Impurity transport in temperature gradient driven turbulence

In the present paper the transport of impurities driven by trapped electron (TE) mode turbulence is studied. Non-linear (NL) gyrokinetic simulations using the code GENE are compared with results from quasilinear (QL) gyrokinetic simulations and a computationally efficient fluid model. The main focus is on model comparisons for electron temperature gra- dient driven turbulence regarding the sign of the convective impurity velocity (pinch) and the impurity density gradient R/LnZ (peaking factor) for zero impurity flux. In particular, the scaling of the impurity peaking factors with impurity charge Z and with driving temper- ature gradient is investigated and compared with the results for Ion Temperature Gradient (ITG) driven turbulence. In addition, the impurity peaking is compared to the main ion peaking obtained by a self-consistent fluid calculation of the density gradients corresponding to zero particle fluxes. For the scaling of the peaking factor with impurity charge Z, a weak dependence is obtained from NL GENE and fluid simulations. The QL GENE results show a stronger dependence for low Z impurities and overestimates the peaking factor by up to a factor of two in this region. As in the case of ITG dominated turbulence, the peaking factors saturate as Z increases, at a level much below neoclassical predictions. However, the scaling with Z is weak or reversed as compared to the ITG case. The scaling of impurity peaking with the background temperature gradients is found to be weak in the NL GENE and fluid simulations. The QL results are also here found to significantly overestimate the peaking factor for low Z values. For the parameters considered, the background density gradient for zero particle flux is found to be slightly larger than the corresponding impurity zero flux gradient.Comment: 23 pages, 13 figures. Submitted to AIP: Physics of Plasma

Statistical description of turbulent transport for flux driven toroidal plasmas

A novel methodology to analyze non-Gaussian probability distribution functions (PDFs) of intermittent turbulent transport in global full-f gyrokinetic simulations is presented. In this work, the Auto-Regressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) model is applied to time series data of intermittent turbulent heat transport to separate noise and oscillatory trends, allowing for the extraction of non-Gaussian features of the PDFs. It was shown that non-Gaussian tails of the PDFs from first principles based gyrokinetic simulations agree with an analytical estimation based on a two fluid model.Comment: arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1008.321

Amorphous metallizations for high-temperature semiconductor device applications

The initial results of work on a class of semiconductor metallizations which appear to hold promise as primary metallizations and diffusion barriers for high temperature device applications are presented. These metallizations consist of sputter-deposited films of high T sub g amorphous-metal alloys which (primarily because of the absence of grain boundaries) exhibit exceptionally good corrosion-resistance and low diffusion coefficients. Amorphous films of the alloys Ni-Nb, Ni-Mo, W-Si, and Mo-Si were deposited on Si, GaAs, GaP, and various insulating substrates. The films adhere extremely well to the substrates and remain amorphous during thermal cycling to at least 500 C. Rutherford backscattering and Auger electron spectroscopy measurements indicate atomic diffussivities in the 10 to the -19th power sq cm/S range at 450 C

Particle transport in density gradient driven TE mode turbulence

The turbulent transport of main ion and trace impurities in a tokamak device in the presence of steep electron density gradients has been studied. The parameters are chosen for trapped electron (TE) mode turbulence, driven primarily by steep electron density gradients relevant to H-mode physics, but with a transition to temperature gradient driven turbulence as the density gradient flattens. Results obtained through non-linear (NL) and quasilinear (QL) gyrokinetic simulations using the GENE code are compared with results obtained from a fluid model. Main ion and impurity transport is studied by examining the balance of convective and diffusive transport, as quantified by the density gradient corresponding to zero particle flux (peaking factor). Scalings are obtained for the impurity peaking with the background electron density gradient and the impurity charge number. It is shown that the impurity peaking factor is weakly dependent on impurity charge and significantly smaller than the driving electron density gradient.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures. Submitted to Nuclear Fusion SP

Two-axis magnetic field sensor

A ferromagnetic thin-film based magnetic field sensor with first and second sensitive direction sensing structures each having a nonmagnetic intermediate layer with two major surfaces on opposite sides thereof having a magnetization reference layer on one and an anisotropic ferromagnetic material sensing layer on the other having a length in a selected length direction and a smaller width perpendicular thereto and parallel to the relatively fixed magnetization direction. The relatively fixed magnetization direction of said magnetization reference layer in each is oriented in substantially parallel to the substrate but substantially perpendicular to that of the other. An annealing process is used to form the desired magnetization directions

Nonlinear structures in interchange mode turbulence

Generation of linearly unstable streamers and nonlinearly saturated zonal flows have been investigated using two-dimensional simulations of interchange mode turbulence. It has been shown that nonlinear diamagnetic interactions tend to inhibit spectral cascades towards larger length scales and consequently suppress the nonlinear excitation of zonal flows. The latter has also been found to be in qualitative agreement with a theoretical analysis based on the reductive perturbation method

Zonal flow generation in ion temperature gradient mode turbulence

In the present work the zonal flow (ZF) growth rate in toroidal ion-temperature-gradient (ITG) mode turbulence including the effects of elongation is studied analytically. The scaling of the ZF growth with plasma parameters is examined for typical tokamak parameter values. The physical model used for the toroidal ITG driven mode is based on the ion continuity and ion temperature equations whereas the ZF evolution is described by the vorticity equation. The results indicate that a large ZF growth is found close to marginal stability and for peaked density profiles and these effects may be enhanced by elongation.Comment: 20 pages, 5 figure

Zonal flow generation in collisionless trapped electron mode turbulence

In the present work the generation of zonal flows in collisionless trapped electron mode (TEM) turbulence is studied analytically. A reduced model for TEM turbulence is utilized based on an advanced fluid model for reactive drift waves. An analytical expression for the zonal flow growth rate is derived and compared with the linear TEM growth, and its scaling with plasma parameters is examined for typical tokamak parameter values.Comment: 20 pages, 4 figure

Occupational asthma: a review.

Occupational asthma is the most common form of occupational lung disease in the developed world at the present time. In this review, the epidemiology, pathogenesis/mechanisms, clinical presentations, management, and prevention of occupational asthma are discussed. The population attributable risk of asthma due to occupational exposures is considerable. Current understanding of the mechanisms by which many agents cause occupational asthma is limited, especially for low-molecular-weight sensitizers and irritants. The diagnosis of occupational asthma is generally established on the basis of a suggestive history of a temporal association between exposure and the onset of symptoms and objective evidence that these symptoms are related to airflow limitation. Early diagnosis, elimination of exposure to the responsible agent, and early use of inhaled steroids may play important roles in the prevention of long-term persistence of asthma. Persistent occupational asthma is often associated with substantial disability and consequent impacts on income and quality of life. Prevention of new cases is the best approach to reducing the burden of asthma attributable to occupational exposures. Future research needs are identified