Influence of radial electric field on trajectories of plug potential bounce ion in the tandem mirror

Bouncing ions between the plug potentials play an important role in improvement of the axial confinement in the tandem mirror. We examined the influence of the radial electric field on the trajectories of the ions passed through the anchor cell with nonaxisymmetric magnetic configuration on the assumption that the shape of the magnetic flux tube was shifted from the shape of the equipotential surface of the plasma at the mirror throats of the anchor cells. The discrepancy between the shapes enhanced the radial drift of the bounce ion. Radial potential profile of the core plasma was controlled by adjustment of the radially separated endplate potentials, and it was found that the flattened radial potential profile was effective for the decrease of the radial drift. Presented at 5th Workshop “Role of Electric Fields in Plasma Confinement and Exhaust”, Montreux, Switzerland, June 23–24, 2002.     

ANALYSIS OF DUAL FREQUENCY CONFINED CAPACITIVELY COUPLED PLASMA AT LOW POWER

Confined dual frequency hydrogen plasma discharge has been investigated with microwave interferometer method and radial profiles are taken by Abel inversion technique. Dual radio-frequency sources, operating at 27.12MHz and 1.94MHz, are coupled to each other through the plasma. 27.12MHz RF power is used to enhance plasma density and 1.94MHz power is used to enhance ion acceleration energy to the electrode. Radial density profiles has been taken for comparing the effects of low frequency source that the secondary RF source causes reduction in plasma density due to the sheath expansion. Instead radial density profile is assumed as flat by most of the models, there is about 2.5eV of potential drop occurs from centre to boundary at 40W of primary source power. It has been observed that increasing sheath width (increasing the secondary source power to primary source power) reduces the bulk plasma volume and makes potential profile flattening in y direction. While the high frequency power is dissipated by electrons in the bulk plasma; low frequency power is mostly dissipated by ions in the sheath region. Using both high and low frequency power, we may control plasma density and ion acceleration energy to the electrode simultaneously.     

The TMX heavy ion beam probe

A heavy ion beam probe has been used to measure the radial space potential distribution in the central cell of TMX. This was the first beam probe system to utilize computer control, CAMAC instrumentation, and fast time response for broadband fluctuation capabilities. The fast time response was obtained using off-line processing of the energy analyzer detector signals and wideband transimpedance amplifiers. The on-axis space potential was found to be 300-400 V, with φ_e/T_ec~8. The radial potential profile is parabolic when gas box fueling is used. The frequency of observed fluctuations was found to agree with the E×B plasma rotation frequency during the discharge. The measured Tl⁺⁺ secondary ion current level is consistent with calculations, given reasonable assumptions for beam attenuation     

离子推力器推力密度特性

离子推力器推力密度分布对航天器轨道维持和修正具有重要影响.采用粒子模拟-蒙特卡罗碰撞方法模拟束流等离子体输运过程,分析束流多组分粒子喷出数量和速度等微观参数,并计算得到单孔束流推力,结合放电室出口等离子体密度分布,进一步对推力密度分布特性分析,最后开展实验验证.研究结果显示:束流中单价离子、双荷离子以及交换电荷离子的推力贡献比分别为84.63%,15.35%和1.82%,可见推力主要来源于束流中的单价离子和双荷离子,交换电荷离子对推力贡献很小;推力密度分布具有较好的中心轴对称性,从推力器中心沿着径向先快速下降后趋于缓慢;与实验结果对比,经验模型相对误差约为4.1%,数值模型相对误差约为2.8%,相比经验模型,数值模型具有更好的准确性.研究结果可为离子推力器推力密度分布均匀性等优化提供参考.     

