Design of multichannel laser interferometry for W7-X

An eight channel interferometer is developed for density feedback control and the continuous measurement of electron density profiles in the stellarator W7-X. An additional sightline is launched in the geometry of the Thomson scattering for cross calibration. Due to the W7-X coil geometry access is strongly restricted. This motivates the optimization of the sightline geometry and design studies for supplementary chords. In-vessel retroreflectors will be used and inserted in the first wall elements. To cope with associated mechanical vibrations and thermal drifts during the discharges with envisaged duration of 30min either two-color or second harmonic interferometry techniques must be applied. Optimum wavelengths are found to be about 10 and 5μm. A CO2∕CO interferometer (10μm∕5μm) will be tested and compared with an existing CO2∕HeNe test interferometer. A special difficulty of remotely operated diagnostics is the need of long transmission lines with a path length of about 60m required from the diagnostic...