Sub-microsecond temporal evolution of edge density during edge localized modes in KSTAR tokamak plasmas inferred from ion cyclotron emission

During edge localised mode (ELM) crashes in KSTAR deuterium plasmas, bursts of spectrally structured ion cyclotron emission (ICE) are detected. Usually the ICE spectrum chirps downwards during an ELM crash, on sub-microsecond timescales. For KSTAR ICE where the separation of spectral peak frequencies is close to the proton cyclotron frequency Omega(cp) at the outer plasma edge, we show that the driving population of energetic ions is likely to be a subset of the 3 MeV fusion protons, born centrally on deeply passing orbits which drift from the core to the edge plasma. We report first principles modelling of this scenario using a particle-in-cell code, which evolves the full orbit dynamics of large numbers of energetic protons, thermal deuterons, and electrons self-consistently with the electric and magnetic fields. The Fourier transform of the excited fields in the nonlinear saturated regime of the simulations is the theoretical counterpart to the measured ICE spectra. Multiple simulation runs for different, adjacent, values of the plasma density under KSTAR edge conditions enable us to infer the theoretical dependence of ICE spectral structure on the local electron number density. By matching this density dependence to the observed time-dependence of chirping ICE spectra in KSTAR, we obtain sub-microsecond time resolution of the evolving local electron number density during the ELM crash.116Ysciescopu

Sub-microsecond temporal evolution of edge density during edge localized modes in KSTAR tokamak plasmas inferred from ion cyclotron emission

During edge localised mode (ELM) crashes in KSTAR deuterium plasmas, bursts of spectrally structured ion cyclotron emission (ICE) are detected. Usually the ICE spectrum chirps downwards during an ELM crash, on sub-microsecond timescales. For KSTAR ICE where the separation of spectral peak frequencies is close to the proton cyclotron frequency Ω<sub>cp</sub> at the outer plasma edge, we show that the driving population of energetic ions is likely to be a subset of the 3MeV fusion protons, born centrally on deeply passing orbits which drift from the core to the edge plasma. We report first principles modelling of this scenario using a particle-in-cell code, which evolves the full orbit dynamics of large numbers of energetic protons, thermal deuterons, and electrons self-consistently with the electric and magnetic fields. The Fourier transform of the excited fields in the nonlinear saturated regime of the simulations is the theoretical counterpart to the measured ICE spectra. Multiple simulation runs for different, adjacent, values of the plasma density under KSTAR edge conditions enable us to infer the theoretical dependence of ICE spectral structure on the local electron number density. By matching this density dependence to the observed time-dependence of chirping ICE spectra in KSTAR, we obtain sub-microsecond time resolution of the evolving local electron number density during the ELM crash

Interpretation of suprathermal emission at deuteron cyclotron harmonics from deuterium plasmas heated by neutral beam injection in the KSTAR tokamak

Intense bursts of suprathermal radiation, with spectral peaks at
 frequencies corresponding to the deuteron cyclotron frequency in the outer
 midplane edge region, are often detected from deuterium plasmas in the KSTAR
 tokamak that are heated by tangential neutral beam injection (NBI) of deuterons
 at 100 keV. Identifying the physical process by which this deuterium ion cyclotron
 emission (ICE) is generated, typically during the crash of edge localised modes
 (ELMs), assists the understanding of collective energetic ion behaviour in tokamak
 plasmas. In the context of KSTAR deuterium plasmas, it is also important to
 distinguish deuterium ICE from the ICE at cyclotron harmonics of fusion-born
 protons examined by B. Chapman et al., Nucl. Fusion 57, 124004 (2017) and 58,
 096027 (2018). We use particle orbit studies in KSTAR-relevant magnetic field
 geometry, combined with a linear analytical treatment of the magnetoacoustic
 cyclotron instability (MCI), to identify the sub-population of freshly ionised
 NBI deuterons that is likely to excite deuterium ICE. These deuterons are
 then represented as an energetic minority, together with the majority thermal
 deuteron population and electrons, in first principles kinetic particle-in-cell (PIC)
 computational studies. By solving the Maxwell-Lorentz equations directly for
 hundreds of millions of interacting particles with resolved gyro-orbits, together
 with the self-consistent electric and magnetic fields, the PIC approach enables us
 to study the collective relaxation of the energetic deuterons through the linear
 phase and deep into the saturated regime. The Fourier transform of the excited
 fields displays strong spectral peaks at multiple successive deuteron cyclotron
 harmonics, mapping well to the observed KSTAR deuterium ICE spectra. This
 outcome, combined with the time-evolution of the energy densities of the different
 particle populations and electric and magnetic field components seen in the PIC
 computations, supports our identification of the driving sub-population of NBI
 deuterons, and the hypothesis that its relaxation through the MCI generates the
 observed deuterium ICE signal. We conclude that the physical origin of this
 signal in KSTAR is indeed distinct from that of KSTAR proton ICE, and is in
 the same category as the NBI-driven ICE seen notably in TFTR tokamak and
 LHD heliotron-stellarator plasmas. ICE has been proposed as a potential passive
 diagnostic of energetic particle populations in ITER plasmas; this is assisted by
 clarifying and extending the physics basis of ICE in contemporary magnetically
 confined plasmas

