Initial Results from the Lost Alpha Diagnostics on Joint European Torus

Two devices have been installed in the Joint European Torus (JET) vacuum vessel near the plasma boundary to investigate the loss of energetic ions and fusion products in general and alpha particles in particular during the upcoming JET experiments. These devices are (i) a set of multichannel thin foil Faraday collectors, and (ii) a well collimated scintillator which is optically connected to a charge-coupled device. Initial results, including the radial energy and poloidal dependence of lost ions from hydrogen and deuterium plasmas during the 2005–06 JET restart campaign, will be presented

Definition of the radiation fields for the JET gamma-ray spectrometer diagnostics

The JET gamma-ray diagnostics system provides information on the behaviour of fast particles within the tokamak plasma. Information on the spatial distribution of the interacting fast particles is obtained from the gamma-ray cameras, while energy distribution information is provided by gamma-ray spectrometers. These techniques have been successfully applied so far in fast particle simulation experiments at JET. The extension of these diagnostics to high performance discharges with high neutron yields is not straightforward due to the background gamma-ray emission induced by neutrons. Two gamma-ray diagnostics upgrade projects at JET addressed this issue by developing neutron/gamma radiation filters ("neutron attenuators") and collimators for a proper definition of the radiation (neutron and gamma) fields along the diagnostics line-of-sight. A pair of neutron/gamma collimators working in a tandem configuration have been designed and constructed for the JET quasi-tangential gamma-ray spectrometer. The tandem collimators were designed to provide shielding factors of about 5 x 10(2) for 2.45 MeV neutrons and about 10(3) for 9 MeV gamma-rays. The devices have been installed on the JET machine and the paper presents the first experimental results. A similar tandem collimator system was designed for deuterium-tritium experiments on JET. The results of neutron-photon transport calculations for 14.1 MeV neutrons are also presented. (C) 2013 Published by Elsevier B.V

Stabilization of sawteeth with 3rd harmonic deuterium ICRF-accelerated beam in JET plasmas

Sawtooth stabilisation by fast ions is investigated in deuterium (D) and D-helium 3 (He3) plasmas of JET heated by deuterium Neutral Beam Injection combined in synergy with Ion Cyclotron Resonance Heating (ICRH) applied on-axis at 3rd beam cyclotron harmonic. A very significant increase in the sawtooth period is observed, caused by the ICRH-acceleration of the beam ions born at 100 keV to the MeV energy range. Four representative sawteeth from four different discharges are compared with Porcelli's model. In two discharges, the sawtooth crash appears to be triggered by core-localized Toroidal Alfvén Eigenmodes inside the q = 1 surface (also called “tornado” modes) which expel the fast ions from within the q = 1 surface, over time scales comparable with the sawtooth period. Two other discharges did not exhibit fast ion-driven instabilities in the plasma core, and no degradation of fast ion confinement was found in both modelling and direct measurements of fast ion profile with the neutroncamera. The developed sawtooth scenario without fast ion-driven instabilities in the plasma core is of high interest for the burning plasmas. Possible causes of the sawtooth crashes on JET are discussed.This work has been carried out within the framework of the EUROfusion Consortium, has received funding from the Euratom research and training programme 2014-2018 under Grant Agreement No 633053, and was partly funded by the RCUK Energy Programme [Grant No. EP/I501045]. The views and opinions expressed herein do not necessarily reflect those of the European Commission. The authors would like to thank Torbj € orn Hellsten for fruitful discussion.Peer Reviewe

