce Lipschultz, Bob Granetz, Gerd Schilling, Bill Rowan, and Jim Irby. The presentations are available on the web at http://www.psfc.mit.edu/cmod/sciprogram/Cmod_PAC_2004.html ICRF System ----------- The FMIT#3 and 4 transmitters have been retuned to 50 MHz, and corresponding modifications have been made to the J-port antenna matching system. C-Mod experiments calling for 50 MHz ICRF are scheduled to begin this week. DNB Systems ------------ Machining of the new LHe transfer line is complete, and welding is expected to be accomplished this week. Fabrication of all components has been completed for the in-vessel MSE calibration scheduled for the next vent. The system will illuminate each MSE channel with linearly polarized light whose direction is rotated through 360 degrees using polarized film mounted on a precision rotating stage. The light source is an array of red LEDs having an emission spectrum well-matched to the pass band of the MSE optical filters. The rotating stage can be replaced by a depolarizing plate to generate unpolarized light or by a circular polarizer, to allow us to characterize MSE's response to unpolarized or circularly polarized background light. The calibration system is similar to the one used by LLNL to calibrate the MSE diagnostic on DIII-D. Lab calibration activities are underway to measure the orientation of the linearly polarizer films to an accuracy of 0.1 degree. Lower Hybrid System -------------------- The Forward Wave Guide has now been mounted on the C-Mod vacuum test stand. Preliminary He leak-checking was successful. The FWG is now being prepared for more extensive leak checking, bakeout, and mechanical in-out motion cycling. Travel and Visitors -------------------- Dennis Whyte (U. Wisc.) participated in the C-Mod PAC meeting and then stayed at the PSFC for an additional day and a half to work on the planned disruption mitigation gas jet experiment on C-Mod, and for discussions with Bruce Lipschultz on their joint publications on radial transport in the SOL and other edge issues. Rich Groebner (GA), who was at the PSFC for the PAC meeting, also had useful discussions with several C-Mod scientists about collaborations on pedestal and threshold research with DIIID. Dale Meade and Ned Sauthoff (PPPL) and Wayne Houlberg (ORNL) attended the C-Mod PAC meeting. Perry Phillips (U. Tx.) visited C-Mod to work on the FRCECE diagnostic. On Thursday and Friday, Steve Wolfe participated in the meeting in Germantown, MD, of the U. S. Paper Selection Committee for the 20th IAEA Fusion Energy Conference (Vilamoura, Portgal 1-6 Nov 2004).