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We present a new linear trap to be built at the Budker Institute. It combines gasdynamictype central cell with sloshing ions for beam fusion and the multiple-mirror end plugs for improved axial confinement. Thus it is designed as an efficient neutron source and a testbed for future development of mirror-based fusion reactors.
High-confinement mode is a very prominent operation style for future fusion device due to its unique advantages. However, the conjuncted edge localized modes (ELMs) are very difficult to control so that divertor plates are very prone to suffer both stationary high heat flux (HHF) loads of long-pulse operating mode and transient shock loads of ELMs. Most previous researches focus on degradation of plasma facing material (PFM), however, as a layer joining PFM and cooling tube, the soft copper interlayer suffers concentrated thermal stress loads due to mismatched thermal expansion of PFM and cooling tube. Its thermal fatigue behavior under such coupled loads is also of great significance to structural safety of divertor component. With such a motivation, the reduction effects on fatigue life time of a typical interlayer of monoblock divertor under series of coupled HHF and ELMs shock loading conditions are investigated. It is found that: (1) The transient shock feature of ELMs loading is propagated into interlayer with less sharp pattern. The increase of damage induced by coupled ELMs loading is limited in single cycle, while the accumulated damage of multiple consecutive coupled loading cycles is increased nonlinearly. (2) Under the coupled HHF and ELMs loading, the fatigue life time of interlayer is generally decreasing. The magnitude of decrease is increasing nonlinearly with the magnitude of ELMs peak and averaged heat flux. (3) For three characteristic parameters of ELMs shock loading such as frequency, duration and peak heat flux, the peak heat flux and frequency are two parameters more sensitive to determine coupled reduction effects on fatigue lifetime of the interlayer, while for high frequency case, time averaged heat flux takes the lead.
Effect of strongly coupled plasma on the excitation energies and transition probabilities for the respective transitions 1s{sup 2}:{sup 1}S{sup e}{yields} 1sns:{sup 3}S{sup e} (n = 2, 3, 4) and 1s{sup 2}:{sup 1}S{sup e}{yields} 1snp:{sup 3}P{sup o} (n = 2, 3, 4) allowed by magnetic dipolar and quadrupolar excitations have been analyzed for the first time for the two-electron ions C{sup 4+}, O{sup 6+}, Ne{sup 8+}, Mg{sup 10+}, Si{sup 12+}, and S{sup 14+}. Time dependent Hatree-Fock theory within variational approach has been adopted for such a study. The effect of surrounding plasma has been treated through the standard Ion-Sphere (IS) model of the plasma where the plasma density is varied systematically from a low value to a pretty high value such that the respective excited states go over to continuum due to such a confinement. The effect of external pressure generated due to plasma confinement on the estimated spectral properties has been analyzed systematically.
Curvature and diamagnetic effects are both known to have an influence on tearing mode dynamics. In this paper, we investigate the impact of these effects on the nonlinear stability and saturation of a (2, 1) island using non-linear two-fluid MHD simulations and we apply our results to Tore Supra experiments, where its behavior is not well understood from the single fluid MHD model. Simulations show that a metastable state induced by diamagnetic effect exists for this mode and that it also produces a reduction of the saturated island size, in presence of toroidal curvature. The mode is found to be nonlinearly destabilized by a seed island and it saturates at a macroscopic level causing a significant confinement degradation. The interpretation of dual states, with either no island on q = 2 or a large one, observed on discharges with high non inductive current source on Tore Supra, is revisited.
