"Wild Cables" in Fusion Plasmas and their Diagnostics with Spectral Line Stark Broadening

Abstract

We discuss the opportunities of diagnosing the parameters of hypothetical "wild cables" in fusion plasmas via analyzing the Stark broadening of hydrogen spectral lines. The "wild cables" concept have suggested the observed long-lived skeletal structures in tokamaks and Z-pinches to be caused by a microdust-assembled skeleton. We present the results of calculating the widths of vacuum channels produced by the pressure of on-skeleton high-frequency (HF) electromagnetic waves of the TEM type, which thus might protect the skeletons from ambient high-temperature plasma. The values of amplitude of such wave appear to be compatible with the measurements of those in-plasma HF electric fields in tokamak T-10 and a gaseous Z-pinch which give observable Stark broadening of hydrogen spectral lines.