Overall, the upgrade aims to improve data quality for model validation, enable AI-driven fusion data convergence, and strengthen international partnerships with PPPL researchers embedded in Japan for several years.

Casali and UTK will conduct impurity experiments and advanced data analysis to understand radiation, temperature, and impurity effects on stability across the whole plasma.

The program includes installing and calibrating the PPPL-built XICS system at JT-60SA to validate cross-facility plasma behavior and transport models.

JT-60SA in Naka, Japan will receive a 3.3-ton XICS instrument built by PPPL, with first data expected in late 2026 and ongoing testing over the following two years.

WEST will receive two off-axis XICS systems to complement the central instrument, providing multi-angle, high-precision measurements of plasma properties.

The initiative advances AI-enhanced data analysis under DOE’s Genesis Mission, integrating diagnostic data into PPPL’s tokamak program for faster model validation and design insights.

The project secures 12.5 million in DOE support, with R-V Industries supplying critical components and PPPL personnel stationed abroad for several years to oversee deployment.

The collaboration centers on deploying X-ray Imaging Crystal Spectrometer (XICS) systems and multi-energy cameras to enhance temperature, flow, and impurity measurements across fusion facilities in Europe and Japan.

A major international fusion diagnostics upgrade led by PPPL, with DOE funding and partners MIT and UTK, will install advanced X-ray imaging and multi-energy plasma diagnostics at WEST in France and JT-60SA in Japan, backed by international labs.

UTK's Livia Casali will lead impurity transport studies using the SICAS code and the PPPL spectrometer to model ion and impurity transport from core to edge, integrating WEST and JT-60SA data.

MIT will implement two off-axis XICS systems on WEST to map temperature, rotation, and tungsten impurity across the plasma, enabling comprehensive transport studies.

DOE funding supports a vertical multi-energy soft X-ray camera for WEST alongside the two off-axis XICS at WEST and JT-60SA, and aligns with broader goals of data convergence and international collaboration.