Upgrade of an integrated Langmuir probe system on the closed divertor target plates in the HL-2A tokamak

A newly designed divertor Langmuir probe diagnostic system has been installed in a rare closed divertor of the HL-2A tokamak and steadily operated for the study of divertor physics involved edge-localized mode (ELM) mitigation, detachment and redistribution of heat flux, etc. Two sets of probe arrays including 274 probe tips were placed at two ports (approximately 180° separated toroidally), and the spatial and temporal resolutions of this measurement system could reach 6 mm and 1 s, respectively. A novel design of the ceramic isolation ring can ensure reliable electrical insulation property between the graphite tip and the copper substrate plate where plasma impurities and the dust are deposited into the gaps for a long experimental time. Meanwhile, the condition monitoring and mode conversion between single and triple probe of the probe system could be conveniently implemented via a remote control station. The preliminary experimental result shows that the divertor Langmuir probe system is capable of measuring the high spatiotemporal parameters involved the plasma density, electron temperature, particle flux as well as heat flux during the ELMy H-mode discharges.

Quantitative mapping of thickness variations along a ray path using geometrical full waveform inversion and guided wave mode conversion

Quantitative guided wave thickness mapping in plate-like structures and pipelines is of significant importance for the petrochemical industry to accurately estimate the minimum remaining wall thickness in the presence of corrosion, as guided waves can inspect a large area without needing direct access. Although a number of inverse algorithms have been studied and implemented in guided wave reconstruction, a primary assumption is widely used: the three-dimensional guided wave inversion of thickness is simplified as a two-dimensional acoustic wave inversion of velocity, with the dispersive nature of the waves linking thickness to velocity. This assumption considerably simplifies the inversion procedure; however, it makes it impossible to account for mode conversion. In reality, mode conversion is quite common in guided wave scattering with asymmetric wall loss, and compared with non-converted guided wave modes, converted modes may provide greater access to valuable information about the thickness variation, which, if exploited, could lead to improved performance. Geometrical full waveform inversion (GFWI) is an ideal tool for this, since it can account for mode conversion. In this paper, quantitative thickness reconstruction based on GFWI is developed in a plate cross-section and applied to study the performance of thickness reconstruction using mode conversion.

Thin-Film Lithium Niobate Based Acousto-Optic Modulation Working at Higher-Order TE1 Mode

Acousto-optic modulation (AOM) is regarded as an effective way to link multi-physical fields on-chip. We propose an on-chip AOM scheme based on the thin-film lithium niobate (TFLN) platform working at the higher-order TE1 mode, rather than the commonly used fundamental TE0 mode. Multi-physical field coupling analyses were carried out to obtain the refractive index change of the optical waveguide (>6.5×10−10 for a single phonon) induced by the enhanced acousto-optic interaction between the acoustic resonator mode and the multimode optical waveguide. By using a Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) structure, the refractive index change is utilized to modulate the output spectrum of the MZI, thus achieving the AOM function. In the proposed AOM scheme, efficient mode conversion between the TE0 and TE1 mode is required in order to ensure that the AOM works at the higher-order TE1 mode in the MZI structure. Our results show that the half-wave-voltage-length product (VπL) is <0.01 V·cm, which is lower than that in some previous reports on AOM and electro-optic modulation (EOM) working at the fundamental TE0 mode (e.g., VπL > 0.04 V·cm for AOM, VπL > 1 V·cm for EOM). Finally, the proposed AOM has lower loss when compared with EOM because the electrode of the AOM can be placed far from the optical waveguide.

Numerical Investigation on Guided Waves Dispersion and Scattering Phenomena in Stiffened Panels

The aim of this work is to propose a numerical methodology based on the finite element (FE) method to investigate the dispersive behavior of guided waves transmitted, converted, and reflected by reinforced aluminum and composite structures, highlighting their differences. The dispersion curves of such modes can help designers in improving the damage detection sensitivity of Lamb wave based structural health monitoring (SHM) systems. A preliminary phase has been carried out to assess the reliability of the modelling technique. The accuracy of the results has been demonstrated for aluminum and composite flat panels by comparing them against experimental tests and semi-analytical data, respectively. Since the good agreement, the FE method has been used to analyze the phenomena of dispersion, scattering, and mode conversion in aluminum and composite panels characterized by a structural discontinuity, as a stiffener. The research activity allowed emphasizing modes conversion at the stiffener, offering new observations with respect to state of the art. Converted modes propagate with a slightly slower speed than the incident ones. Reflected waves, instead, have been found to travel with the same velocity of the incident ones. Moreover, waves reflected in the composite stiffened plate appeared different from those that occurred in the aluminum one for the aspects herein discussed.