Abel-inversion method for interferometry data in highly noncircular plasmas with X point in TFTR (abstract)

In TFTR plasmas, reliable and accurate time-dependent electron density profiles are routinely available via an Abel inversion of interferometry measurements [H. Park, Plasma Phys. Controlled Fusion 31, 2035 (1989)]. This technique does not require constancy of density on a equiflux surface and mild deviations of the flux surfaces from a circular shape are accommodated through analytic approximations. However, when the flux surfaces become extremely noncircular as the plasma β is increased significantly, the inverted profiles are not consistent with the Thomson scattering measurements. In order to obtain accurate time-dependent density profiles in high-β plasmas, detailed flux surface information from magnetic measurements must be used to invert the interferometric measurements. The basic inversion process is similar but the scrape-off layer treatment is different when an X point is introduced on the high field side. In this paper, we present a comparison between the inverted profiles obtained with the flux-surface data and with the analytic method. This work supported by U. S. Department of Energy Contract No. DE-AC02-76-CHO-3073