Final Report (1994 to 1996) Diagnostic of the Spatial and Velocity Distribution of Alpha Particles in Tokamak Fusion Reactor using Beat-wave Generated Lower Hybrid Wave
The alpha particles in a fusion reactor play a key role in the sustaining the fusion reaction. It is the heating provided by the alpha particles that help a fusion reactor operating in the ignition regime. It is, therefore, essential to understand the behavior of the alpha population both in real space and velocity space in order to design the optimal confinement device for fusion application. Moreover, the alphas represent a strong source of free energy that may generate plasma instabilities. Theoretical studies has identified the Toroidal Alfven Eigenmode (TAE) as an instability that can be excited by the alpha population in a toroidal device. Since the alpha has an energy of 3.5 MeV, a good confinement device will retain it in the interior of the plasma. Therefore, alpha measurement system need to probe the interior of a high density plasma. Due to the conducting nature of a plasma, wave with frequencies below the plasma frequency can not penetrate into the interior of the plasma where the alphas reside. This project uses a wave that can interact with the perpendicular motion of the alphas to probe its characteristics. However, this wave (the lower hybrid wave) is below the plasma frequency and can not be directly launched from the plasma edge. This project was designed to non-linearly excite the lower hybrid in the interior of a magnetized plasma and measure its interaction with a fast ion population.
- Research Organization:
- Office of Science (US)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- US Department of Energy (US)
- DOE Contract Number:
- FG03-94ER54269
- OSTI ID:
- 762752
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: PBD: 3 Jun 1999
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Diagnostic of the spatial and velocity distribution of alpha particles in tokamak fusion reactor using beat-wave generated lower hybrid wave. Progress report, 1994--1995