Many others in the fusion energy and advanced scientific computing communities participated in the development of this plan. The core planning team is grateful for their important contributions. This summary is meant as a quick overview the Fusion Simulation Program's (FSP's) purpose and intentions. There are several additional documents referenced within this one and all are supplemental or flow down from this Program Plan. The overall science goal of the DOE Office of Fusion Energy Sciences (FES) Fusion Simulation Program (FSP) is to develop predictive simulation capability for magnetically confined fusion plasmas at an unprecedented level of integration and fidelity. This will directly support and enable effective U.S. participation in International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) research and the overall mission of delivering practical fusion energy. The FSP will address a rich set of scientific issues together with experimental programs, producing validated integrated physics results. This is very well aligned with the mission of the ITER Organization to coordinate with its members the integrated modeling and control of fusion plasmas, including benchmarking and validation activities. [1]. Initial FSP research will focus on two critical Integrated Science Application (ISA) areas: ISA1, the plasma edge; and ISA2, whole device modeling (WDM) including disruption avoidance. The first of these problems involves the narrow plasma boundary layer and its complex interactions with the plasma core and the surrounding material wall. The second requires development of a computationally tractable, but comprehensive model that describes all equilibrium and dynamic processes at a sufficient level of detail to provide useful prediction of the temporal evolution of fusion plasma experiments. The initial driver for the whole device model will be prediction and avoidance of discharge-terminating disruptions, especially at high performance, which are a critical impediment to successful operation of machines like ITER. If disruptions prove unable to be avoided, their associated dynamics and effects will be addressed in the next phase of the FSP.
It is shown that, in contrast to the MHD model, a perturbation at the boundary of convective stability of a finite-pressure plasma in confinement systems without an averaged minB in the Kruskal-Oberman model is not generally a purely flute one. The reasons for this discrepancy are clarified. The analysis is carried out for axisymmetric configurations formed by a poloidal magnetic field.
The electromagnetic coupling of helical modes, even those having different toroidal mode numbers, modifies the distribution of toroidal angular momentum in tokamak discharges. This can have deleterious effects on other transport channels as well as on magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) stability and disruptivity. At low levels of externally injected momentum, the coupling of core-localized modes initiates a chain of events, whereby flattening of the core rotation profile inside successive rational surfaces leads to the onset of a large m/n = 2/1 tearing mode and locked-mode disruption. With increased torque from neutral beam injection, neoclassical tearing modes in the core may phase-lock to each other without locking to external fields or structures that are stationary in the laboratory frame. The dynamic processes observed in these cases are in general agreement with theory, and detailed diagnosis allows for momentum transport analysis to be performed, revealing a significant torque density that peaks near the 2/1 rational surface. However, as the coupled rational surfaces are brought closer together by reducing q{sub 95}, additional momentum transport in excess of that required to attain a phase-locked state is sometimes observed. Rather than maintaining zero differential rotation (as is predicted to be dynamically stable by single-fluid, resistive MHD theory), these discharges develop hollow toroidal plasma fluid rotation profiles with reversed plasma flow shear in the region between the m/n = 3/2 and 2/1 islands. The additional forces expressed in this state are not readily accounted for, and therefore, analysis of these data highlights the impact of mode coupling on torque balance and the challenges associated with predicting the rotation dynamics of a fusion reactor—a key issue for ITER.
In modeling magnetic confinement, astrophysics, and plasma propulsion, representing the entire physical domain is often difficult or impossible, and artificial, or 'open' boundaries are appropriate. A novel open boundary condition (BC) for dissipative MHD, called Lacuna-based open BC (LOBC), is presented. LOBC, based on the idea of lacuna-based truncation originally presented by V.S. Ryaben'kii and S.V. Tsynkov, provide truncation with low numerical noise and minimal reflections. For hyperbolic systems, characteristic-based BC (CBC) exist for separating the solution into outgoing and incoming parts. In the hyperbolic-parabolic dissipative MHD system, such separation is not possible, and CBC are numerically unstable. LOBC are applied in dissipative MHD test problems including a translating FRC, and coaxial-electrode plasma acceleration. Solution quality is compared to solutions using CBC and zero-normal derivative BC. LOBC are a promising new open BC option for dissipative MHD.
