Calibration and characterization of Bayard-Alpert gauges operating in high magnetic fields

Standard Bayard-Alpert gauges have been successfully operated for several months in the 0.3 to 0.7 T magnetic fields near the plasma edge of the Tandem Mirror Experiment-Upgrade (TMX-U). The gauges clearly measure gas pressure and maintain calibration within 10% during operation. The gauge filaments are tungsten and are heated with dc. The gauge housing allows operation in the low density plasma outside the limiter radius by thermalizing the neutral gas that enters the gauge and by preventing plasma from entering the gauge. Changing the orientation of the gauge with respect to the magnetic field changes the gauge calibration, or effective sensitivity, by as much as a factor of 100. Only some orientations of the filament collector plane with respect to the magnetic field direction allow calibrated operation as a pressure gauge. This range of angles is approximately from 20 to 50 degrees. The gauge is oriented to produce the desired sensitivity, then calibrated for the magnetic field effects for that position. The correction to sensitivity for magnet field is not strongly species dependent. The gauge species sensitivities for CH4, Xe,and Kr measured in the high magnetic fields were found to be close to the published values measured in no magnetic field.