This chapter presents the activity conducted by the ITPA topical group (TG) on Diagnostics over about the last 15 years. Following a general introduction of the ITER Diagnostics led by their measurement roles, the document is organized in several subchapters detailing the design support, research and development activity conducted by each of the specialist working groups (WGs) of the TG. Please note that the magnetic diagnostics were supported at the TG without a specific WG. Their status is included in the general introduction. In the following some highlights of the subchapter’s contents are provided. Recent advances in ITER first wall (FW) diagnostics for the measurements of plasma-metallic wall interaction in support of the ITER research plan are reported. An InfraRed imaging Video Bolometer for ITER has been developed and tested on several tokamaks to measure the radiated power loss. A laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) technique which utilizes a pulsed laser beam to ablate locally by forming a crater, will measure local tritium inventory in the FW material. Real-time Residual Gas Analyzers will measure the neutral gas composition in a divertor port and an equatorial port during plasma operation. Due to the full metallic FW environment, the plasma-wall interaction in ITER will face several challenges such as the compromised radiated power and divertor heat flux measurements by reflection. Ray tracing and analysis codes have been developed to eliminate and correct the effects of reflection in the measurements. The characteristics of the reflecting surfaces depending on the roughness and angle of the incidence have been measured by dedicated experiments, and the results were applied to the reflection elimination. For the measurement of the metallic impurity radiation induced by eroded metallic atoms, a vacuum ultraviolet spectrometer has been developed and tested. An extensive thermonuclear diagnostic suite will be required to support the operation of ITER and the planned experimental program for future burning plasma experiments. Due to the harsh environmental conditions, the implementation of diagnostic systems in ITER is a major challenge. These conditions include high levels of neutron and gamma fluxes, neutron heating, particle bombardment. Therefore, the selection and design of diagnostic systems must take into account a number of phenomena previously unseen in diagnostic design. For this reason, the measurement of neutrons and confined or lost fast ions, with particular emphasis on alpha particles, is critical to ITER. The diagnostics associated with these measurements will be important for future plasma-burning experiments at ITER. The high neutron emission and very large plasma size in ITER make neutron diagnostics the main diagnostic method used to measure plasma parameters such as fusion power, fusion power density, ion temperature, energy of fast ions and their spatial distributions in the plasma core. Active spectroscopy techniques are methods where a neutral particle beam is injected into the plasma and information on plasma parameters is extracted from the measurement of line emission resulting from the beam-plasma interaction, either by plasma ions or by beam atoms. Spatial localization is achieved by crossing the beamline and multiple observation lines. The ITER plasma will be a high temperature, moderately dense, fully ionized collisional plasma. The plasma facing surfaces are principally metallic being fashioned from beryllium or tungsten but many other elements, arising from either structural or from operational needs, may enter this plasma. The energy range of the emitted photons range from meV (infra-red) to multi keV (x-rays) and originate from all areas of the plasma volume. The primary role of passive emission diagnostics is to identify what is in the plasma from spectral signatures. Extracting quantitative information from these measurements such as impurity content, ion temperature, rotation, degree of detachment and radiated power depends on calibrated instruments, a physics model of the atomic and molecular processes and plasma transport and an analysis workflow that takes into account environmental effects such as reflections. The particular needs for ITER have prompted a multi-machine, many-year effort to address all these aspects and this chapter reviews the work on diagnostic design, experiments and new analysis techniques. An overview of the laser diagnostics to be implemented on ITER is also provided in this paper. This includes descriptions of the Thomson scattering in the core, edge and divertor regions, polarimetry and interferometry diagnostics used for measuring plasma density and also measurements of helium density in the divertor using Laser Induced Flourescence. Techniques which can allow improvements on current measurements are also addressed in particular expanding poloidal polarimetry measurements to measure field fluctuations and proposed use of dispersion interferometery which has a number of advantages over existing methods. This paper identifies particular areas where further research and testing on existing tokamaks is useful even at this advanced stage to inform the design of diagnostics for ITER. Outstanding areas of concern for the implementation of laser diagnostics, in particular with a view to reliable operation are identified. An overview of the latest developments of microwave diagnostic systems and techniques is given. The primary focus is the contributions for ITER—the next step burning plasma experiment—which is supplemented by describing recent progress of techniques applicable for fusion experiments beyond ITER. The contributions are intentionally kept concise, and are being supplemented by a rich list of references for further studies. Radiation induced effects are receiving continuous and well-deserved attention of the ITER diagnostic community and they are in many cases one of the primary design drivers of the ITER diagnostic systems. The paper summarizes recent progress in this area focusing primarily on the ITER diagnostics but in some cases provides also