Improved operation of the Michelson interferometer electron cyclotron emission diagnostic on DIII-D

The measurement of accurate temperature profiles is critical for transport analysis and equilibrium reconstruction in the DIII-D tokamak. Recent refinements in the Michelson interferometer diagnostic have produced more precise electron temperature measurements from electron cyclotron emission and made them available for a wider range of discharge conditions. Replacement of a lens-relay with a low-loss corrugated waveguide transmission system resulted in an increase in throughput of 6 dB and a reduction of calibration error from 15% to 5%. The waveguide exhibits a small polarization scrambling fraction of 0.05 at the quarter-wavelength frequency and very stable transmission characteristics over time. Further reduction in error was realized through special signal processing of the calibration and plasma interferograms. (C) 1997 American Institute of Physics.