ALBERT

Notes: Use of heavy ions beams with ∼10 MeV/amu mass ∼200, and average charge state of 1+ has been proposed as a driver for heavy ion fusion. Stripping of the ion beam by background gas can lead to an increase in the space charge density of the beam, which may make focusing the intense ion beam onto small targets more complex. Knowledge of the electron loss cross sections is essential to understand and address the problem. Currently, there are no 10 MeV/amu mass=200, charge state=1 beams available, and the theories that calculate electron loss cross sections can be experimentally tested only by using available beams of somewhat lower energy and higher initial charge state. The charge state distribution of ions produced in single collisions of 3.4 MeV/amu Kr7+ and 3.4 MeV/amu Xe11+ in N2 have been measured at the Texas A&M Cyclotron Institute using a windowless gas cell. The charge states of the outgoing ions are determined by magnetic analysis using a position-sensitive microchannel-plate detector. The cross sections for single and multiple electron loss are determined, and the results indicate that substantial multiple-electron loss occurs. The relative cross section for loss of i+1 electrons is 0.3–0.7 times that for i electron loss. The average number of electrons removed per one collision (sum of the electron-weighted cross sections normalized to the total cross section) is 1.86 for Kr and 1.97 for Xe. © 2001 American Institute of Physics.

Notes: Determination of two critical neutral beam parameters, power and divergence, are affected by the reflection of a fraction of the incident energy from the surface of the measuring calorimeter. On the TFTR Neutral Beam Test Stand, greater than 30% of the incident power directed at the target chamber calorimeter was unaccounted for. Most of this loss is believed due to reflection from the surface of the flat calorimeter, which was struck at a near grazing incidence (12°). Beamline calorimeters, of a "V''-shape design, while retaining the beam power, also suffer from reflection effects. Reflection, in this latter case, artificially peaks the power toward the apex of the "V,'' complicating the fitting technique, and increasing the power density on axis by 10%–20%; an effect of import to future beamline designers. Agreement is found between measured and expected divergence values, even with 24% of the incident energy reflected.

Notes: The mission of the National Spherical Torus Experiment (NSTX) is to extend the understanding of toroidal physics to low aspect ratio (R/a(similar, equals)1.25) in low collisionality regimes. NSTX is designed to operate with up to 6 MW of high harmonic fast wave (HHFW) heating and current drive, 5 MW of neutral beam injection (NBI) and co-axial helicity injection (CHI) for noninductive startup. Initial experiments focused on establishing conditions that will allow NSTX to achieve its aims of simultaneous high βt and high-bootstrap current fraction, and to develop methods for noninductive operation, which will be necessary for Spherical Torus power plants. Ohmic discharges with plasma currents up to 1 MA and with a range of shapes and configurations were produced. Density limits in deuterium and helium reached 80% and 120% of the Greenwald limit, respectively. Significant electron heating was observed with up to 2.3 MW of HHFW. Up to 270 kA of toroidal current for up to 200 ms was produced noninductively using CHI. Initial NBI experiments were carried out with up to two beam sources (3.2 MW). Plasmas with stored energies of up to 140 kJ and βt=21% were produced. © 2001 American Institute of Physics.

Notes: Ohmic plasma size scans have been carried out in the Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor (TFTR) [Fusion Technol. 21, 1324 (1992)] to measure the influence of the major radius upon energy confinement. The major radius, minor radius, and aspect ratio were varied over wide ranges (R=2.08–3.2 m, a=0.4–0.9 m, and R/a=2.9–8.0) at constant qc. The energy confinement determined from kinetic diagnostics varies strongly with major radius. The data set is less well suited to determine minor radius scaling, but it appears to be distinctly weaker than the major radius scaling. The anomaly in ion thermal conductivity over neoclassical predictions appears to decline with increasing aspect ratio, which is a better ordering parameter for the magnitude of the anomaly than either the minor radius or the major radius. © 1994 American Institute of Physics.

