Abstract
SPEKTRE (Sheath, Plasma Edge Kinetic Turbulence Radio-frequency experiment) is a new linear plasma experiment on the point to start operation at the University of Lorraine (Nancy, France). SPEKTRE reuses 13 flat copper coils from the former W7-AS stellarator to create a largely homogeneous magnetic field in a chamber 6 meters long and 90 cm in diameter. The plasma is generated at one end of the machine by a Helicon source chamber, which comes from the IShTAR machine at the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics in Garching—the same institution that donated the 13 W7-AS coils and with which a joint SPEKTRE operation program has been signed. During its first operational phase, which is scheduled from December 2026, a maximum steady-state magnetic field of 0.1 Tesla will be generated. During the second operational phase, scheduled to begin in early 2029, the coils will be able to generate a magnetic field of 0.5 Tesla during pulses lasting a few seconds. In this presentation, I will outline the main areas of fundamental and applied research being conducted by our team at SPEKTRE, including: – ICRH heating of fusion plasmas. A traveling-wave antenna will be tested there starting in 2027, in collaboration with the Royal Military Academy in Brussels and CEA Cadarache; – Interactions between a magnetized plasma and a wall, particularly to validate a liquid-metal technology based on Capillary Porous Systems developed within our laboratory; – Turbulence in magnetized plasmas and its control, drawing in particular on AI developments; – The development of plasma diagnostics, such as a new type of microwave refractometer; – Modelling work conducted in parallel with these experimental studies.