Initial Operation of an Improved Thomson Scattering System at DIII-D

A redesigned Thomson scattering data acquisition system has been installed for the eight chord, forty channel divertor Thomson system at DIII-D. The new electronics contain significantly faster and quieter analog components which improve the signal to noise ratio of the system by a factor of three. An internal integration and sample and hold circuit has been added to the new detector modules which replaces aging the digitizers and couples to a standard digitizer used throughout DIII-D. This new design improves the maintainability of the system and replaces unreliable, obsolete components. A description of the system and profiles from the initial year of operation will be presented with status of the upgrade of the complete Thomson system.