Reduced Size LHD-type Fusion Reactor with D-shaped Magnetic Surface

A new winding law for the continuous helical coils is proposed for Large Helical Device (LHD) type fusion reactors to satisfy the requirements for a wide blanket space and large plasma volume. Helical coils wound along the geodesic line of a torus with an elongated cross section can produce a magnetic configuration having a D-shaped magnetic surface with a magnetic well in the core region and high magnetic shear in the peripheral regions. The DT alpha particle confinement performance is greatly improved by increasing the elongation factor κ of the cross section of the winding frame for the helical coils. The results suggest that a smaller LHD-type fusion reactor can be realized

Visible Images Induced by the Three-Dimensionally Complicated Structure of the Plasma Periphery in the Large Helical Device

The magnetic components produced by nonaxisymmetric superconducting coils in the Large Helical Device produce a complicated magnetic structure in the plasma periphery, which strongly depend on the configuration of electric currents in the magnetic coils. A tangentially viewing charge-coupled device camera has observed line emission of doubly ionized carbon CIII. The dependence of the 3-D distribution of the CIII emission on magnetic configurations will be discussed

Ignition Condition for p-^11B Reactor with LHD type Magnetic Field Configuration

Proton-Boron fusion reactor (p-^11B reactor) might be able to be achieved by the combination of the LHD type magnetic field configuration and the ion cyclotron range of frequency (ICRF) heating scheme of protons. The LHD magnetic field has the excellent ability for the high energy particle confinements. This characteristic is studied by numerical computations of high energetic particles in the LHD magnetic field where the strong ICRF field is applied. It is shown by the Langevin equation analysis that the steady state distribution function of ICRF heated proton becomes to the quasilinear plateau distribution function (QPDF). The fusion reaction rate of p-11B is calculated for QPDF protons and studied the ignition condition. It is found that the ignition condition becomes possible to be satisfied if effective temperature of proton is of the order of 300 keV and nτ >~ 10^22 s/m3

Cellular HIV-1 DNA levels in patients receiving antiretroviral therapy strongly correlate with therapy initiation timing but not with therapy duration

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Viral reservoir size refers to cellular human immunodeficiency virus-1 (HIV-1) DNA levels in CD4⁺T lymphocytes of peripheral blood obtained from patients with plasma HIV-1-RNA levels (viral load, VL) maintained below the detection limit by antiretroviral therapy (ART). We measured HIV-1 DNA levels in CD4⁺lymphocytes in such patients to investigate their clinical significance.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>CD4⁺T lymphocytes were isolated from the peripheral blood of 61 patients with a VL maintained at less than 50 copies/ml for at least 4 months by ART and total DNA was purified. HIV-1 DNA was quantified by nested PCR to calculate the copy number per 1 million CD4⁺lymphocytes (relative amount) and the copy number in 1 ml of blood (absolute amount). For statistical analysis, the Spearman rank or Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used, with a significance level of 5%.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>CD4 cell counts at the time of sampling negatively correlated with the relative amount of HIV-1 DNA (median = 33 copies/million CD4⁺lymphocytes; interquartile range [IQR] = 7-123 copies/million CD4⁺lymphocytes), but were not correlated with the absolute amounts (median = 17 copies/ml; IQR = 5-67 copies/ml). Both absolute and relative amounts of HIV-1 DNA were significantly lower in six patients in whom ART was initiated before positive seroconversion than in 55 patients in whom ART was initiated in the chronic phase, as shown by Western blotting. CD4 cell counts before ART introduction were also negatively correlated with both the relative and absolute amounts of HIV-1 DNA. Only the relative amounts of HIV-1 DNA negatively correlated with the duration of VL maintenance below the detection limit, while the absolute amounts were not significantly correlated with this period.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The amounts of cellular HIV-1 DNA in patients with VLs maintained below the detection limit by the introduction of ART correlated with the timing of ART initiation but not with the duration of ART. In addition, CD4⁺T lymphocytes, which were newly generated by ART, diluted latently infected cells, indicating that measurements of the relative amounts of cellular HIV-1 DNA might be underestimated.</p

