APRIL 19--CEDIP Infrared Systems (Beaubourg, France; www.cedip-infrared.com), specialists in thermal IR camera technology, has won a new contract for supplying an IR camera system to the Joint European Torus (JET) nuclear fusion reactor. JET (www.jet.efda.org) is the world's largest nuclear fusion research facility. Its unique features are allowing scientists to explore the unknown, to investigate fusion's potential as a safe, clean, and virtually limitless energy source for future generations. Situated at Culham in the UK, JET is run as a collaboration between all European fusion organizations and with the participation of scientists from around the globe.
Based upon CEDIP's advanced EMERALD camera technology, which uses large-format (640 x 512 pixel) InSb focal-plane-array detectors, the new IR camera system will monitor the plasma temperature inside the reactor through a set of IR endoscopes. The adapted version of the EMERALD camera to be supplied to JET will be assembled into a specifically designed housing to protect it against the intense magnetic field generated by the supra conductor coils.
The challenge for the IR camera system will be to measure plasma temperature from 100°C to 2000°C within a single range, when operating at 100 images/s in full-frame mode. This can be achieved only by using the extended-dynamic-range technique that CEDIP has already developed for a similar project for the French fusion reactor TORE SUPRA, located at Cadarache in Southern France.
