Diamagnetic measurements on the Alcator C tokamak

A procedure for determining the total thermal energy content of a magnetically confined plasma from a measurement of the plasma magnetization has been successfully implemented on the Alcator C tokamak. When a plasma is confined by a magnetic field, the kinetic pressure of the plasma is supported by an interaction between the confining magnetic field and drift currents which flow in the plasma. These drift currents induce an additional magnetic field which can be measured by means of appropriately positioned pickup coils. From a measurement of this magnetic field and of the confining magnetic field, one can calculate the spatially averaged plasma pressure, which is related to the thermal energy content of the plasma by the equation of state of the plasma. The theory on which this measurement is based is described in detail. The fields and currents which flow in the plasma are related to the confining magnetic field and the plasma pressure by requiring that the plasma be in equilibrium, i.e., by balancing the forces due to pressure gradients against those due to magnetic interactions. The apparatus used to make this measurement is described and some example data analyses are carried out