185 research outputs found
Full toroidal imaging of non-axisymmetric plasma material interaction in the National Spherical Torus Experiment divertor
Modeling detachment physics in the NSTX snowflake divertor
The snowflake divertor is a proposed technique for coping with the tokamak power exhaust problem in next-step experiments and eventually reactors, where extreme power fluxes to material surfaces represent a leading technological and physics challenge. In lithium-conditioned National Spherical Torus Experiment (NSTX) discharges, application of the snowflake divertor typically induced partial outer divertor detachment and severalfold heat flux reduction. UEDGE is used to analyze and compare conventional and snowflake divertor configurations in NSTX. Matching experimental upstream profiles and divertor measurements in the snowflake requires target recycling of 0.97 vs. 0.91 in the conventional case, implying partial saturation of the lithium-based pumping mechanism. Density scans are performed to analyze the mechanisms that facilitate detachment in the snowflake, revealing that increased divertor volume provides most of the parallel heat flux reduction. Also, neutral gas power loss is magnified by the increased wetted area in the snowflake, and plays a key role in generating volumetric recombination. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved
Fast neutral pressure gauges in NSTX
Successful operation in NSTX of two prototype fast-response micro ionization gauges during plasma operations has motivated us to install five gauges at different toroidal and poloidal locations to measure the edge neutral pressure and its dependence on the type of discharge (L-mode, H-mode, CHI) and the fueling method and location. The edge neutral pressure is also used as an input to the transport analysis codes TRANSP and DEGAS-2. The modified PDX-type Penning gauges are well suited for pressure measurements in the NSTX divertor where the toroidal field is relatively high. Behind the NSTX outer divertor plates where the field is lower, an unshielded fast ion gauge of a new design has been installed. This gauge was developed after laboratory testing of several different designs in a vacuum chamber with applied magnetic fields
NSTX Report on FES Joint Facilities Research Milestone 2010
Annual Target: Conduct experiments on major fusion facilities to improve understanding of the heat transport in the tokamak scrape-off layer (SOL) plasma, strengthening the basis for projecting divertor conditions in ITER. The divertor heat flux profiles and plasma characteristics in the tokamak scrape-off layer will be measured in multiple devices to investigate the underlying thermal transport processes. The unique characteristics of C-Mod, DIII-D, and NSTX will enable collection of data over a broad range of SOL and divertor parameters (e.g., collisionality ν*, beta β, parallel heat flux q||, and divertor geometry). Coordinated experiments using common analysis methods will generate a data set that will be compared with theory and simulation
NSTX tangential divertor camera
Strong magnetic field shear around the divertor x-point is numerically predicted to lead to strong spatial asymmetries in turbulence driven particle fluxes. To visualize the turbulence and associated impurity line emission near the lower x-point region, a new tangential observation port has been recently installed on NSTX. A reentrant sapphire window with a moveable in-vessel mirror images the divertor region from the center stack out to R 80 cm and views the x-point for most plasma configurations. A coherent fiber optic bundle transmits the image through a remotely selected filter to a fast camera, for example a 40500 frames/sec Photron CCD camera. A gas puffer located in the lower inboard divertor will localize the turbulence in the region near the x-point. Edge fluid and turbulent codes UEDGE and BOUT will be used to interpret impurity and deuterium emission fluctuation measurements in the divertor
Beam Cooling with ionisation losses
A novel type of particle "cooling", called Ionization Cooling, is applicable
to slow (v of the order of 0.1c) ions stored in a small ring. The many
traversals through a thin foil enhance the nuclear reaction probability, in a
steady configuration in which ionisation losses are recovered at each turn by a
RF-cavity. For a uniform target "foil" the longitudinal momentum spread
diverges exponentially since faster (slower) particles ionise less (more) than
the average. In order to "cool" also longitudinally, a chromaticity has to be
introduced with a wedge shaped "foil". Multiple scattering and straggling are
then "cooled" in all three dimensions, with a method similar to the one of
synchrotron cooling, but valid for low energy ions. Particles then stably
circulate in the beam indefinitely, until they undergo for instance nuclear
processes in the thin target foil. This new method is under consideration for
the nuclear production of a few MeV/A ion beams. Simple reactions, for instance
Li 7 + D Li 8 + p, are more favourably exploited with the heavier ion colliding
against a gas-jet D2 target. Kinematics is generally very favourable, with
emission angles in a narrow angular cone and a relatively concentrated outgoing
energy spectrum which allows an efficient collection as a neutral gas in a tiny
volume with a technology at high temperatures perfected at ISOLDE. It is
however of a much more general applicability. The method appears capable of
producing a "table top" storage ring with an accumulation rate in excess of
10**14 Li-8 radioactive ion/s for possible use for radioactive beams for
physics studies (for example for beta-beams) or for therapy.Comment: 27 pages, 11 figure
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Electron Density Measurements in the National Spherical Torus Experiment Detached Divertor Region Using Stark Broadening of Deuterium Infrared Paschen Emission Lines
Spatially resolved measurements of deuterium Balmer and Paschen line emission have been performed in the divertor region of the National Spherical Torus Experiment using a commercial 0.5 m Czerny-Turner spectrometer. While the Balmer emission lines, Balmer and Paschen continua in the ultraviolet and visible regions have been extensively used for tokamak divertor plasma temperature and density measurements, the diagnostic potential of infrared Paschen lines has been largely overlooked. We analyze Stark broadening of the lines corresponding to 2-n and 3-m transitions with principle quantum numbers n = 7-12 and m = 10-12 using recent Model Microfield Method calculations (C. Stehle and R. Hutcheon, Astron. Astrophys. Supl. Ser. 140, 93 (1999)). Densities in the range (5-50) x 10{sup 19} m{sup -3} are obtained in the recombining inner divertor plasma in 2-6 MW NBI H-mode discharges. The measured Paschen line profiles show good sensitivity to Stark effects, and low sensitivity to instrumental and Doppler broadening. The lines are situated in the near-infrared wavelength domain, where optical signal extraction schemes for harsh nuclear environments are practically realizable, and where a recombining divertor plasma is optically thin. These properties make them an attractive recombining divertor density diagnostic for a burning plasma experiment
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