The project will build and install two innovative diagnostics for neutron imaging and soft X-ray emissions at RFX-MOD2.

A GEM detector-based soft X-ray imaging system that can provide high spatial resolution (ranging from 1 to 20 mm), extremely high time resolution (10-100 microseconds), and spectroscopic energy information (with an energy resolution of about 15-20% at 10 keV). This newly developed GEM X-ray imaging camera is the first of its kind, combining these features. It will be beneficial for analyzing the role played by magnetic topology on impurities' behavior. Specifically, the core 3D magnetic perturbations of the plasma column in the reversed-field pinch configuration can impact plasma boundary, plasma-wall interaction, and impurity penetration. Moreover, the continuous X-ray emission spectrum in the range of up to 20 keV will provide valuable information about electron acceleration during magnetic reconnection processes, which is similar to phenomena observed in astrophysical plasmas.

The second diagnostic system is a neutron camera that will be the first to combine both plasma information on the neutron spatial emission and the energy of the emitted neutron, with a count rate capability of up to 1 MHz. The neutron camera will offer important insights into reversed-field pinch physics, particularly related to global magnetic reconnection processes that can induce the conversion of magnetic energy into kinetic energy. This conversion, whose physical origin is still under debate, is primarily observed in terms of ion heating and acceleration and the subsequent transient enhancement of the neutron rate. Additionally, by combining pulsed high-energy neutral beam injection and neutron detection, the fast particle confinement properties of the reversed-field pinch will be studied.