Retarding field energy analyzers for the ion temperature measurements in the SOL plasmas of the tokamak ISTTOK and the TJ-II stellarator
Measurements of the ion temperature in the plasma boundary of fusion devices typically employs the Retarding Field Analyzer (RFA) that is based on selective rejecting or retarding the plasma ions by a varying braking electric field. Normally, the RFA comprises an input slit and collector electrode with two or more separately biased fine grids placed in front of it. With an assumption of Maxwellian ion distribution, the exponential decay of the RFA collector currentvoltage characteristic is determined by the ion temperature. This contribution describes 1- and 3channels RFAs for the ion temperature measurements in the scrape-off-layer of the tokamak ISTTOK and the TJ-II stellarator. Selected results of the ion temperature measurements on the ISTTOK and the TJ-II are presented. In addition, limitations related to the RFA operation (including the alignment along magnetic field direction and plasma loading) are considered.
Electrostatic Energy Analyzer for Studying Gas‐Focused Electron Beams and Their Background Media
An analyzer is described which is especially suitable for the study of electrostatically self‐focusing electron beams and their associated background media, and, in general, for media which by their nature are very sensitive to direct insertion of probes or other diagnostic devices. The basic difficulties with devices of this nature, namely, (a) the continually changing work functions of metal surfaces due to sorbed films and (b) the lens effect defocusing due to nonuniformities of the potential in the neighborhood of grid wires, have been identified and effectively overcome. The analyzer is employed flush with the boundary of the medium under study and it incorporates a shielding electrode so that the disturbance of the medium is insignificant. When the dimensions of the instrument are scaled so that the space charge effects are absent, it can be utilized successfully to detect energy spreads as small as a few tenths of an electron volt.
The Vascular Theory of Migraine‐Resuscitated or More Moribund?
Your decision to publish an important paper on cerebral blood flow (CBF) in migraine1 as the first in Headache for 1989 is to be applauded. But does it clarify or cloud the issue? After 20 years of CBF studies in migraine the results show 1) a reduction of at least 25 30% in classical migraine1, 2) an average increase of 31% in common and classical migraine2, 3) or no change in common migraine3. Now we learn that the measurements need modifying by 40% to allow for scattering of radiation the Compton scatter effect which has led to "an unbalanced interpretation of the data"1 So the results are as contradictory as they can be, the measurements require adjustment, and the interpretation is therefore doubly doubtful. From the clinical point of view the neurological aura, the enlarging scotoma, the scintillations, the migration of the paraesthesiae up the arm or visual disturbances across the visual field, have not been seen in cerebrovascular disease.4 The headache is throbbing in only 47% of 750 patients questioned during a migraine5; but even when the pain is pulsatlie, it throbs for only a portion of the time at the maximum of the headache (Blau unpublished observations). The evidence for a neurological aetiology has been examined6: the most potent argument against a vascular cause is that the common triggers stress, light and hunger go direct to the nervous system, not via blood vessels. No one denies that vascular changes occur in migraine but are they primary or secondary to a neurological disturbance? Sokoloff7 concluded that the stimulated rat and monkey cortex showed increased glucose uptake, and that the increased local blood flow occurred "in response (my italics) to changes in local functional activity". The evidence, therefore, points to an underlying neurological basis with secondary vascular responses. The vascular theory may need resuscitation but who is going to give it the kiss of life?