Collective Thomson scattering system for determination of ion properties in a high flux plasma beam

A collective Thomson scattering system has been developed for measuring ion temperature, plasma velocity and impurity concentration in the high density magnetized Magnum-PSI plasma beam, allowing for measurements at low temperature (<5 eV) and high electron density >4 × 1020 m−3, while avoiding laser plasma heating caused by inverse Bremsstrahlung. The collective Thomson scattering system is based on the fundamental mode of a seeded Nd:YAG laser and equipped with an LIVAR M506 camera (EBABS technology). The first collective Thomson scattering measurements are taken at the linear plasma generator Pilot-PSI, 40 mm downstream of the cascaded arc source. At this location, the ion temperature is about equal to the electron temperature in the bulk of the plasma beam.