Synchrotron radiation from a runaway electron distribution in tokamaks

The synchrotron radiation emitted by runaway electrons in a fusion plasma provides information regarding the particle momenta and pitch-angles of the runaway electron population through the strong dependence of the synchrotron spectrum on these parameters. Information about the runaway density and its spatial distribution, as well as the time evolution of the above quantities, can also be deduced. In this paper we present the synchrotron radiation spectra for typical avalanching runaway electron distributions. Spectra obtained for a distribution of electrons are compared to the emission of mono-energetic electrons with a prescribed pitch-angle. We also examine the effects of magnetic field curvature and analyse the sensitivity of the resulting spectrum to perturbations to the runaway distribution. The implications for the deduced runaway electron parameters are discussed. We compare our calculations to experimental data from DIII-D and estimate the maximum observed runaway energy.Comment: 22 pages, 12 figures; updated author affiliations, fixed typos, added a sentence at the end of section I

Gaseous Electronics

Contains research objectives and reports on one research project.Joint Services Electronics Programs (U. S. Army, U. S. Navy, and U. S. Air Force) under Contract DA 28-043-AMC-02536(E

Plasma Physics

Contains reports on two research projects.United States Atomic Energy Commission (Contract AT(30-1)-1842)United States Air Force, Electronic Systems Division (Contract AF19(604)-5992)National Science Foundation (Grant G-24073

Microwave Gaseous Discharges

Contains reports on four research projects.Atomic Energy Commission under Contract AT(30-1)-184

Microwave Gaseous Discharges

Contains reports on five research projects.United States Atomic Energy Commission (Contract AT(30-1) 1842

Plasmas and Controlled Nuclear Fusion

Contains reports on three research projects.U. S. Atomic Energy Commission (Contract AT(30-1)-3980

Photoluminescence and Terahertz Emission from Femtosecond Laser-Induced Plasma Channels

Luminescence as a mechanism for terahertz emission from femtosecond laser-induced plasmas is studied. By using a fully microscopic theory, Coulomb scattering between electrons and ions is shown to lead to luminescence even for a spatially homogeneous plasma. The spectral features introduced by the rod geometry of laser-induced plasma channels in air are discussed on the basis of a generalized mode-function analysis.Comment: 4 pages with 2 figures

Ray-based calculations of backscatter in laser fusion targets

A 1D, steady-state model for Brillouin and Raman backscatter from an inhomogeneous plasma is presented. The daughter plasma waves are treated in the strong damping limit, and have amplitudes given by the (linear) kinetic response to the ponderomotive drive. Pump depletion, inverse-bremsstrahlung damping, bremsstrahlung emission, Thomson scattering off density fluctuations, and whole-beam focusing are included. The numerical code DEPLETE, which implements this model, is described. The model is compared with traditional linear gain calculations, as well as "plane-wave" simulations with the paraxial propagation code pF3D. Comparisons with Brillouin-scattering experiments at the OMEGA Laser Facility [T. R. Boehly et al., Opt. Commun. 133, p. 495 (1997)] show that laser speckles greatly enhance the reflectivity over the DEPLETE results. An approximate upper bound on this enhancement, motivated by phase conjugation, is given by doubling the DEPLETE coupling coefficient. Analysis with DEPLETE of an ignition design for the National Ignition Facility (NIF) [J. A. Paisner, E. M. Campbell, and W. J. Hogan, Fusion Technol. 26, p. 755 (1994)], with a peak radiation temperature of 285 eV, shows encouragingly low reflectivity. Re-absorption of Raman light is seen to be significant in this design.Comment: 16 pages, 19 figure