Prof Michael Barnes

Abstract:

The ITER Neutral Beam Injection (NBI) system is based on negative ions, produced in an RF-driven plasma source. The ITER NBI lines must deliver a current density of 230 A/m2 of negative hydrogen ions, accelerated to 870 keV, or a current density of 200 A/m2 of negative deuterium ions accelerated to 1 MeV. NBI systems, based on negative ions, are compromised by a process known as stripping losses, in which negative ions are neutralized in the grid system before achieving full energy. For a source filling pressure of p fill = 0.3 Pa, 29% of the extracted H -(D -) ions are predicted to be lost by stripping in the ITER full-scale NBIs system (7 grid acceleration system). To compensate for these stripping losses, a larger amount of negative ions has to be extracted from the source (329 A/m2 in hydrogen and 286 A/m2 in deuterium). The ELISE test facility is based on a 1/2-size ITER source. It extracts H -(D -) ions using a 3-grid acceleration system, with a maximum extraction voltage of 10 kV and acceleration voltage of 50 kV is achieved. In a 3-grid acceleration system, 10% of stripping losses is predicted for both isotopes. This contribution focuses on experimental measurements of stripping losses at ELISE. Experimentally, stripping losses are monitored using Beam Emission Spectroscopy (BES), which analyzes the Doppler-shifted spectrum of the Balmer Hα (Dα ). To not underestimate the number of stripping losses the full area between the unshifted Peak background (H 2 dissociation and excitation) and the Doppler Peak (fully-accelerated beam particles excitation) needs to be considered. However, the influence of BES background and signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) can affect the calculation of stripping losses, mainly for hydrogen measurements at low filling pressures (< 0.4 Pa). To accurately predict the value of the stripping losses, only signals with high-enought SNR should be used. When this effect is considered, no differences between hydrogen and deuterium are found in terms of stripping losses. For a filling pressure of 0.3 Pa, a stripping fraction of 6.0±0.8% was found for hydrogen and 6.2±0.7% for deuterium. A systematic comparison of the stripping losses between hydrogen and deuterium under various experimental conditions is presented.

Abstract:

We report the first experimental detection of a zero-frequency fluctuation that is pumped by an Alfvén mode in a magnetically confined plasma. Core-localized Alfvén modes of frequency inside the toroidicity-induced gap (and its harmonics) exhibit three-wave coupling interactions with a zero-frequency fluctuation. The observation of the zero-frequency fluctuation is consistent with theoretical and numerical predictions of zonal modes pumped by Alfvén modes, and is correlated with an increase in the deep core ion temperature, temperature gradient, confinement factor H_{89,P}, and a reduction in the main ion heat diffusivity. Despite the energetic particle transport induced by the Alfvén eigenmodes, the generation of a zero-frequency fluctuation that can suppress the turbulence leads to an overall improvement of confinement.