outlook for the possible solutions for even more demanding radiation environment of fusion reactors beyond ITER. Despite advancements in the area of modeling and simulation of various radiation induced effects, experimental testing in a nuclear environment as close as possible to the target one is still seen as unavoidable for proper qualification of particular diagnostic functional elements. Recent advancement within three diagnostic areas: optical diagnostics, magnetics and bolometers is covered. Encouraging results on qualification of silica glass vacuum window assemblies are presented. In the area of magnetic sensors, progress of irradiation tests performed on ITER in-vessel LTCC inductive sensors is presented with outlook for novel technological approaches to inductive sensors utilizing thick printing and photolithography technologies being highlighted. Summary of advancements in the area of steady state magnetic field sensors based on Hall effect is given. New results of neutron irradiation test of the ITER borosilicate glass inserts for vacuum electrical feedthroughs are summarized finding negligible swelling at target level of neutron fluence. Off-line irradiation tests of fiber optic current sensors for plasma current measurement demonstrated that both for gamma doses up to 5 MGy and a total neutron fluence up to 10¹⁵ cm⁻², radiation induced changes are still compatible with required measurement accuracy on ITER. The ITER bolometers are given as an example how considering radiation effects may influence the diagnostic design. Finally, outlook for future main R&D directions is outlined. All optical and laser-based diagnostics in ITER will be using mirrors to guide plasma radiation toward detectors, cameras and sensors. In the hostile plasma, radiation and particle environment the optical characteristics of diagnostic mirrors will degrade directly affecting the entire performance of involved diagnostic systems. An assessment of factors affecting mirror performance is provided. Among the prime adverse factors are deposition of plasma impurities, sputtering of mirror surface and steam ingress in the vicinity of mirrors. Within the International Tokamak Physics Activity with active support by ITER central team and domestic agencies, the structured research and development (R&D) program on mitigation of risks for diagnostic mirrors is underway. Within this program the mirror material development, the passive mitigation of mirror degradation by using diagnostic ducts and shutters along with an active mirror recovery program comprising the in-situ mirror cleaning and calibration is underway. Recent developments in diagnostic mirror R&D are described in this Chapter along with an example of their implementation of R&D solutions in ITER Infrared Thermography diagnostic. An assessment of still open engineering and physics questions, considerations on mirror risks during an early phase of ITER operation are given along with an overview of diagnostic mirror evolution in the late ITER operation stage toward the demonstration fusion power plant. Several crucial areas of diagnostic R&D outlined in ITER Research Plan are addressed. The basic control groups in a fusion reactor can be broken-down in five categories: (1) plasma position, magnetic configuration, and plasma current control, (2) profile control and confinement optimization, (3) MHD control and suppression, (4) edge dissipation control, radiation and plasma exhaust control and (5) break-down optimization. These categories are coupled via the physics (a control action in one domain will affect the other domains) and via shared actuators (e.g. ECRH for impurity accumulation avoidance, current density distribution control and MHD suppression). Consequently, a supervisory control system should determine the priority of the various control tasks, their couplings, and the interfaces with the safety and interlock system. For the systematic development of the various controllers taking the complexity of the plasma and the control system into account, a model-based approach is required. A short historical overview is given of the developments in systems and control theory and control engineering with special emphasis on those developments that are most relevant for Nuclear Fusion research and operation. An overview is given of the state of the field of fusion plasma control for the control categories. It will be shown how synthetic diagnostics are being developed in ITER and how they are used in diagnostic design and design validation and how they can be in model-based controller synthesis using relatively simple models. In modern control methods, multiple diagnostics are used to constrain relatively simple models. The constrained models provide an estimate for the state. This opens the route to state controllers, such as model predictive control. A major challenge in nuclear fusion research is the coherent combination of data from heterogeneous diagnostics and modeling codes for machine control and safety as well as physics studies. Measured data from different diagnostics often provide information about the same subset of physical parameters. Additionally, information provided by some diagnostics might be needed for the analysis of other diagnostics. A joint analysis of complementary and redundant data allows, e.g. to improve the reliability of parameter estimation, to increase the spatial and temporal resolution of profiles, to obtain synergistic effects, to consider diagnostics interdependencies and to find and resolve data inconsistencies. Physics-based modeling and parameter relationships provide additional information improving the treatment of ill-posed inversion problems. A coherent combination of all kind of available information within a probabilistic framework allows for improved data analysis results. The concept of integrated data analysis (IDA) in the framework of Bayesian probability theory is outlined and contrasted with conventional data analysis. Components of the probabilistic approach are summarized and specific ingredients beneficial for data analysis at fusion devices are discussed.

