Components & Hardware
Magnetic Pickup Coil
A simple sensor that measures the plasma's magnetic field.
- Role
- Magnetic sensing
Pickup coils and flux loops around the vessel sense the plasma's magnetic field, feeding the real-time reconstruction of its current, position and shape that control depends on.
Common questions
What does the magnetic pickup coil measure?
It senses the local magnetic field and its rate of change, feeding the real-time reconstruction of plasma position, shape and current that the control system acts on.
Why are these diagnostics critical?
Because the control loop can only hold the plasma as well as it can see it — magnetic sensors are the primary, fast, robust measurement underpinning position and shape control.