Alcator C-Mod Weekly Highlights December 6, 2004 FY 2005 weeks of research operation planned: 14 weeks, completed: 0 weeks. We are currently up-to-air with the primary goal of installing the lower hybrid launcher. In addition, a large number of in-vessel activities are ongoing in support of ICRF and diagnostic systems. Maintenance and upgrades to diagnostic and power systems are also in progress. Physics ------- Matt Sampsell, UT-FRC, successfully defended his PhD dissertation entitled "Beam Emission Spectroscopy on the Alcator C-Mod Tokamak". We all congratulate Matt and thank him for his contributions to the C-Mod program. The C-Mod Ideas Forum was started on December 2-3, and will continue on Monday the 6th. 113 ideas were submitted representing twelve institutions, and the Forum was extended to three days so that they could all be presented. Participations in the Forum was also conducted by video and audio links from all around the country. The program agenda and links to the viewgraphs from all the talks can be found at http://www.psfc.mit.edu/cmod/sciprogram/ideas2005/Mirror_agenda/Ideas2005_agenda.htm After the forum, the task forces will meet to determine relative priorities among ideas, including those proposed but not completed last year. Operations ---------- Nine W-brush tiles which were brazed by Sandia National Lab (Albuquerque) as part of our collaboration have been returned to MIT. Inspection of the tiles indicated good flow of the braze bonding the rods to the support plates. After minor cleanup, these tiles will be ready for installation in the outer divertor module. We continued work on many diagnostic systems last week including the new 32 channel x-ray system, the new tangential neutral particle analyzer, the new polarimetry system, TCI upgrades, new TV camera cooling systems, fast camera fiber optic calibrations, MSE upgrades, and scrape-off layer probe diagnostics for the lh launcher. ICRF System ----------- All hi-pots of the new FPA tubes have been completed successfully and installation of the tubes into the FMIT transmitters continues. Ferrites needed to reduce parasitic oscillations have been installed on the tube sockets. We continued installation and testing of the FFT power system components. Lower Hybrid System ------------------- Preparations for brazing the #4 MIT coupler were completed over the weekend, and the vacuum braze was done on Saturday evening. A visual inspection on Sunday indicated very good braze quality over the entire coupler. A leak-check on Monday indicated that all windows were leak-tight. Only minor cleanup of the coupler is required after which a second leak-check will be performed. We are now preparing to braze the remaining MIT couplers. Two pulse capacitors (10 uf, 5kV) for the klystron test stand have arrived, and most of the required power supplies have been rack mounted in the control rack. Work continued on rf probes, filament control chassis, and fwg to rwg assembly last week. Long Pulse DNB -------------- Work continues on the PLC and control system modifications to accommodate the new DNB. Cables for vacuum and LN2 system control are being remade to a longer length to accommodate the new PLC rack relocation. Travel and Visits ----------------- Rostom Dagazian represented DoE at MIT for the Ideas Forum on 12/2 and 12/3. Dale Meade, Gerd Schilling, Ed Synakowski, Randy Wilson, and Stewart Zweben, all from PPPL, attended the C-Mod Ideas Forum 12/2-3 at MIT. In addition, Stewart Zweben was at MIT 11/29-12/1 for work on the Gas Puff Imaging diagnostic, and Randy Wilson and Gerd Schilling were at MIT for discussions on PPPL ICRF engineering help and Lower Hybrid launcher issues. _______________________________________________ Cmod_weekly mailing list Cmod_weekly@lists.psfc.mit.edu http://lists.psfc.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/cmod_weekly