A global heat flux model based on a fractional derivative of plasma pressure is proposed for the heat transport in fusion plasmas. The degree of the fractional derivative of the heat flux, α, is defined through the power balance analysis of the steady state. The model was used to obtain the experimental values of α for a large database of the Joint European Torus (JET) carbon-wall as well as ITER like-wall plasmas. The fractional degrees of the electron heat flux are found to be α<2, for all the selected pulses in the database, suggesting a deviation from the diffusive paradigm. Moreover, the results show that as the volume integrated input power is increased, the fractional degree of the electron heat flux converges to α∼0.8, indicating a global scaling between the net heating and the pressure profile in the high-power JET plasmas. The model is expected to provide insight into the proper kinetic description for the fusion plasmas and improve the accuracy of the heat transport predictions.

A power-balance model, with radiation losses from impurities and neutrals, gives a unified description of the density limit (DL) of the stellarator, the L-mode tokamak, and the reversed field pinch (RFP). The model predicts a Sudo-like scaling for the stellarator, a Greenwald- like scaling, alpha I-p(8/9), for the RFP and the ohmic tokamak, a mixed scaling, alpha (PIp4/9)-I-4/9, for the additionally heated L-mode tokamak. In a previous paper (Zanca et al 2017 Nucl. Fusion 57 056010) the model was compared with ohmic tokamak, RFP and stellarator experiments. Here, we address the issue of the DL dependence on heating power in the L-mode tokamak. Experimental data from high-density disrupted L-mode discharges performed at JET, as well as in other machines, arc taken as a term of comparison. The model fits the observed maximum densities better than the pure Greenwald limit.

Block-structured mesh generation techniques have been well addressed in the CFD community for automobile and aerospace studies, and their applicability to magnetic fusion is highly relevant, due to the complexity of the plasma-facing wall structures inside a tokamak device. Typically applied to non-linear simulations of MHD instabilities relevant to magnetically confined fusion, the JOREK code was originally developed with a 2D grid composed of isoparametric bi-cubic Bezier finite elements, that are aligned to the magnetic equilibrium of tokamak plasmas (the third dimension being represented by Fourier harmonics). To improve the applicability of these simulations, the grid-generator has been generalised to provide a robust extension method, using a block-structured mesh approach, which allows the simulations of arbitrary domains of tokamak vacuum vessels. Such boundary-aligned grids require the adaptation of boundary conditions along the edge of the new domain. Demonstrative non-linear simulations of plasma edge instabilities are presented to validate the robustness of the new grid, and future potential physics applications for tokamak plasmas are discussed. The methods presented here may be of interest to the wider community, beyond tokamak physics, wherever imposing arbitrary boundaries to quadrilateral finite elements is required.

The impurity concentration in the tokamak divertor plasma is a necessary input for predictive scaling of divertor detachment, however direct measurements from existing tokamaks in different divertor plasma conditions are limited. To address this, we have applied a recently developed spectroscopic N II line ratio technique for measuring the N concentration in the divertor to a range of H-mode and L-mode plasma from the ASDEX Upgrade and JET tokamaks, respectively. The results from both devices show that as the power crossing the separatrix, P-sep, is increased under otherwise similar core conditions (e.g. density), a higher N concentration is required to achieve the same detachment state. For example, the N concentrations at the start of detachment increase from approximate to 2% to approximate to 9% as P-sep, is increased from approximate to 2.5 MW to approximate to 7 MW. These results tentatively agree with scaling law predictions (e.g. Goldston et al.) motivating a further study examining the parameters which affect the N concentration required to reach detachment. Finally, the N concentrations from spectroscopy and the ratio of D and N gas valve fluxes agree within experimental uncertainty only when the vessel surfaces are fully-loaded with N.