Measurements of the space potential of electron cyclotron heatedplasmas in the Advanced Toroidal Facility

A heavy ion beam probe has been used to measure the space potential of electron cyclotron heated plasmas in the Advanced Toroidal Facility. The results of the measured potential profiles are presented along with the radial electric field strength profiles derived from these measurements. The measured potential profiles have been compared to those predicted by a simple model of the plasma based upon an ambipolarity constraint on the ion and electron particle fluxes in steady state. The trends of the measured and modeled profiles are in agreement, although the strength of the electric field predicted by the model is much greater than that inferred from the potential profile measurement. When an oxygen-like impurity ion species is added to the model, the predicted electric field strengths are altered significantly and become much closer to the measured values     

A 6 MeV heavy ion beam probe for the Large Helical Device

A 6 MeV heavy ion beam probe (HIBP) is being designed for potential measurements on the Large Helical Device (LHD). This article describes a method to control the 3-D probing beam trajectories in the helical magnetic field, an estimate of beam attenuation and energy reduction arising from the long paths in the plasma, and a cylindrical analyzer as a candidate for the energy analyzer     

Confinement physics for thermal, neutral, high-charge-state plasmas in nested-well solenoidal traps

A theoretical study is presented which indicates that it is possible to confine a neutral plasma using static electric and solenoidal magnetic fields. The plasma consists of equal temperature electrons and highly stripped ions. The solenoidal magnetic field provides radial confinement, while the electric field, which produces an axial nested-well potential profile, provides axial confinement. A self-consistent, multidimensional numerical solution for the electric potential is obtained, and a fully kinetic theoretical treatment on axial transport is used to determine an axial confinement time scale. The effect on confinement of the presence of a radial electric field is explored with the use of ion trajectory calculations. A thermal, neutral, high-charge-state plasma confined in a nested-well trap opens new possibilities for fundamental studies on plasma recombination and cross-field transport processes under highly controlled conditions.     

Heavy Ion Beam Probe Plasma Diagnostic System for the Deep Magnetic Well Lite Device

A heavy ion beam probe plasma diagnostic system has been developed for the Laser Initiated Target Experiment (LITE) at UTRC. This is the first application of ion beam probing to a plasma confined by a strongly three dimensional magnetic field. The deep magnetic well, minimum-B field produced by the "baseball" magnet coil results in complex trajectories and severe defocusing of both the injected primary beam and detected secondary beam. Spatial resolution can be maintained by aperturing the entrance slit to the detector or installing compensating ion optics. The system is capable of space and time resolved measurements of plasma density and space potential near the central region of the mirror-confined plasma.     

Initial Measurements of Plasma Potential in the Core of the MST Reversed Field Pinch with a Heavy Ion Beam Probe

Measurement of the plasma potential in the core of MST marks both the first interior potential measurements in an RFP, as well as the first measurements by a Heavy Ion Beam Probe (HIBP) in an RFP. The HIBP has operated with (20-110) keV sodium beams in plasmas with toroidal currents of (200-480) kA over a wide range of densities and magnetic equilibrium conditions. A positive plasma potential is measured in the core, consistent with the expectation of rapid electron transport by magnetic fluctuations and the formation of an outwardly directed ambipolar radial electric field. Comparison between the radial electric field and plasma flow is underway to determine the extent to which equilibrium flow is governed by E×B. Measurements of potential and density fluctuations are also in progress.Unlike HIBP applications in tokamak plasmas, the beam trajectories in MST (RFP) are both three-dimensional and temporally dynamic with magnetic equilibrium changes associated with sawteeth. This complication offers new opportunity for magnetic measurements via the Heavy Ion Beam Probe (HIBP). The ion orbit trajectories are included in a Grad-Shafranov toroidal equilibrium reconstruction, helping to measure the internal magnetic field and current profiles. Such reconstructions are essential to identifying the beam sample volume locations, and they are vital in MST's mission to suppress MHD tearing modes using current profile control techniques. Measurement of the electric field may be accomplished by combining single point measurements from multiple discharges, or by varying the injection angle of the beam during single discharges.The application of an HIBP on MST has posed challenges resulting in additional diagnostic advances. The requirement to keep ports small to avoid introducing magnetic field perturbations has led to the design and successful implementation of cross-over sweep systems. High levels of ultraviolet radiation are driving alternative methods of sweep plate operation. While, substantial levels of plasma flux into the HIBP diagnostic chambers has led to the use of magnetic plasma suppression.     

