Calculations of alpha particle loss for reversed magnetic shear in the Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor

Hamiltonian coordinate, guiding center code calculations of the toroidal field ripple loss of alpha particles from a reversed shear plasma predict both total alpha losses and ripple diffusion losses to be greater than those from a comparable non-reversed magnetic shear plasma in the Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor (TFTR) [Fusion Technol. 21, 1324 (1992)]. High central q is found to increase alpha ripple losses as well as first orbit losses of alphas in the reversed shear simulations. A simple ripple loss model, benchmarked against the guiding center code, is found to work satisfactorily in transport analysis modelling of reversed and monotonic shear scenarios. Alpha ripple transport on TFTR affects ions within r/a=0.5, not at the plasma edge. The entire plasma is above threshold for stochastic ripple loss of alpha particles at birth energy in the reversed shear case simulated, so that all trapped 3.5 MeV alphas are lost stochastically or through prompt losses. The 40% alpha particle loss predictions for TFTR suggest that reduction of toroidal field ripple will be a critical issue in the design of a reversed shear fusion reactor

Neoclassical Simulations of Fusion Alpha Particles in Pellet Charge Exchange Experiments on the Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor

Neoclassical simulations of alpha particle density profiles in high fusion power plasmas on the Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor (TFTR) [Phys. Plasmas 5 (1998) 1577] are found to be in good agreement with measurements of the alpha distribution function made with a sensitive active neutral particle diagnostic. The calculations are carried out in Hamiltonian magnetic coordinates with a fast, particle-following Monte Carlo code which includes the neoclassical transport processes, a recent first-principles model for stochastic ripple loss and collisional effects. New global loss and confinement domain calculations allow an estimate of the actual alpha particle densities measured with the pellet charge exchange diagnostic

NSTX Diagnostics for Fusion Plasma Science Studies

This paper will discuss how plasma science issues are addressed by the diagnostics for the National Spherical Torus Experiment (NSTX), the newest large-scale machine in the magnetic confinement fusion (MCF) program. The development of new schemes for plasma confinement involves the interplay of experimental results and theoretical interpretations. A fundamental requirement, for example, is a determination of the equilibria for these configurations. For MCF, this is well established in the solutions of the Grad-Shafranov equation. While it is simple to state its basis in the balance between the kinetic and magnetic pressures, what they are as functions of space and time are often not easy to obtain. Quantities like the plasma pressure and current density are not directly measurable. They are derived from data that are themselves complex products of more basic parameters. The same difficulties apply to the understanding of plasma instabilities. Not only are the needs for spatial and temporal resolution more stringent, but the wave parameters which characterize the instabilities are difficult to resolve. We will show how solutions to the problems of diagnostic design on NSTX, and the physics insight the data analysis provides, benefits both NSTX and the broader scientific community

Ion acceleration in plasmas emerging from a helicon-heated magnetic-mirror device

Using laser-induced fluorescence, measurements have been made of metastable argon-ion, Ar{sup +}*(3d{sup 4} f{sub 7/2}), velocity distributions on the major axis of an axisymmetric magnetic-mirror device whose plasma is sustained by helicon wave absorption. Within the mirror, these ions have sub-eV temperature and, at most, a subthermal axial drift. In the region outside the mirror coils, conditions are found where these ions have a field-parallel velocity above the acoustic speed, to an axial energy of {approx}30 eV, while the field-parallel ion temperature remains low. The supersonic Ar{sup +}*(3d{sup 4} f{sub 7/2}) are accelerated to one-third of their final energy within a short region in the plasma column, {le}1 cm, and continue to accelerate over the next 5 cm. Neutral gas density strongly affects the supersonic Ar{sup +}*(3d{sup 4} f{sub 7/2}) density

Calculations of alpha particle loss for reversed magnetic shear in the Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor

Hamiltonian coordinate, guiding center code calculations of the toroidal field ripple loss of alpha particles from a reversed shear plasma predict both total alpha losses and ripple diffusion losses to be greater than those from a comparable non-reversed magnetic shear plasma in the Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor (TFTR) [Fusion Technol. 21, 1324 (1992)]. High central q is found to increase alpha ripple losses as well as first orbit losses of alphas in the reversed shear simulations. A simple ripple loss model, benchmarked against the guiding center code, is found to work satisfactorily in transport analysis modelling of reversed and monotonic shear scenarios. Alpha ripple transport on TFTR affects ions within r/a=0.5, not at the plasma edge. The entire plasma is above threshold for stochastic ripple loss of alpha particles at birth energy in the reversed shear case simulated, so that all trapped 3.5 MeV alphas are lost stochastically or through prompt losses. The 40% alpha particle loss predictions for TFTR suggest that reduction of toroidal field ripple will be a critical issue in the design of a reversed shear fusion reactor

Characteristics of Short Wavelength Compressional Alfven Eigenmodes

Most Alfvenic activity in the frequency range between Toroidal Alfven Eigenmodes and roughly one half of the ion cyclotron frequency on NSTX [M. Ono, et al., Nucl. Fusion 40 (2000) 557], that is, approximately 0.3 MHz up to ≈ 1.2 MHz, are modes propagating counter to the neutral beam ions. These have been modeled as Compressional and Global Alfven Eigenmodes (CAE and GAE) and are excited through a Doppler-shifted cyclotron resonance with the beam ions. There is also a class of co-propagating modes at higher frequency than the counter-propagating CAE and GAE. These modes have been identified as CAE, and are seen mostly in the company of a low frequency, n=1 kink-like mode. In this paper we present measurements of the spectrum of these high frequency CAE (hfCAE), and their mode structure. We compare those measurements to a simple model of CAE and present evidence of a curious non-linear coupling of the hfCAE and the low frequency kink-like mode