In a laser ion source, a solenoidal magnetic field is useful to guide the plasma and to control the extracted beam current. However, the behavior of the plasma drifting in the magnetic field has not been well understood. Therefore, to investigate the behavior, we measured the plasma ion current and the total charge within a single pulse in the solenoid by changing the distance from the entrance of the solenoid to a detector. We observed that the decrease of the total charge along the distance became smaller as the magnetic field became larger and then the charge became almost constant with a certain magnetic flux density. The results indicate that the transverse spreading speed of the plasma decreased with increasing the field and the plasma was confined transversely with the magnetic flux density. We found that the reason of the confinement was not magnetization of ions but an influence induced by electrons.
This was a multi-institutional project concerned with simulation of tokamak disruption – rapid termination of the plasma and confining magnetic field in a tokamak fusion reactor – with the aim of quantifying the physics associated with disruption mitigation. The PI’s role is as one of a group of computational scientists concerned with development of effective solution algorithms for the underlying models of magnetohydrodynamics and transport that represent the physical processes, and to develop techniques of uncertainty quantification for treating unknown aspects of the model such as boundary conditions and effects of impurities in plasmas.
The structure of an isolated rapidly rotating magnetosphere containing low-energy plasma is treated analytically. The plasma is confined to a thin sheet lying in the equatorial plane. Its effects as far as the magnetosphere as a whole is concerned are equivalent to those of an azimuthal current sheet. When the current distribution is assumed to have a certain form, it is possible to describe the complete solution in terms of simple functions. It is shown that neutral points eventually appear in the magnetic-field configuration, indicating that the magnetosphere is unable to contain additional plasma with the assumed distribution.
Neutron time-of-flight (nTOF) detectors are used to diagnose the conditions present in inertial confinement fusion (ICF) experiments and basic laboratory physics experiments performed on an ICF platform. The instrument response function (IRF) of these detectors is constructed by convolution of two components: an x-ray IRF and a neutron interaction response. The shape of the neutron interaction response varies with incident neutron energy, changing the shape of the total IRF. Analyses of nTOF data that span a broad range of energies must account for this energy-dependence in order to accurately infer plasma parameters and nuclear properties in ICF experiments. This work briefly reviews a matrix multiplication approach to convolution which allows for an energy-dependent change in the shape of the IRF. This method is applied to synthetic data resembling symmetric cryogenic DT implosions to examine the effect of the energy-dependent IRF on the inferred areal density. Here, results of forward fits that infer ion temperatures and areal densities from nTOF data collected during cryogenic DT experiments on OMEGA are also discussed.
Heating and Current Drive systems are of outstanding relevance in fusion plasmas, magnetically confined in tokamak devices, as they provide the tools to reach, sustain and control burning conditions. Heating systems based on the electron cyclotron resonance (ECRH) have been extensively exploited on past and present machines DEMO, and the future reactor will require high frequencies. Therefore, high power (≥1MW) RF sources with output frequency in the 200 - 300 GHz range would be necessary. A promising source is the so called Cyclotron Auto-Resonance Maser (CARM). Preliminary results of the conceptual design of a CARM device for plasma heating, carried out at ENEA-Frascati will be presented together with the planned R and D development.
Omnigenity is a desirable property of toroidal magnetic fields that ensures confinement of trapped particles. Confining charged particles is a basic requirement for any fusion power plant design, but it can be difficult to satisfy with the non-axisymmetric magnetic fields used by the stellarator approach. Every ideal magnetohydrodynamic equilibrium previously found to approximate omnigenity has been either axisymmetric, quasi-symmetric or has poloidally closed contours of magnetic field strength $B$ . However, general omnigenous equilibria are a much larger design space than these subsets. A new model is presented and employed in the DESC stellarator optimization suite to represent and discover the full parameter space of omnigenous equilibria. Although exact omnigenity aside from quasi-symmetry is impossible, these results reveal that excellent particle confinement can be achieved in practice. Examples far from quasi-symmetry with poloidally, helically and toroidally closed $B$ contours are attained with DESC and shown to have low neoclassical collisional transport and fast particle losses.