Density dependence of ion cyclotron emission from deuterium plasmas in the large helical device

Ion cyclotron emission (ICE) driven by perpendicular neutral beam-injected (NBI) deuterons, together with the distinctive ICE driven by tangential NBI, have been observed from heliotron–stellarator plasmas in the large helical device (LHD). Radio frequency radiation in the lower hybrid range has also been observed Saito K. et al (2018 Plasma Fusion Res. 13 3402043), with frequency dependent on plasma density. Here we focus on recent measurements of ICE from deuterium plasmas in LHD, which show substantial variation in spectral character, between otherwise similar plasmas that have different local density in the emitting region. We analyse this variation by means of first principles simulations, carried out using a particle-in-cell (PIC) kinetic approach. We show, first, that this ICE is driven by perpendicular NBI deuterons, freshly ionised near their injection point in the outer midplane edge of LHD. We find that these NBI deuterons undergo collective sub-Alfvénic relaxation, which we follow deep into the nonlinear phase of the magnetoacoustic cyclotron instability (MCI). The frequency and wavenumber dependence of the saturated amplitudes of the excited fields determine our simulated ICE spectra, and these spectra are obtained for different local densities corresponding to the different LHD ICE-emitting plasmas. The variation with density of the spectral character of the simulated ICE corresponds well with that of the observed ICE from LHD. These results from heliotron–stellarator plasmas complement recent studies of density-dependent ICE from tokamak plasmas in KSTAR Thatipamula S.G. et al (2016 Plasma Phys. Control. Fusion 58 065003); Chapman B. et al (2017 Nucl. Fusion 57 124004), where the spectra vary on sub-microsecond timescales after an ELM crash. Taken together, these results confirm the strongly spatially localised character of ICE physics, and reinforce the potential of ICE as a diagnostic of energetic ion populations and of the ambient plasma

Nonlinear wave interactions generate high-harmonic cyclotron emission from fusion-born protons during a KSTAR ELM crash

The radio frequency detection system on the KSTAR tokamak has exceptionally high spectral and temporal resolution. This enables measurement of previously undetected fast plasma phenomena in the ion cyclotron range of frequencies. Here we report and analyse a novel spectrally structured ion cyclotron emission (ICE) feature in the range 500 MHz to 900 MHz, which exhibits chirping on sub-microsecond timescales. Its spectral peaks correspond to harmonics l of the proton cyclotron frequency f cp at the outer midplane edge, where l  =  20–36. This frequency range exceeds estimates of the local lower hybrid frequency f LH in the KSTAR deuterium plasma. The new feature is time-shifted with respect to a brighter lower-frequency chirping ICE feature in the range 200 MHz (8f cp) to 500 MHz (20f cp), which is probably driven (Chapman et al 2017 Nucl. Fusion 57 124004) by 3 MeV fusion-born protons undergoing collective relaxation by the magnetoacoustic cyclotron instability (MCI). Here we show that the new, fainter, higher-frequency chirping ICE feature is driven by nonlinear wave coupling between different neighbouring spectral peaks in the lower-frequency ICE feature. This follows from bispectral analysis of the measured KSTAR fields, and of the field amplitudes output from particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations of the KSTAR edge plasma containing fusion-born protons. This reinforces the identification of the MCI as the plasma physics process underlying proton harmonic ICE from KSTAR, while providing a novel instance of nonlinear wave coupling on very fast timescales

Nonlinear wave interactions generate high-harmonic cyclotron emission from fusion-born protons during a KSTAR ELM crash

The radio frequency detection system on the KSTAR tokamak has exceptionally high spectral and temporal resolution. This enables measurement of previously undetected fast plasma phenomena in the ion cyclotron range of frequencies. Here we report and analyse a novel spectrally structured ion cyclotron emission (ICE) feature in the range 500 MHz to 900 MHz, which exhibits chirping on sub-microsecond timescales. Its spectral peaks correspond to harmonics l of the proton cyclotron frequency f(cp) at the outer midplane edge, where l = 20-36. This frequency range exceeds estimates of the local lower hybrid frequency f(LH) in the KSTAR deuterium plasma. The new feature is time-shifted with respect to a brighter lower-frequency chirping ICE feature in the range 200 MHz (8f(cp)) to 500 MHz (20f(cp)), which is probably driven (Chapman et al 2017 Nucl. Fusion 57 124004) by 3 MeV fusion-born protons undergoing collective relaxation by the magnetoacoustic cyclotron instability (MCI). Here we show that the new, fainter, higher-frequency chirping ICE feature is driven by nonlinear wave coupling between different neighbouring spectral peaks in the lower-frequency ICE feature. This follows from bispectral analysis of the measured KSTAR fields, and of the field amplitudes output from particle-in-cell (PIC) simulations of the KSTAR edge plasma containing fusion-born protons. This reinforces the identification of the MCI as the plasma physics process underlying proton harmonic ICE from KSTAR, while providing a novel instance of nonlinear wave coupling on very fast timescales.11Nsciescopu