Alcator C-Mod Weekly Highlights Sept. 26, 2005 FY2005 weeks of research operations Planned: 17 weeks Completed: 18.4 weeks Physics ------- The C-Mod level 1 JOULE science target, "Measure plasma behavior with high-Z antenna guards and input power greater than 3.5 MW", is complete as of September 23 (due date September 30). The milestone completion report can be found at http://www.psfc.mit.edu/cmod/sciprogram/FY05_level1_targets/fy05_target_complete.pdf Operations ---------- The up-to-air continued last week. Invessel MSE calibrations and tests were performed with this work expected to continue this week. Inner wall, outer divertor cover plate, and J-Port antenna tiles have been removed from the machine and analysis begun using XRF techniques to determine the level of surface deposition of Mo, Ti, Fe, and other metals. Boron has been cleaned off of invessel windows and mirrors. Preventative maintenance of the of the cryo system, alternator heat exchangers, and diagnostic systems continued. ICRF Systems ------------ Final machining of components for the J-Port antenna septa that will replace the Faraday shield has been completed. Fit-ups of the components invessel and preparations for copper plating several components are underway. After replacing electrolytic capacitors in the FMIT#1 vacuum bottle driver circuit, the system is now performing very reliably and is ready for operation. Testing of the FFT power supply continued last week. Lower Hybrid System ------------------- Three single waveguide test samples were successfully nickel plated last week by our vendor. The samples were then baked and sample brazes made. All samples resulted in excellent braze results. Plans are being made with the vendor to plate a 24-window sample and the #2 coupler. We continued work investigating the use of 3rd harmonic emission as a fault indicator for the lower hybrid launcher. Travel and Visits ----------------- Ray Fonck, U. Wisc., visited the PSFC on Thursday and Friday to discuss the newly-formed U.S. Burning Plasma Organization which he heads. Professor Fonck gave a seminar describing the USBPO on Thursday. He also held discussions with C-Mod scientists during his visit about the role of the BPO and its relationship to C-Mod and other burning-plasma relevant research here. Dr Kenishi Kurihara, Head of the JT-60 Facility Division I, Dept. of Fusion Facilities, JAERI, visited Alcator C-Mod on Thursday and Friday. This division is in charge of JT-60 control and power supplies. Dr. Kurihara discussed plasma control issues with several C-Mod scientists and engineers, including Steve Wolfe, Ian Hutchinson, Josh Stillerman, Marco Ferrara, Bob Granetz, Ron Parker, Dave Terry, Jim Irby, and Steve Scott. He also presented an informal seminar on the status and plans for the JT-60 plasma control system, including the observers, the signal integrator, and real-time visualization. Stewart Zweben, PPPL, was on-site all last week. He worked with Jim Terry to better characterize the ultra-fast multi-frame (300 frames at 20 kHz) camera used on C-Mod to study edge turbulence. He also discussed possible future diagnostic hardware for C-Mod's edge program. _______________________________________________ Cmod_weekly mailing list Cmod_weekly@lists.psfc.mit.edu http://lists.psfc.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/cmod_weekly