Optical Surfaces to Fill Order for Joint European Torus Project

Optical component and system manufacturer Optical Surfaces Ltd. has announced an order from the Culham Centre for Fusion Energy (CCFE), the U.K’s national fusion research laboratory, to manufacture relay imaging reflective optics for two of its critical viewing diagnostic assemblies.

IR camera view of the inside of the JET fusion vessel. Courtesy of EUROfusion.

The order will be used for the Joint European Torus (JET), the world’s largest operational magnetic confinement plasma physics experiment at CCFE, when operating with a deuterium-tritium fuel mixture. The optics comprise a series of large diameter, ultra-smooth flat and spherical mirrors, some of which have a long radius of curvature. They will allow CCFE to monitor a number of physical and operational parameters within the JET fusion vessel using remote cameras from behind a 3-m-thick concrete shield wall.

"Selecting a supplier to manufacture the component optics was a very important decision because of the critical role that the relay cameras will play in the safe operation of JET,” said Tim May-Smith, diagnostics support physicist and engineer at CCFE. “Optical Surfaces Ltd. was our selected supplier because of their experience and knowledge in the area of large optics, precision manufacturing expertise and value-for-money offered.”

The relay imaging will be performed with reflective optics due to their resiliency to hostile conditions that high energy neutrons and radiation present inside the Torus Hall.