• The Transactions of the Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers C
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• v.53 no.1
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• pp.8-14
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• 2004

An O-mode Ultrashort Pulse Reflectometry (USPR) system has been designed and developed for the measurement of electron density profiles on the Sustained Spheromak Physics Experiment (SSPX) spheromak. In the original design of SSPX, peak densities were envisioned to be in the range of 0.5-3${\times}$10$^{14}$ cm$^{-3}$ . The total duration of formation and sustained discharges is typically ∼2 msec. Moreover, diagnostic access on SSPX is severely restricted. Such high density and short duration plasmas coupled with stringent diagnostic access are quite challenging for conventional reflectometer systems. In USPR, the SSPX diagnostic requirements have been successfully satisfied by employing up-converting mixers and monostatic horn/waveguide configuration. As a result, the USPR system has proven its applicability for the density measurement of a future fusion device. In the density profile measurements, the USPR system is capable of routinely generating density profiles with a temporal resolution of 57 $\mu$s. This paper presents details regarding the USPR fundamental principles, associated subsystems and laboratory tests as well as the experimental results obtained on SSPX