Commissioning of the 28 GHz ECRH power transmission line for the TJ-II stellarator

Highlights: • The 28 GHz power transmission line of the TJ-II stellarator is described. • Mismatch and alignment problems are covered, presenting infrared measurements. • Beam distortion in the matching optics unit led to unwanted modes in the waveguide. • After a redesign distortion was eliminated and coupling maximized. • Final measurements suggest finer alignment must be performed. - Abstract: The commissioning of the 28 GHz power transmission line of the TJ-II stellarator, designed for the excitation of electron Bernstein waves (EBW) through the O-X-B mode conversion process, is presented in this paper. Based upon a comprehensive set of thermal measurements, its purpose is to go into details about the several problems that arouse during the whole process, namely higher order modes excitation because of the wider beam size and alignment mismatches at the waveguide mouth. All these drawbacks may have prevented the correct O-X mode conversion, thus providing a reasonable explanation for the unsuccessful EBW heating experiments.