Thomson scattering at plasma densities below 1012 cm−3

Major upgrades in the ruby-laser Thomson scattering system on the microwave-driven ELMO Bumpy Torus-Scale plasma have enabled routine and reliable measurements of the electron temperature and density along a plasma radius. Consisting of both signal-to-noise enhancement techniques and refined data handling procedures, these upgrades allow density determinations down to 2×1011 cm−3. Radial profiles of bulk electron parameters are essentially flat across the core plasma. Evidence is presented for a 1011-cm−3 density suprathermal distribution of electrons, which leads to an understanding of contradictory temperature measurements and of energy flow in the plasma.