Abstract
Thomson scattering is a widely used diagnostic tool for local measurement of both electron temperature and electron density. It is used for both low and high temperature plasmas and it is a key diagnostic on all fusion devices. The extremely low cross-section of the reaction increases the complexity of the design. Since the early days of fusion, when a simple single point measurement was used, the design moved to a multi-point system with a large number of spatial points, LIDAR system or high repetition Thomson scattering diagnostic which are used nowadays. The initial low electron temperature approximation has been replaced by the full relativistic approach necessary for large devices as well as for ITER with expected higher plasma temperature. Along the way, the different development needs and the issues that exist need to be addressed to ensure that the technique is developed sufficiently to handle challenges of the bigger devices of the future as well as current developments needed for ITER. For large devices, the achievement of the necessary temperature range represents an important task. Both high and low temperatures can be measured, however, a large dynamic range makes the design difficult as size of detector and dynamic range are linked together. Therefore, the requirements of the new devices are extending the boundaries of these parameters. Namely, ITER presents challenges as access is also difficult but big efforts have been made to cope with this. This contribution contains a broad review of Thomson scattering diagnostics used in current devices together with comments on recent progress and speculation regarding future developments needed for future large scale devices.