Notes: 195 tritium ion source shots were injected into Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor (TFTR) high power plasmas during December 1993–March 1994. In addition, four highly diagnosed pulses were fired into the calorimeter. Analysis of the Doppler shifted Tα emission of the beam in the neutralizer has revealed that the extracted ion compositions for deuterium and tritium are indistinguishable: 0.72±0.04 D+; 0.22±0.02 D+2; 0.07±0.01 D+3 compared to 0.72±0.04 T+; 0.23±0.02 T+2; 0.05±0.01 T+3. The resultant tritium full-energy neutral fraction is higher than for deuterium due to the increased neutralization efficiency at lower velocity. To conserve tritium, it was used only for injection and a few calorimeter test shots, never for ion source conditioning. When used, the gas species were switched to tritium only for the shot in question. This resulted in an approximately 2% deuterium contamination of the tritium beam and vice versa for the first deuterium pulse following tritium. Data from the calorimeter shots indicate that tritium contamination of the deuterium beam cleans up in five to six beam pulses, and is reduced to immeasurable quantities prior to deuterium beam injection. © 1995 American Institute of Physics.

Notes: Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor (TFTR) deuterium neutral beams have been operated unintentionally with significant quantities of extracted water ions. Water has been observed with an optical multichannel analyzer. These leaks were thermally induced with the contamination level increasing linearly with pulse length. Up to 6% of the beam current was attributed to water ions, corresponding to an instantaneous value of 12% at the end of a 1.5 s pulse. A similar contamination is observed during initial operation of ion sources exposed to air. Operation of new ion sources typically produces a contamination level of ∼2%, with cleanup to undetectable levels in 50–100 beam pulses. Approximately 90% of the water extracted from ion sources with water leaks was deuterated, implying that there is the potential for tritiated water production during TFTR's forthcoming DT operation. It is concluded that isotope exchange in the plasma generator takes place rapidly, most likely as the result of surface catalysis. The primary concern is with O implanted into beam absorbers recombining with tritium, and the subsequent retention of T2O on cryopanels.

Notes: A technique is described whereby the ion dumps inside the TFTR Neutral Beam Test Stand were used to measure thermal profiles of the full-, half-, and third-energy ions. 136 thermocouples were installed on the full-energy ion dump, allowing full beam contours. Additional linear arrays across the widths of the half- and third-energy ion dumps provided a measure of the shape, in the direction parallel to the grid rails, of the half- and third-energy ions, and, hence, of the molecular ions extracted from the source. As a result of these measurements, it was found that the magnet was more weakly focusing, by a factor of 2, than expected, explaining past overheating of the full-energy ion dump. Hollow profiles on the half- and third-energy ion dumps were observed, suggesting that extraction of D+2 and D+3 is primarily from the edge of the ion source. If extraction of half-energy ions is from the edge of the accelerator, a divergence parallel to the grid rails of 0.6°±0.1° is deduced. It is postulated that a nonuniform gas profile near the accelerator is the cause of the hollow partial-energy ion profiles, the pressure being depressed over the accelerator by particles passing through this highly transparent structure. Primary electrons reaching the accelerator produce nonuniform densities of D+2 through the ionization of this gas. D+3 is created through subsequent D+2-gas collisions. A technique of rastering the ion beam across the full-energy dump was examined as a means of reducing the power density. By unbalancing the currents in the two coils of the magnet, on a shot-by-shot basis, by up to a 2:1 ratio, it was possible to move the centerline of the full-energy ion beam sideways by ∼12.5 cm. The adoption of such a technique, with a ramp of the coil imbalance from 2:1 to 1:2 over a beam pulse, could reduce the full-energy ion dump power density by a factor of (approximately-greater-than)1.5.

