Development of a 2 MW, CW, 170 GHz Coaxial Cavity Gyrotrons for ITER

J.-P. Hogge¹, S. Alberti¹, A. Arnold^2,3, D. Bariou⁴, A. Beunas⁴, T. Bonicelli⁵, R. Chavan¹, S. Cirant⁶, O. Dumbrajs⁷, O. Drumm^2,3, D. Fasel¹, E. Giguet⁴, T. Goodman¹, M. Henderson¹, S.  Illy², J. Jin², G. LeCloarec⁴, C. Lievin⁴, P.-L. Mondino⁶, B. Piosczyk², L. Porte¹, T.Rzesnicki², M. Santinelli⁸, A.B. Sterck⁹, M. Thumm^2,3, M.Q. Tran^1,5, A.G.A. Verhoeven⁹, I. Yovchev¹

¹Centre de Recherches en Physique des Plasmas, Association Euratom-Confédération Suisse, EPFL Ecublens, CH-1015 Lausanne, Switzerland,

²Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe, Association EURATOM-FZK, Institut für Hochleistungsimpuls- und Mikrowellentechnik, Postfach 3640, D-76021 Karlsruhe, Germany,

³Universität Karlsruhe, Institut für Höchstfrequenztechnik und Elektronik, Kaiserstr. 12, D-76128 Karlsruhe, Germany,

⁴Thalès Electron Devices, 2 Rue de Latécoère, F-78141 Vélizy-Villacoublay, France,

⁵EFDA - Close Support Unit – Garching, Boltzmannstrasse 2, D-85748 Garching bei Muenchen, Germany,

⁶Instituto di Fisica del Plasma – Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Via Cozzi 53, I-20125 Milano, Italy,

⁷Department of Engineering Physics and Mathematics, Helsinki University of Technology,

Association EURATOM TEKES, FIN-02150 Espoo, Finland,

⁸Associazione Euratom-ENEA sulla Fusione, Via E. Fermi 45, P.O. Box 65, I-00044 Frascati (Roma), Italy,

⁹FOM – Instituut voor Plasmafysica ‘Rijnhuizen’, Association EURATOM – FOM, P.O. Box 1207, 3430 BE Nieuwegein, The Netherlands.

e-mail: jean-philippe.hogge@epfl.ch

A 170 GHz coaxial cavity gyrotron with an RF output power of 2 MW in continuous wave (CW) operation, as can be used in the electron cyclotron heating (ECH) system of ITER, is under development within the frame of a collaboration between European research centers and Thalès Electron Devices (TED), under the auspices of the European Fusion Development Agreement (EFDA). Based on recent achievements on a short pulse (up to 20 ms) 165 GHz coaxial cavity gyrotron at Forschungszentrum Karlsruhe (FZK) [1], the conceptual design of such a tube compatible with CW operation has been completed and the manufacture process of a first prototype has been launched.

In parallel, the Centre de Recherches en Physique des Plasmas (CRPP) is presently setting up a test facility especially designed to host 2MW/CW gyrotrons and to perform experimental investigations up to full performances.

In this paper, we present the design of the coaxial cavity gyrotron and of the test facility. Milestones on the road aiming to a 2MW/CW tube are also given.

[1] B. Piosczyk, A. Arnold, G. Dammertz, O. Dumbrajs, M. Kuntze, M. K. Thumm, Coaxial Cavity Gyrotron - Recent Experimental Results, IEEE Trans. on Plasma Science, 30, 819 – 827 (2002).