On the low-threshold parametric mechanism of the anomalous power absorption in electron cyclotron resonance heating experiments in toroidal devices

The experimental conditions that facilitate the excitation of parametric decay instabilities upon the electron cyclotron resonance heating of a plasma at the second harmonic extraordinary wave in tokamaks and stellarators and, as a result, make anomalous absorption of microwave power possible have been analyzed. It has been shown that, in the case of a nonmonotonic radial profile of the plasma density, when the beam of electron cyclotron waves passes near the equatorial plane of a toroidal device, the parametric excitation of electron Bernstein waves, as well as the generation of ion Bernstein waves propagating from the parametric decay region to the nearest ion cyclotron harmonic, where they efficiently interact with ions, is possible. The proposed theoretical model can explain the anomalous generation of accelerated ions observed upon electron cyclotron heating in small and moderate toroidal facilities.     

Simulation of plasma flow in toroidal solenoid filters

An improved drift approximation model with an added radial electrostatic field has been successfully developed. Our model provides a computationally efficient way of quantitatively describing the plasma motion and predicting the plasma behavior in the toroidal solenoid in a filtered cathodic vacuum arc (FCVA) system. Storer's (1989) experimental results have been successfully simulated by this model. A good quantitative fit is obtained for our simulation results to the measured ion currents versus distance along the torus for various B field strengths, the attenuation length, and the wall current. The model describes the change of plasma density along the torus and provides the value of the electron-ion collision frequency at various conditions. The effect of the magnetic field and radial electric field on the plasma transportation can be assessed by the simulation and various plasma parameters can be determined. It is found that the radial electric field confines the 3-directional drift of the ions and is one of the most important parameters in determining the ion throughput. For any given B field strength and plasma parameters, there is a peak ion output corresponding to an optimal potential difference which can be obtained by the simulation. Over three times more ion output can be achieved when the torus wall is appropriately biased     

托卡马克中宏观束-等离子体扭曲模不稳定性研究

本文主要研究了具有单一高能离子分量的托卡马克等离子体扭曲模宏观不稳定性。它基本上模拟了中性束平行注入经过电离和电荷交换后在本底等离子体中维持一个稳恒等离子体流的物理过程。高能和本底都用无碰撞的Vlasov等离子体,并取了低频、小拉莫尔半径极限。由于主要考虑束-等离子体无耗散宏观不稳定性,故可用能量原理来分析。结果表明,高能离子束对本底等离子体的外部模没有影响,只影响内部扭曲模的增长率和扰动振幅。对适当选择的速度剖面,束能够完全稳定体系n≥2,m=1模,与Dunlap线性理论结果相反而与目前实验观测一致。m/n=1/1内部扭曲模增长率在所取得模型下随注入能量β_b,注入功率P_bw,轴上安全因子q(0)和束速度的径向剖面分布参数S的不同而出现增稳、减稳及完全稳定的行为。适当选择S,在q(0)<0.924时,高能束能够稳定m/n=1/1模。 关键词：     

On the evaluation of ignition threshold in proton-carbon hybrid ignitor beam proposal

We may improve plasma ignition quality in a conically guided proton fast ignition scheme by the application of an extra lower intensity, secondary carbon beam. According to the experimental measurements on the number of laser-accelerated ions, the temporal evolution of the hot spot electron, ion, and radiation temperatures was examined using three-temperature plasma model, in radiation pressure acceleration (RPA) mechanisms for a proton-Carbon beam configuration, E_avg ≈ 10 MeV/nucleon. The hot spot ignition was evaluated by the well-known stopping power models proposed independently by Li–Petrasso (LP) and Brown–Preston–Singleton (BPS). Based on our analytical results, with time, plasma temperature in the LP model surpasses the BPS model. From this point of view, to compensate this deficiency in the BPS method, we will show that the density ratio of 17% is required when the energy spread is 10%. The results were also validated by the DEIRA-4 code. Moreover, the electron-ion equilibrium will decrease up to 9.3 and 4.4% for the LP and BPS methods, respectively. It is demonstrated that the key features of a higher average ion energy as well as the narrow beam profile in the RPA regime may effectively ignite hot spot much better than in the Target Normal Sheath Acceleration (TNSA) counterpart. It is estimated that the proton-Carbon beam proposal can reduce ion beam energy to 8.42 kJ, approximately saving 15% of ignitor energy.     