Notes: Results are given from the first comprehensive and complementary measurements using the final production U.S. Common Long Pulse Ion Sources mounted on both the TFTR neutral beam test beamline and the TFTR neutral beam injection system, with actual tokamak experimental conditions, power systems, controls, and operating methods. The set of diagnostics included water calorimetry, thermocouples, vacuum ionization gauges, photodiodes, neutron, gamma-ray, and charged particle spectroscopy, optical multichannel analysis, charge exchange spectroscopy, Rutherford backscatter spectroscopy, and implantation/secondary ion mass spectroscopy. These systems were used to perform complementary measurements of neutral beam species, impurities, spatial divergence, energy dispersion, pressure, and reionization. The measurements were performed either in the neutralizer region, where the beam contained both ions and neutrals, or in the region of the output neutral beam. The average of the neutral particle ratios in the range from 80 to 114 keV is D0[E]:D0[E/2]:D0[E/3]=53(5):27(4):20(4), where the quantities in parentheses are the average experimental uncertainties.The corresponding neutral power ratio is P0[E]:P0[E/2]:P0[E/3]=72(9):19(3):9(2). The half widths (1/e) in the horizontal plane for the full-, half-, and third-energy components were 0.26°, 0.34°, and 0.42°, respectively. The dispersions of the full-, half-, and third-energy components were 1.20 keV, 2.35 keV, and 2.26 keV, respectively. The carbon impurity concentration in a 80 keV D0 beam was not greater than 2×10−4 per D0 beam particle, and exhibited an apparent acceleration state of C+. The oxygen impurity concentration was less than 5×10−4 per D0 beam particle, and exhibited an apparent acceleration state of O+. A variety of vacuum conditions were observed depending on the operating conditions. Typically, pressures in the transition ducts were in the range from 0.3 to 0.7×10−5 Torr at the beginning of injection pulses, and reionized power losses were in the range from 0.75% to 1.5% of incident power. At the end of injection pulses, pressures in the transition ducts were in the range from 0.6 to 2×10−5 Torr and reionized power losses were in the range from 2% to 6% of incident power. This work describes generic results, new apparatus, and advances in measurement techniques for the optimization of tokamak neutral beam heating operations and the analysis of neutral beam heated plasmas.

Notes: Data from an E(parallel)B charge exchange neutral analyzer (CENA), which views down the axis of a neutral beamline through an aperture in the target chamber calorimeter of the TFTR neutral beam test facility, exhibit two curious effects. First, there is a turn-on transient lasting tens of milliseconds having a magnitude up to three times that of the steady state level. Second, there is a 720 Hz, up to 20% peak-to-peak fluctuation persisting the entire pulse duration. The turn-on transient occurs as the neutralizer/ion source system reaches a new pressure equilibrium following the effective ion source gas throughput reduction by particle removal as ion beam. Widths of the transient are a function of the gas throughput into the ion source, decreasing as the gas supply rate is reduced. Heating of the neutralizer gas by the beam is assumed responsible, with gas temperature increasing as gas supply rate is decreased. At low gas supply rates, the transient is primarily due to dynamic changes in the neutralizer line density and/or beam species composition. Light emission from the drift duct corroborate the CENA data. At high gas supply rates, dynamic changes in component divergence and/or spatial profiles of the source plasma are necessary to explain the observations. The 720 Hz fluctuation is attributed to a 3% peak-to-peak ripple of 720 Hz on the arc power supply amplified by the quadratic relationship between beam divergence and beam current. Tight collimation by CENA apertures cause it to accept a very small part of the ion source's velocity space, producing a signal linearly proportional to beam divergence. Estimated fluctuations in the peak power density delivered to the plasma under these conditions are a modest 3%–8% peak to peak. The effects of both phenomena on the injected neutral beam can be ameliorated by careful operation of the ion sources.

Notes: Both the Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor and the Joint European Torus, two large magnetic confinement fusion devices, will use high-powered tritium beams. The suggestion has been made that tritium consumption could be reduced if tritium is only fed into the plasma source and deuterium or hydrogen is used as the neutralization target by operating with deuterium or hydrogen fed independently into the neutralizer. We report on measurements we performed with deuterium and hydrogen, and of the beam contamination that occurs in such an operating mode.