Inconel-600 blocks and stainless steel covers for quartz microbalance crystals from remote corners in the JET-ILW divertor were studied with time-of-flight elastic recoil detection analysis and nuclear reaction analysis to obtain information about the areal densities and depth profiles of elements present in deposited material layers. Surface morphology and the composition of dust particles were examined with scanning electron microscopy and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. The analyzed components were present in JET during three ITER-like wall campaigns between 2010 and 2017. Deposited layers had a stratified structure, primarily made up of beryllium, carbon and oxygen with varying atomic fractions of deuterium, up to more than 20%. The range of carbon transport from the ribs of the divertor carrier was limited to a few centimeters, and carbon/deuterium co-deposition was indicated on the Inconel blocks. High atomic fractions of deuterium were also found in almost carbon-free layers on the quartz microbalance covers. Layer thicknesses up to more than 1 micrometer were indicated, but typical values were on the order of a few hundred nanometers. Chromium, iron and nickel fractions were less than or around 1% at layer surfaces while increasing close to the layer-substrate interface. The tungsten fraction depended on the proximity of the plasma strike point to the divertor corners. Particles of tungsten, molybdenum and copper with sizes less than or around 1 micrometer were found. Nitrogen, argon and neon were present after plasma edge cooling and disruption mitigation. Oxygen-18 was found on component surfaces after injection, indicating in-vessel oxidation. Compensation of elastic recoil detection data for detection efficiency and ion-induced release of deuterium during the measurement gave quantitative agreement with nuclear reaction analysis, which strengthens the validity of the results.

Hot spots on the divertor tiles at JET result in overestimation of the tile surface temperature which causes unnecessary termination of pulses. However, the appearance of hot spots can also indicate the condition of the divertor tile surfaces. To analyse the behaviour of the hot spots in the outer divertor tiles of JET, a simple image processing algorithm is developed. The algorithm isolates areas of bright pixels in the camera image and compares them to previously identified hot spots. The activity of the hot spots is then linked to values of other signals and parameters in the same time intervals. The operation of the detection algorithm was studied in a limited pulse range with high hot spot activity on the divertor tiles 5, 6 and 7. This allowed us to optimise the values of the controlling parameters. Then, the wider applicability of the method has been demonstrated by the analysis of the hot spot behaviour in a whole experimental campaign.

The analysis of the polarimetry measurements has the aim of validating models (De Marco and Segre 1972 Plasma Phys. 14 245), with a careful attention to the clarification of their limits of application. In this paper a new approximation method is introduced, the so-called special constant Omega direction (SCOD), which gives an analytical solution to the polarimetry exact Stokes model equations. The available approximate solutions (including SCOD) of the polarimetry propagation equations are presented, compared and their application limits determined, using a reference tokamak configuration, which is a simplified equilibrium for a circular tokamak. The SCOD approximation is compared successfully to the Stokes model in the context also of equilibria evaluated for two JET discharges. The approximation methods are analytical or very simple mathematical expressions which can also be used in equilibrium codes for their optimization.

The recently developed Monte-Carlo code ERO2.0 is applied to the modelling of limited and diverted discharges at JET with the ITER-like wall (ILW). The global beryllium (Be) erosion and deposition is simulated and compared to experimental results from passive spectroscopy. For the limiter configuration, it is demonstrated that Be self-sputtering is an important contributor (at least 35%) to the Be erosion. Taking this contribution into account, the ERO2.0 modelling confirms previous evidence that high deuterium (D) surface concentrations of up to similar to 50% atomic fraction provide a reasonable estimate of Be erosion in plasma-wetted areas. For the divertor configuration, it is shown that drifts can have a high impact on the scrape-off layer plasma flows, which in turn affect global Be transport by entrainment and lead to increased migration into the inner divertor. The modelling of the effective erosion yield for different operational phases (ohmic, L- and H-mode) agrees with experimental values within a factor of two, and confirms that the effective erosion yield decreases with increasing heating power and confinement.

Post mortem analysis shows that mid and high atomic number metallic impurities are present in deposits on JET plasma facing components with the highest amount of Ni and W, and therefore the largest sink, being found at the top of the inner divertor. Sources are defined as "continuous" or "specific", in that "continuous" sources arise from ongoing erosion from plasma facing surfaces and "specific" are linked with specific events which decrease over time until they no longer act as a source. This contribution evaluates the sinks and estimates sources, and the balance gives an indication of the dominating processes. Charge exchange neutral erosion is found to be the main source of nickel, whereas erosion of divertor plasma facing components is the main source of tungsten. Specific sources are shown to have little influence over the global mid- and high-Z impurity concentrations in deposits.