Diagnostics & Measurement
Plasma Spectroscopy
Reading the plasma's emitted light to find its impurities and temperature.
Every ion emits characteristic spectral lines. Spectroscopy reads that light to identify impurities, measure their density and infer ion temperature and rotation from line shapes — key to controlling impurities and Z_eff.
Common questions
What does plasma spectroscopy reveal?
The light the plasma emits identifies impurities and their concentrations, tracking plasma purity — directly relevant to keeping HYPERION near its clean Zeff of 1.16.
Why does purity monitoring matter?
Because impurities radiate and dilute the fuel, so watching them is essential to holding the power balance, especially in the burner.