Study of the Effects of Neutrals in Alcator C-Mod Plasmas

Study of the Effects of Neutrals in Alcator C-Mod Plasmas
Author:
Publisher:
Total Pages: 4
Release: 1999
Genre:
ISBN:

Recently, much effort has been dedicated to understanding the bifurcation involved in the transition from a low to high confinement regime. While several theories have been brought forward, many factors remain to be elucidated, one of which involves the role played by neutral particles in the evolution of a transport barrier near the edge of the plasma. Alcator C-Mod is especially well suited for the study of neutral particle effects, mainly because of its high plasma and neutral densities, and closed divertor geometry. Alcator C-Mod employs ICRF as auxiiiary heating for obtaining a high confinement regime, although ohmic H-modes are routinely obtained as well. The neutrals can enter the edge dynamics through the particle, momentum and energy balance. In the particle balance, the source of neutrals has to be evaluated vis-8-vis the formation of the edge density pedestal. It is widely believed that plasma rotation is an important factor in reducing transport. In this case, neutrals could act as a momentum sink, through the charge-exchange process. That same process can also modify the energy balance of the plasma near the edge by increasing the cross-field heat flux. These effects are quite difficult to measure experimentally, in large part because neutral particle diagnosis is not an easy task, and because of the inherent 3-dimensional aspect of the problem. Consequently, the neutral s spatial and energy distributions are usually not well known. In Alcator C-Mod, we recently implemented a series of diagnostics for the purpose of measuring these distributions. They include measurements of the neutral pressure at many locations around the tokamak, and spatially resolved measurements of Lyman-a and charge-exchange power emission. A high-resolution multichord (20 channels) tangential view of neutral deuterium emission (Lyman-a) has been recently installed near the midplane. The viewing area covers approximately 4 cm across the separatrix, with a nominal 2 mm radial resolution. Standard Abel inversion techniques give the local Lyman-a emission. In conjunction with electron density and temperature, we can infer the local ionization rate and neutral density profiles. Two types of bolometer arrays (16 channels each), one being sensitive and the other insensitive to power carried by neutrals, view the plasma cross-section, tangentially at the midplane of the tokamak. By Abel inverting the difference between the 2 measurements, we infer the local power emissivity carried by neutrals[11].

Neutral Particle Dynamics in the Alcator C-Mod Tokamak

Neutral Particle Dynamics in the Alcator C-Mod Tokamak
Author:
Publisher:
Total Pages:
Release: 2001
Genre:
ISBN:

This thesis presents an experimental study of neutral particle dynamics in the Alcator C-Mod tokamak. The primary diagnostic used is a set of six neutral pressure gauges, including special-purpose gauges built for in situ tokamak operation. While a low main chamber neutral pressure coincides with high plasma confinement regimes, high divertor pressure is required for heat and particle flux dispersion in future devices such as ITER. Thus we examine conditions that optimize divertor compression, defined here as a divertor-to-midplane pressure ratio. We find both pressures depend primarily on the edge plasma regimes defined by the scrape-off-layer heat transport. While the maximum divertor pressure is achieved at high core plasma densities corresponding to the detached divertor state, the maximum compression is achieved in the high-recycling regime. Variations in the divertor geometry have a weaker effect on the neutral pressures. For otherwise similar plasmas the divertor pressure and compression are maximum when the strike point is at the bottom of the vertical target plate. We introduce a simple flux balance model, which allows us to explain the divertor neutral pressure across a wide range of plasma densities. In particular, high pressure sustained in the detached divertor (despite a considerable drop in the recycling source) can be explained by scattering of neutrals off the cold plasma plugging the divertor throat. Because neutrals are confined in the divertor through scattering and ionization processes (provided the mean-free-paths are much shorter than a typical escape distance) tight mechanical baffling is unnecessary. The analysis suggests that two simple structural modifications may increase the divertor compression in Alcator C-Mod by a factor of about 5. Widening the divertor throat would increase the divertor recycling source, while closing leaks in the divertor structure would eliminate a significant neutral loss mechanism. 146 refs., 82 figs., 14 tabs.

On the Edge of Magnetic Fusion Devices

On the Edge of Magnetic Fusion Devices
Author: Sergei Krasheninnikov
Publisher: Springer Nature
Total Pages: 269
Release: 2020-09-07
Genre: Science
ISBN: 3030495949

This book reviews the current state of understanding concerning edge plasma, which bridges hot fusion plasma, with a temperature of roughly one million degrees Kelvin with plasma-facing materials, which have melting points of only a few thousand degrees Kelvin. In a fact, edge plasma is one of the keys to solution for harnessing fusion energy in magnetic fusion devices. The physics governing the processes at work in the edge plasma involves classical and anomalous transport of multispecies plasma, neutral gas dynamics, atomic physics effects, radiation transport, plasma-material interactions, and even the transport of plasma species within the plasma-facing materials. The book starts with simple physical models, then moves on to rigorous theoretical considerations and state-of-the-art simulation tools that are capable of capturing the most important features of the edge plasma phenomena. The authors compare the conclusions arising from the theoretical and computational analysis with the available experimental data. They also discuss the remaining gaps in their models and make projections for phenomena related to edge plasma in magnetic fusion reactors.

Advanced Diagnostics for Magnetic and Inertial Fusion

Advanced Diagnostics for Magnetic and Inertial Fusion
Author: Peter E. Stott
Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media
Total Pages: 458
Release: 2002-07-31
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 9780306472978

Proceedings of the International Conference on Advanced Diagnostics for Magnetic and Inertial Fusion, held September 3-7, 2001 at Villa Monastero, Varenna, Italy. This volume focuses on future diagnostic requirements for fusion energy research emphasizing advanced diagnostics, new techniques and areas where further progress is required.

The Dynamics of Electrons in Linear Plasma Devices and Its Impact on Plasma Surface Interaction

The Dynamics of Electrons in Linear Plasma Devices and Its Impact on Plasma Surface Interaction
Author: Michael Hubeny
Publisher: Springer
Total Pages: 126
Release: 2019-02-15
Genre: Science
ISBN: 303012536X

Turbulence in plasma surface interaction holds crucial uncertainties for its impact on material erosion in the operation of fusion reactors. In this thesis, the design, development and operation of a Thomson scattering diagnostic and its novel implementation with fast visual imaging created a versatile tool to investigate intermittently occuring plasma oscillations. Specifically, ballistic transport events in the plasma edge, constituting turbulent transport, have been targeted in this thesis. With the help of a custom photon counting algorithm, the conditional averaging technique was applied on Thomson scattering for the first time to allow spatial and pseudo-time-resolved measurements. Since plasma turbulence and the emerging transport phenomena are comparable in most magnetized devices, the diagnostic development and the results from the linear plasma device PSI-2 are useful for an implementation of similar techniques in larger fusion experiments. Furthermore, the obtained results indicate a strong enhancement of erosion with turbulent transport and thus underline the importance of dedicated experiments investigating plasma turbulence in the framework of erosion in future fusion reactors.

Scientific and Technical Aerospace Reports

Scientific and Technical Aerospace Reports
Author:
Publisher:
Total Pages: 652
Release: 1995
Genre: Aeronautics
ISBN:

Lists citations with abstracts for aerospace related reports obtained from world wide sources and announces documents that have recently been entered into the NASA Scientific and Technical Information Database.