Application of computerized tomography techniques to tokamak diagnostics

The considered investigation is concerned with the feasibility of using arrangements of X-ray detectors in conjunction with the methods of medical X-ray tomography to reconstruct true cross sectional maps of plasma column X-ray emissivity. It is shown that the instantaneous and unconstrained reconstruction of a confined plasma cross section is possible even with a somewhat limited number of views and detectors. The techniques briefly outlined would be a natural extension of techniques developed in the field of medical computerized tomography. Cross sectional X-ray 'photographs' of a tokamak plasma would be immensely useful for studying all phases of the containment process. X-ray imaging systems which allow at least moderate reconstruction accuracy could in principle be installed on existing plasma confinement devices