On the mechanisms governing gas penetration into a tokamak plasma during a massive gas injection

A new 1D radial fluid code, IMAGINE, is used to simulate the penetration of gas into a tokamak plasma during a massive gas injection (MGI). The main result is that the gas is in general strongly braked as it reaches the plasma, due to mechanisms related to charge exchange and (to a smaller extent) recombination. As a result, only a fraction of the gas penetrates into the plasma. Also, a shock wave is created in the gas which propagates away from the plasma, braking and compressing the incoming gas. Simulation results are quantitatively consistent, at least in terms of orders of magnitude, with experimental data for a D 2 MGI into a JET Ohmic plasma. Simulations of MGI into the background plasma surrounding a runaway electron beam show that if the background electron density is too high, the gas may not penetrate, suggesting a possible explanation for the recent results of Reux et al in JET (2015 Nucl. Fusion 55 093013)

Velocity-space sensitivity of the time-of-flight neutron spectrometer at JET

The velocity-space sensitivities of fast-ion diagnostics are often described by so-called weight functions. Recently, we formulated weight functions showing the velocity-space sensitivity of the often dominant beam-target part of neutron energy spectra. These weight functions for neutron emission spectrometry (NES) are independent of the particular NES diagnostic. Here we apply these NES weight functions to the time-of-flight spectrometer TOFOR at JET. By taking the instrumental response function of TOFOR into account, we calculate time-of-flight NES weight functions that enable us to directly determine the velocity-space sensitivity of a given part of a measured time-of-flight spectrum from TOFOR

Relationship of edge localized mode burst times with divertor flux loop signal phase in JET

A phase relationship is identified between sequential edge localized modes (ELMs) occurrence times in a set of H-mode tokamak plasmas to the voltage measured in full flux azimuthal loops in the divertor region. We focus on plasmas in the Joint European Torus where a steady H-mode is sustained over several seconds, during which ELMs are observed in the Be II emission at the divertor. The ELMs analysed arise from intrinsic ELMing, in that there is no deliberate intent to control the ELMing process by external means. We use ELM timings derived from the Be II signal to perform direct time domain analysis of the full flux loop VLD2 and VLD3 signals, which provide a high cadence global measurement proportional to the voltage induced by changes in poloidal magnetic flux. Specifically, we examine how the time interval between pairs of successive ELMs is linked to the time-evolving phase of the full flux loop signals. Each ELM produces a clear early pulse in the full flux loop signals, whose peak time is used to condition our analysis. The arrival time of the following ELM, relative to this pulse, is found to fall into one of two categories: (i) prompt ELMs, which are directly paced by the initial response seen in the flux loop signals; and (ii) all other ELMs, which occur after the initial response of the full flux loop signals has decayed in amplitude. The times at which ELMs in category (ii) occur, relative to the first ELM of the pair, are clustered at times when the instantaneous phase of the full flux loop signal is close to its value at the time of the first ELM

The use of selected monochromatic X-rays to induce a cascade of gamma transitions from the 31-year nuclear isomer to the 4 second isomeric state of Hf-178

The Hf-178m2 nuclear spin isomer stores 2.45 MeV of energy for a half life of 31 years. Unperturbed, such nuclei radiate away the stored energy through the emission of gamma photons from electromagnetic (EM) transitions occurring within the nuclei. It has been shown that the irradiation of samples containing such nuclei with pulsed X-rays can accelerate the rate of the EM transitions by relaxing the selection rules upon changes of angular momenta. To date, most work has been done with incident X-ray energies between 9 and 10 keV, and in such cases the acceleration of the rate of gamma emission is immediate. Reported here is a channel for deexcitation excited by more energetic X-rays that results in a cascade of gamma transitions that includes a 4 second statistical time lag. This more protracted release of the energy stored in samples of the Hf-178m2 nuclear isomers encourages consideration of potential mechanical and thermal applications

Gamma-ray transitions induced in nuclear spin isomers by X-rays

Because of the high density of energy storage and the large cross section for its release there is considerable significance of the triggering of induced gamma emission from nuclear spin isomers to efforts to develop intense sources of short-wavelength radiation. The work reported here describes the current experimental focus and results recently obtained

Impact of nitrogen seeding on confinement and power load control of a high-triangularity JET ELMy H-mode plasma with a metal wall

This paper reports the impact on confinement and power load of the high-shape 2.5MA ELMy H-mode scenario at JET of a change from an all carbon plasma facing components to an all metal wall. In preparation to this change, systematic studies of power load reduction and impact on confinement as a result of fuelling in combination with nitrogen seeding were carried out in JET-C and are compared to their counterpart in JET with a metallic wall. An unexpected and significant change is reported on the decrease of the pedestal confinement but is partially recovered with the injection of nitrogen.Comment: 30 pages, 16 figure

The emissivity of W coatings deposited on carbon materials for fusion applications

Tungsten coatings deposited on carbon materials such as carbon fiber composite (CFC) or fine grain graphite are currently used in fusion devices as amour for plasma facing components (PFC). More than 4000 carbon tiles were W-coated by Combined Magnetron Sputtering and Ion Implantation technology for the ITER-like Wall at JET, ASDEX Upgrade and WEST tokamaks. The emissivity of W coatings is a key parameter required by protection systems of the W-coated PFC and also by the diagnostic tools in order to get correct values of temperature and heat loading. The emissivity of tungsten is rather well known, but the literature data refer to bulk tungsten or tungsten foils and not to coatings deposited on carbon materials. The emissivity was measured at the wavelengths of 1.064 μm, 1.75 μm, 3.75 μm and 4.0 μm. It was found that the structure of the substrate has a significant influence on the emissivity values. The temperature dependence of the emissivity in the range of 400 °C–1200 °C and the influence of the viewing angle were investigated as well. The results are given in a table for W coatings and for other materials of interest for fusion such as bulk W and bulk Be