Spatial resolved high-energy particle diagnostic system using time-of-flight neutral particle analyzer in Large Helical Device

The time-of-flight-type neutral particle analyzer has an ability of horizontal scanning from 40 to 100° of the pitch angle. The information from the spatially resolved energy spectrum gives not only the ion temperature but also the information of the particle confinement and the electric field in plasmas. We have been studying the energy distributions at various magnetic configurations in the neutral beam injection (NBI) plasma. The spatially resolved energy spectra can be observed during long discharges of the NBI plasma by continuous scanning of the neutral particle analyzer. The shape of spectra is almost similar from 44° to 53°. However, the spectra from 55° are strongly varied. They reflect the injection pitch angle of the beam. The pitch angle scanning experiment during the long discharge of NBI plasma has also been made under the reversal of the magnetic field direction. NBI2 becomes counter injected with the reversal. We can easily observe the difference between co- and counter injections of NBI. During the electron cyclotron heating in the low-density plasma for the formation of the internal thermal barrier, large neutral particle increase or decease can be observed. The degree of the increase/decrease depends on the energy and the density. The reason for the variation of the particle flux is that the orbit of the trapped particle changes due to the electric field formed by the strong electron cyclotron heating

Recent Results from LHD Experiment with Emphasis on Relation to Theory from Experimentalist’s View

he Large Helical Device (LHD) has been extending an operational regime of net-current free plasmas towardsthe fusion relevant condition with taking advantage of a net current-free heliotron concept and employing a superconducting coil system. Heating capability has exceeded 10 MW and the central ion and electron temperatureshave reached 7 and 10 keV, respectively. The maximum value of β and pulse length have been extended to 3.2% and 150 s, respectively. Many encouraging physical findings have been obtained. Topics from recent experiments, which should be emphasized from the aspect of theoretical approaches, are reviewed. Those are (1) Prominent features in the inward shifted configuration, i.e., mitigation of an ideal interchange mode in the configuration with magnetic hill, and confinement improvement due to suppression of both anomalous and neoclassical transport, (2) Demonstration ofbifurcation of radial electric field and associated formation of an internal transport barrier, and (3) Dynamics of magnetic islands and clarification of the role of separatrix

DT Fusion Ignition of LHD-Type Helical Reactor by Joule Heating Associated with Magnetic Axis Shift

A new concept to achieve current drive with magnetic axis shift, which is caused by vertical magnetic field coil current change in LHD-type magnetic configuration, is proposed. It is confirmed numerically that an LHD-type helical fusion reactor can be ignited by high-current Joule heating. MHD stability of the plasma current in a helical system is analyzed theoretically. Large plasma current that flows in the opposite direction of the helical coil current is MHD stable. Currents with a hollow current profile are more stable than those with a flat-top profile. The central peak current profile will be redistributed to the hollow current profile. A new concept involving the current-driven and current-less hybrid operational scenario of an LHD-type helical reactor is discussed

Alpha-Particle Confinement Control of the Geodesic Winding of LHD-Type Fusion Reactors

It is calculated that the geodesic winding D-shaped helical magnetic field configuration can actively control the confinement and exhaust of alpha particles. A trapped particle orbit diagram (TPOD), which shows the presence of re-entering particles and specifies the loss-cone depth, is obtained from the deeply trapped particle orbits in a helical mirror magnetic field. The loss-cone depth becomes shallow when the magnetic axis is shifted to the inner side. On the other hand, the loss-cone depth can reach to the magnetic axis when the magnetic axis is shifted fairly to the outer side. Active control of the confinement and exhaust of 3.52 MeV alpha particles by controlling the magnetic axis position is also confirmed by collisionless orbit calculations