Signal acquisition in Cherenkov-type diagnostics of electron beams within tokamak facilities

The paper presents feasibility and design studies of Cherenkov-type probes, a development of the measuring head construction designed for different tokamak devices, and in particular the acquisition of optical signals to a data storage system. In order to lower the energy threshold of the electron detection the authors applied radiators with the highest values of the refractive index. Different radiator materials, such as aluminium nitride and CVD diamond were applied. Several versions of measuring heads and different manipulators, e.g., a movable vacuum-tight shaft or a fast-moving reciprocating probe, were manufactured and used. The practical application of the Cherenkov probes required also a consideration of spectral characteristics of optical fibres and photomultipliers. The Cherenkov radiation, as generated inside the radiators, is lead out through separate fibres (optical cables) to the atmospheric pressure side. The emitted radiation in the blue (near ultraviolet) spectrum range should be collected and delivered through appropriate optical cables to a control room, amplified within photomultipliers and recorded in a digital form. In order to investigate an electron energy distribution the multi-channel probes have also been designed and applied.