Selective calcium chelator 1,2-Bis(2-aminophenoxy) ethane-N,N,N',N'-tetraacetic acid (BAPTA) is a common tool to investigate calcium signaling. However, BAPTA expresses various effects on ...intracellular calcium signaling, which are not related to its ability to bind Ca
. In patch clamp experiments, we investigated calcium chelation independent effects of BAPTA on endogenous calcium-activated chloride channels ANO6 (TMEM16F) in HEK293T cells. We have found that application of BAPTA to intracellular solution led to two distinct effects on channels properties. On the one hand, application of BAPTA acutely reduced amplitude of endogenous ANO6 channels induced by 10 μM Ca
in single channel recordings. On the other hand, BAPTA application by itself induced ANO6 channel activity in the absence of the intracellular calcium elevation. Open channel probability was enhanced by increasing the intracellular BAPTA concentration from 0.1 to 1 and 10 mM. Another calcium chelator EGTA did not demonstrate chelation independent effects on the ANO6 activity in the same conditions. Due to off-target effects BAPTA should be used with caution when studying calcium-activated ANO6 channels.
It is shown that the radial profile of the electron temperature in the Globus-M2 spherical tokamak is related to the radial profile of the electron density by a power law
. An analytical model of the ...density attractor, assuming the dependence of
on the specific poloidal volume
v
, previously tested on the TCV and JET tokamaks with a large aspect ratio, holds on the spherical tokamak, and the approximation of 162 experimental profiles has resulted in
. The proposed model makes it possible to calculate the spatial distribution
and
according to a known magnetic configuration.
Abstract
Doppler backscattering (DBS) was successfully previously used on the Globus-M tokamak. The diagnostic was utilised in the form of either a single-frequency or a four-frequency dual homodyne ...system. It was used primarily for the study of zonal flows, filaments and Alfvén eigenmodes. These phenomena are worth being studied both on the periphery and in the core region of the plasma in a tokamak. For this specific reason two multifrequency DBS systems were installed on the upgraded Globus-M2 tokamak. The first four-frequency system with dual homodyne detection had already been used on the Globus-M tokamak and has lower probing frequencies which provide measurements from the periphery plasma. The second and new six-frequency DBS system was installed with a non-linear transmission line that was adapted to generate probing signals at frequencies 50, 55, 60, 65, 70 and 75 GHz. In general, the range of probing frequencies corresponds to the region of critical plasma densities from 5 × 10
18
to 7 × 10
19
m
−3
at normal incidence. The pyramidal horn antennas are located inside the vacuum vessel with a special cardan-like rotator outside the camera so as to tilt antennas in the toroidal and poloidal directions. A previously developed code was applied to simulate 3D raytracing for all frequency channels. Calculations were carried out for different angles of incidence and for different electron density distributions in order to investigate the possibilities of the implementation of radial and poloidal correlation Doppler reflectometry. Examples of the DBS system application for study of plasma properties in the Globus-M2 tokamak are presented.
The behaviour of the fast particle population during 18 keV hydrogen and 26 keV deuterium neutral beam injection in deuterium plasmas is investigated. Experiments reveal large fast ion losses. The ...experimental results are confirmed using different types of modelling: simulation using the NUBEAM module, solution of the Boltzmann kinetic equation and solution of the 3D fast ion tracking algorithm. The dynamics of the energetic particle redistribution and losses during sawtooth oscillation and toroidal Alfvén eigenmodes are studied. A method to decrease fast ion losses under the current conditions (0.4 T, 0.2 MA) is shown. The influence of the plasma parameters on the energetic ion confinement rate is investigated. Modelling for the Globus-M2 conditions (1 T, 0.5 MA) is performed.
NBI-assisted plasma heating with one or two injectors of fast neutral atoms was studied at the Globus-M2 spherical tokamak at the toroidal magnetic fields of 0.8–0.9 T and plasma currents of 0.35–0.4 ...MA. Measurements of the spatial temperature and electron density distributions, performed using the Thomson scattering diagnostics, showed a twofold increase in heating of plasma electrons during the injection of neutral particles with energies of up to 45 keV at the beam power of 0.75 MW, as compared to the ohmic heating regime. Switching on the second additional beam with the particle energy of up to 30 keV and power of up to 0.5 MW resulted in obtaining the hot ion mode in the range of mean plasma densities of (1.6–10) × 10
19
m
−3
. According to the data of active spectroscopy and neutral particle analyzer diagnostics, in the hot zone, the ion temperature reached 4 keV at the plasma density of 8 × 10
19
m
−3
, which is more than 2.5 times higher than the electron temperature.
We report the results of an investigation of the main energy parameters of a plasma jet from a coaxial accelerator with a conical insert in the charge-formation region. We have obtained the ...dependences of the pressure and the jet diameter of the deuterium plasma on the distance to the accelerator, as well as on its length and the voltage polarity at the electrodes. It is shown that plasma jet energy is a quadratic function of voltage. Among all tested modifications, an accelerator with a length not exceeding 220 mm, a negative polarity of the voltage at the central electrode, and a focusing conical insert at the beginning of the outer electrode is found to be most effective. At the source output, a deuterium plasma with an ionization front velocity exceeding 100 km/s and a pressure exceeding 1 MPa is obtained. We describe a method for measuring the jet pressure with the help of a deflecting screen and an FLIR SC7300M infrared camera.
At the compact spherical Globus-M2 tokamak, a series of experiments was conducted to study the effect of the injection of nitrogen on the discharge parameters. The experiments were carried out in ...discharges in deuterium in the divertor configuration, and the auxiliary heating was performed by deuterium neutral beam injection. During the nitrogen seeding, a substantial decrease in electron temperature near the divertor was recorded as well as a sharp decrease of the heat flux onto the divertor plate, while the density and temperature of the main plasma changed insignificantly. Simulations by the SOLPS-ITER showed a satisfactory agreement with the experiment.
Abstract
Active NPA measurements of the fast ion distribution using the neutral beam as an additional charge exchange target are discussed. Expressions for the calculation of the NPA signal based on ...the fast ion distribution and for the reconstruction of the fast ion distribution from the NPA signal are provided. Demonstration of the described approach is carried out on the Globus-M2 spherical tokamak, where a scanning system for the NPAs was recently installed. Main features of the active NPA application on Globus-M2 are considered. The energy and spatial distributions of fast deuterium ions at dedicated pitch angles are obtained and compared with the calculated ones. Key traits of the obtained distributions are considered and explained.
The diagnostic complex of the Globus-M2 spherical tokamak (
R
= 36 cm,
a
= 24 cm), the only operating tokamak in Russia with a divertor plasma configuration, which operates in the range of ...subthermonuclear temperatures (
T
e
to 1.6 keV,
T
i
to 4.5 keV) and densities (
n
e
to 2 × 10
20
m
–3
), is described. The Globus‑M2 tokamak is the unique scientific facility, which is a part of the Federal Center for Collective Use of the Ioffe Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences “Materials Science and Diagnostics in Advanced Technologies.” This allows third parties to perform their research using it. The work contains a list of all diagnostics currently available on the tokamak. The description of the diagnostics is structured in such a way that the reader gets an idea of their capabilities for measuring plasma parameters with an emphasis on the limits and accuracy of the measured values, and also spatial and time resolution. At the same time, many technical details are omitted in order to save space; references are given to papers with a more detailed description of individual diagnostics.
