Operations with spherical calorimetric loads in different configurations at gyrotron test stands at EPFL and QST

A research activity in the Institute for Plasma Science and Technology of National Research Council (ISTP-CNR, Italy, former IFP-CNR) and in L.T. Calcoli (LTC, Italy) is aimed at the design and construction of calorimetric loads for Absorption and measurement of high power millimeter-waves in the electron cyclotron frequency range. Recently, two CW 170 GHz loads, one for the European ITER gyrotron test facility and the other for the FALCON test-bed, have been installed at the Swiss Plasma Center (SPC, Switzerland). One short pulse (2 s) load for 1 MW, designed and optimised to operate at two different frequencies (84 GHz and 126 GHz), was provided for testing and conditioning two new dual-frequency gyrotrons for the Tokamak à Configuration Variable (TCV, Switzerland). Two additional CW loads, designed for absorbing powers higher than 1 MW, have been delivered to the National Institutes for Quantum and Radiological Science and Technology (QST, Japan) and exploited for the acceptance tests and the conditioning of the prototype of the Japanese ITER gyrotron. The present status and the most recent experimental results achieved in the framework of this development activity are reported in the paper.