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IPR REPORT
REPORT ON IPR VISIT
The Institute for Plasma Research can trace its roots back to early 1970's when a coherent and interactive programmes of theoretical and experimental studies in plasma physics with an orientation towards understanding space plasma phenomena was established at the Physical Research laboratory. It basically works to get the best out of plasma, thus dreams of enlightening the future of energy recourses. PLASMA & ITS PROPERTIES: Plasma is a set of quasi-neutral particles with free electric charge carriers, which behave collectively. Let us analyze each part of this definition. The most important part is that free electric charge carriers are found in the plasma state of matter. Atoms are at least partially ionized. The degree of ionization does not have to be too large, if the size of the plasma formation is big enough. Precisely a plasma is different from a gas in that there are free carriers of charge in the former. A plasma is conductive and reacts strongly to electric and magnetic fields. The second quality is its quasi-neutrality.
APPLICATIONS:
Fusion energy research Plasmas used in semiconductor device fabrication including reactive-ion etching , sputtering, surface cleaning and plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition.
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IPR REPORT
Laser-produced plasmas (LPP), found when high power lasers interact with materials.
TOKAMAK:
The Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor (TFTR) operated at the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) from 1982 to 1997. TFTR set a number of world records, including a plasma temperature of 510 million degrees centigrade -- the highest ever produced in a laboratory, and well beyond the 100 million degrees required for commercial fusion. In addition to meeting its physics objectives, TFTR achieved all of its hardware design goals, thus making substantial contributions in many areas of fusion technology development.
IPR PROJECTS:
ADITYA: It is a Plasma containment device. ADITYA, a medium size Tokamak, is being operated for over a decade. It has a major radius of 0.75m and minor radius of the plasma is 0.25 m. A maximum of 1.2 T toroidal magnetic field is generated with the help of 20 toroidal field coils spaced symmetrically in the toroidal direction. The major subsystems and parameters of the machine have been described elsewhere. ADITYA is regularly being operated with the transformer-converter power system. ~100 msec 80 - 100 kA plasma discharges at toroidal field of 8.0 kG are being regularly studied. During this period experiments on edge plasma fluctuations, turbulence and other related works have been conducted. Standard diagnostics have been employed during these measurements. Figure below gives a view of ADITYA with the auxiliary heating systems attached to it.
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SST1 SST-1 (Steady State Tokamak) is a plasma confinement experimental device in the Institute for Plasma Research (IPR), an autonomous research institute under Department of Atomic Energy, India. It belongs to a new generation of tokamakswith the major objective being steady state operation of an advanced configuration ('D' Shaped) plasma. It has been designed as a medium-sized tokamak with superconducting magnets. The specific objective of the SST-1 project is to produce 1000 s elongated double null divertor plasma. There are several conventional questions in tokamak physics, which will be addressed again in steady state scenario. Some of these are related to the energy, particle and impurity confinement, the effect of impurities and edge localized modes (ELM) in steady on energy confinement, the stability limits and their dependence on current drive methods, the resistive tearing activities in presence of RF fields, disruptions and vertical displacement events (VDE), and thermal instability. In steady state operations noninductive current drive will sustain the plasma current.
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IPR REPORT
Different aspects of current drive such as different current drive methods and their combinations, current drive efficiency, profile control and bootstrap current, will be studied. An efficient divertor is required for the steady state operations with elongated plasma.
CONCLUSION: The research aims at diminishing the need of dependence on the exhaustible energy recourses by utilizing plasma in the most efficient way.
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