The polarimeter system for ITER features 10 viewing chords covering almost the full poloidal cross section of the plasma in a fan-like arrangement. The 10 laser beams all enter the plasma via 150 mm diam penetrations through the diagnostic plug at the low-field side. Small retroreflectors at the high-field side mirror the laser beams back towards t…
Modern charge-coupled-device (CCD) detectors can achieve peak quantum efficiencies of 90%, compared with less than 10% for the photocathode of an electron multiplier. We report on laboratory tests of examples of these two detector technologies to evaluate their relative performance for precision Doppler spectroscopy of laboratory plasmas. The tests…