A new ion-heating scenario in tokamak plasmas, based on cyclotron damping of ion Bernstein waves (IBWs) by tritium minority at the first ion cyclotron harmonic (i.e., omega=2OMEGA{sub cT}), is proposed. The IBWs are coupled by mode conversion of fast magnetosonic waves in a D-H(T) (tritium minority in hydrogen-deuterium) plasma. The mode conversion layer is located near the center of the plasma column as well as the resonant layer of the tritium minority. A possible scenario for the JET (Joint European Torus) tokamak [J. Wesson, JET Report No. 99, 1999], based on the present idea, has been analyzed by means of the numerical codes TORIC and SSFPQL (toroidal ion cyclotron and steady state Fokker-Planck quasilinear) [M. Brambilla, Nucl. Fusion 34, 1121 (1994); Plasma Phys. Controlled Fusion 41, 1 (1999)]. As a result, tritium ions are accelerated up to energies close to the peak value of the DT cross section and steady state breakeven condition (Qapprox =1.3) can be reached with 25% minority tritium concentration.
We have carried out a detailed study of the dependence of ICRF mode conversion flow drive (MCFD) on plasma and RF parameters. The flow drive efficiency is found to depend strongly on the {sup 3}He concentration in D({sup 3}He) plasmas, a key parameter separating the ICRF minority heating regime and mode conversion regime. At +90 deg. antenna phasing (waves in the co-I{sub p} direction) and dipole phasing, the driven flow is in the co-I{sub p} direction, and the change of the rotation velocity increases with both P{sub RF} and I{sub p}, and scales unfavorably vs. plasma density and antenna frequency. When MCFD is applied to I-mode plasmas, the plasma rotation increases until the onset of MHD modes triggered by large sawtooth crashes. Very high performance I-mode plasmas with H{sub ITER98,y2}{approx}1.4 and T{sub e0}{approx}8 keV have been obtained in these experiments.
The present work revisits the subjects of mixing, saturation, and space-charge effects in free-electron lasers. Use is made of the compressibility factor, which proves to be a helpful tool in the related systems of charged beams confined by static magnetic fields. The compressibility allows to perform analytical estimates of the elapsed time until the onset of mixing, which in turn allows to estimate the saturated amplitude of the radiation field. In addition, the compressibility helps to pinpoint space-charge effects and the corresponding transition from Compton to Raman regimes.
The paper describes the scanning spectroscopic diagnostics designed for measurement of line integrated plasma radiation in two visible spectral ranges. This diagnostic system is aimed at measuring the bremsstrahlung absolute values and profile with high spatial resolution. The bremsstrahlung absolute values are used to determine the value and radial distribution of effective plasma ion charge Z{sub eff}(r) in T-10 discharges. The importance of Z{sub eff} measurement is due to its strong influence on plasma heating, confinement, and stability. The spatial distribution of emission for one of the chosen spectral lines is measured simultaneously with bremsstrahlung. The spatial resolution of measurements is ~1 cm, and the temporal resolution is up to 10 ms. The spectral equipment and methods for its calibration are described. Examples of line integrated brightness distribution in a “continuum window” of 5236 ± 6 Å and brightness of the lines C{sup 5+} (5291 Å), He{sup 1+} (4686 Å), and D{sub β} (4861 Å) are given. Flattening of the bremsstrahlung brightness profile in the central region of the plasma column in some discharges with sawtooth oscillations in the T-10 is observed. The measured effective ion charge profiles in ohmic discharges with high plasma density and low discharge currents demonstrate accumulation of light impurities at the column axis; as a consequence, quenching of sawtooth oscillations in some discharges is observed. The developed diagnostics provides necessary data for investigation of heat, particle, and current transport in the plasma of the T-10. Successful application of the obtained data on Z{sub eff}(r) for investigation of geodesic acoustic modes of plasma oscillations in the T-10 should be specially noted.