Tandem collimators for the JET tangential gamma-ray spectrometer

The tangential gamma-ray spectrometer (TGRS) of the JET tokamak fusion facility is an important diagnostics for investigating the fast particle evolution. A well defined field of view for the TGRS diagnostics is essential for its proper operation and this is to be determined by a rather complex system of collimators and shields both for the neutron and gamma radiations. A conceptual design for this system has been carried out with the main design target set to maximize the signal-to-background ratio at the spectrometer detector, the ratio being defined in terms of the plasma emitted gamma radiation and the gamma-ray background. As a first phase of the TGRS diagnostics upgrade a set of two tandem collimators has been designed with the aim of determining a quasi-tangential field of view through JET tokamak plasmas. A modular design of the tandem system has been developed in order to allow for the construction of different configurations for deuterium and deuterium-tritium discharges. The internal structure of the collimators consists of nuclear grade lead and high density polyethylene slabs arranged in an optimized pattern. The performance of a simplified geometry of the tandem collimator configuration has been evaluated by neutron and photon transport calculations and the numerical results show that the design parameters can be attained. (C) 2011 EURATOM. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Energy-selective confinement of fusion-born alpha particles during internal relaxations in a tokamak plasma

Long-pulse operation of a self-sustained fusion reactor using toroidal magnetic containment requires control over the content of alpha particles produced by D-T fusion reactions. On the one hand, MeV-class alpha particles must stay confined to heat the plasma. On the other hand, decelerated helium ash must be expelled before diluting the fusion fuel. Here, we report results of kinetic-magnetohydrodynamic hybrid simulations of a large tokamak plasma that confirm the existence of a parameter window where such energy-selective confinement can be accomplished by exploiting internal relaxation events known as sawtooth crashes. The physical picture — a synergy between magnetic geometry, optimal crash duration and rapid particle motion — is completed by clarifying the role of magnetic drifts. Besides causing asymmetry between co- and counter-going particle populations, magnetic drifts determine the size of the confinement window by dictating where and how much reconnection occurs in particle orbit topology

Implementation and testing of the JET gamma-ray cameras neutron filters pneumatic system

Neutron filters/attenuators have been designed and constructed as an upgrade of the JET gamma-ray cameras (GRC's). This diagnostics upgrade should reduce the neutron flux at the gamma-ray detectors in a way that it would make possible gamma-ray imaging measurements in high power deuterium JET pulses, and eventually in deuterium-tritium discharges. The attenuators will be placed within the GRC diagnostics system between the vacuum vessel port and the camera collimator radiation shields in the case of both the horizontal camera and the vertical one and they have to be moved out of the detector line of sight when the neutron/gamma camera diagnostics is used for neutron measurements. The neutron filters will operate in a very harsh electromagnetic environment. It is thus recommended to avoid as much as possible the use of electrical and electronic components for the attenuator steering and control (in particular, for attenuator steering). Therefore a steering and control system based on pneumatic components was designed and constructed. The attenuators together with the steering and control system have been installed on a test stand, which is a 1-1 scale replica of the JET structures where neutron filters are to be installed and successfully tested. (C) 2011 EURATOM. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Real-Time Processing System for the JET Hard X-Ray and Gamma-Ray Profile Monitor Enhancement

The Joint European Torus (JET) is currently undertaking an enhancement program which includes tests of relevant diagnostics with real-time processing capabilities for the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER). Accordingly, a new real-time processing system was developed and installed at JET for the gamma-ray and hard X-ray profile monitor diagnostic. The new system is connected to 19 CsI(Tl) photodiodes in order to obtain the line-integrated profiles of the gamma-ray and hard X-ray emissions. Moreover, it was designed to overcome the former data acquisition (DAQ) limitations while exploiting the required real-time features. The new DAQ hardware, based on the Advanced Telecommunication Computer Architecture (ATCA) standard, includes reconfigurable digitizer modules with embedded field-programmable gate array (FPGA) devices capable of acquiring and simultaneously processing data in real-time from the 19 detectors. A suitable algorithm was developed and implemented in the FPGAs, which are able to deliver the corresponding energy of the acquired pulses. The processed data is sent periodically, during the discharge, through the JET real-time network and stored in the JET scientific databases at the end of the pulse. The interface between the ATCA digitizers, the JET control and data acquisition system (CODAS), and the JET real-time network is provided by the Multithreaded Application Real-Time executor (MARTe). The work developed allowed attaining two of the major milestones required by next fusion devices: the ability to process and simultaneously supply high volume data rates in real-time