Showing papers by "Boris Breizman published in 2007"

Chapter 5: Physics of energetic ions

Abstract: This chapter reviews the progress accomplished since the redaction of the first ITER Physics Basis (1999 Nucl Fusion 39 2137-664) in the field of energetic ion physics and its possible impact on burning plasma regimes New schemes to create energetic ions simulating the fusion-produced alphas are introduced, accessing experimental conditions of direct relevance for burning plasmas, in terms of the Alfvenic Mach number and of the normalised pressure gradient of the energetic ions, though orbit characteristics and size cannot always match those of ITER Based on the experimental and theoretical knowledge of the effects of the toroidal magnetic field ripple on direct fast ion losses, ferritic inserts in ITER are expected to provide a significant reduction of ripple alpha losses in reversed shear configurations The nonlinear fast ion interaction with kink and tearing modes is qualitatively understood, but quantitative predictions are missing, particularly for the stabilisation of sawteeth by fast particles that can trigger neoclassical tearing modes A large database on the linear stability properties of the modes interacting with energetic ions, such as the Alfven eigenmode has been constructed Comparisons between theoretical predictions and experimental measurements of mode structures and drive/damping rates approach a satisfactory degree of consistency, though systematic measurements and theory comparisons of damping and drive of intermediate and high mode numbers, the most relevant for ITER, still need to be performed The nonlinear behaviour of Alfven eigenmodes close to marginal stability is well characterized theoretically and experimentally, which gives the opportunity to extract some information on the particle phase space distribution from the measured instability spectral features Much less data exists for strongly unstable scenarios, characterised by nonlinear dynamical processes leading to energetic ion redistribution and losses, and identified in nonlinear numerical simulations of Alfven eigenmodes and energetic particle modes Comparisons with theoretical and numerical analyses are needed to assess the potential implications of these regimes on burning plasma scenarios, including in the presence of a large number of modes simultaneously driven unstable by the fast ions

Ambipolar acceleration of ions in a magnetic nozzle

Abstract: This paper describes a magnetic nozzle with a magnetic mirror configuration that transforms a collisionless subsonic plasma flow into a supersonic jet expanding into the vacuum. The nozzle converts electron thermal energy into the ion kinetic energy via an ambipolar electric field. The ambipolar potential in the expanding plume involves a time-dependent rarefaction wave. Travelling through the rarefaction wave, electrons lose some kinetic energy and can become trapped downstream from the mirror throat. This work presents a rigorous adiabatic description of the trapped electron population. It examines the impact of the adiabatic cooling of the trapped electrons on the ambipolar potential and the ensuing ion acceleration. The problem is formulated for an arbitrary incoming electron distribution and then a “water-bag” electron distribution is used to obtain a closed-form analytical solution.

Ion acceleration by hot electrons in microclusters

Abstract: A self-consistent analytical description is presented for collisionless expansion of a fully ionized cluster with a two-component electron distribution. The problem is solved for an initial “water-bag” distribution of hot electrons with no angular momentum, which reflects the mechanism of electron heating. This distribution evolves in time due to adiabatic cooling of hot electrons. The solution involves a cold core of the cluster, a thin double layer at the cluster edge, and a quasineutral flow with a rarefaction wave. The presented analysis predicts a substantial number of accelerated ions with energies greater than the cutoff energy of the initial distribution of the hot electrons.

Spectral Gap of Shear Alfv\'{e}n Waves in a Periodic Array of Magnetic Mirrors

Abstract: A multiple magnetic mirror array is formed at the Large Plasma Device (LAPD) [W. Gekelman, H. Pfister, Z. Lucky, J. Bamber, D. Leneman, and J. Maggs, Rev. Sci. Instrum. 62, 2875 (1991)] to study axial periodicity-influenced Alfven spectra. Shear Alfven waves (SAW) are launched by antennas inserted in the LAPD plasma and diagnosed by B-dot probes at many axial locations. Alfven wave spectral gaps and continua are formed similar to wave propagation in other periodic media due to the Bragg effect. The measured width of the propagation gap increases with the modulation amplitude as predicted by the solutions to Mathieu’s equation. A two-dimensional finite-difference code modeling SAW in a mirror array configuration shows similar spectral features. Machine end-reflection conditions and damping mechanisms including electron-ion Coulomb collision and electron Landau damping are important for simulation.