PLASMA DIAGNOSTICS BY ABEL INVERSION IN HYPERBOLIC GEOMETRY

Plasma confined in the UMIST linear quadrupole adopts a configuration with approximately hyperbolic symmetry. The normal diagnostic is a Langmuir probe, but we have developed an alternative method using optical emission tomography based upon an analytic Abel inversion. Plasma radiance is obtained as a function of a parameter identifying magnetic flux surfaces. The inversion algorithm has been tested using artificial data. Experimentally, the results show that ionizing collisions cause the confined plasma distribution to broaden as the plasma travels through the confining field. This is shown to be a consequence of the approximate incompressibility of the E x B flow.