Radial Distributions of Dusty Plasma Parameters in a DC Glow Discharge

A non‐stationary non‐local kinetic model for radial distributions of dusty plasma parameters based on the solution of Boltzmann equation for electron energy distribution function is presented. Electrons and ions production in ionizing collisions and their recombination on dust particle surface were taken into account. The drift‐diffusion approximation for ions was used. To obtain the self‐consistent radial distribution of electric potential the Poisson equation was used. It is shown that at high dust particle density the recombination of electrons and ions can exceed their production in ionization collisions in the region of dusty cloud. In this case the non‐monotonous radial distribution of the electric field is formed, the radial electric field becomes reversed and the radial electron and ion fluxes change their direction toward the center of the tube (© 2012 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Analysis of the formation of ion beams in varying electric fields of a stationary plasma thruster

We propose a technique for analyzing the distribution function of the velocity components (radial V _r and azimuthal V _φ) of ions in a beam. This technique is used for studying the ion beam emerging from a stationary plasma thruster (SPT). It is shown that the beam contains ions with a radial velocity component in the range V _r /V _z = ? 1.2 to +0.74, as well as ions with the azimuthal velocity component in the range V _?/V _z = ±0.9. Numerical calculations lead to the conclusion that ions acquire the azimuthal velocity component in the field of the azimuthal wave of the plasma potential evolving in the SPT channel.     

A Simple Model of Diffuse Vacuum arc Plasmas

The diffuse expanding plasma of low-current vacuum arcs is composed of and characterized by an almost thermal electron gas and an ion beam with high kinetic energy. It is described theoretically with a two-fluid hydrodynamic model. By application of thorough simplifications (such as isothermal conditions, constant composition, one-dimensional treatment) an analytical solution is found in the form of asymptotic power series of the plasma parameters. This solution is used to analyse the plasma ion acceleration, resulting in the statement that the three forces acting on ions (i.e. the electric field, the ion pressure gradient, the electron-ion friction) are of comparable importance, contributing to the total ion energy roughly 20%, 35%, and 45%, respectively (in case of Cu vapour arcs). As to the electric field and Ohm's law the solution reveals that the potential is falling towards the anode and that the diffusion current exceeds the opposite conduction current with the consequence of a negative resistance of the arc plasma. Finally, the approximations of the solution, limitations of the validity and possible extensions of the model are shortly discussed.     

Electron heat transport in the magnetic filter of a volume plasma-based source of H−/D− ions

A time-independent one-dimensional model of the electron energy balance in the region of the magnetic filter of a volume plasma-based ion source is justified. The local electron energy balance equation and the steady density profiles of the plasma components are used to determine the transverse (with respect to the mag-netic field) electron temperature profile, which is found to agree well with the experimental profile. The temperature profile obtained analytically is then used to refine the particle balance in a plasma with two ion species and, accordingly, to find the optimum conditions for the formation of an H⁻/D⁻ beam and for extracting the beam from the source.     

Propagation of vacuum arc plasma beam in a toroidal filter

An analytical solution to the problem of plasma beam transport in a toroidal magnetic filter for unmagnetized ions is derived. A two-fluid model taking into account electromagnetic and pressure forces, electron-ion collisions, magnetic force line curvature, and radial dependence of centrifugal force is used. From comparison with experimental data it is shown that the obtained solution describes well the main properties of plasma beam behavior in the filter, e.g. (1) the relative value of the ion current along the torus decreases exponentially, (2) the deflection of the plasma beam from the center of the torus correlates with the centrifugal drift of the plasma beam across a magnetic field, and (3) experiment and theory agree well on the weak correlation between magnetic field strength and filter efficiency     

Influence of the image interaction on ion desorption processes

A classical treatment of the interaction between an ion and a conducting surface during an ion desorption process is presented. Analytical expressions have been obtained for the trajectories of desorbing ions as well as for the trajectories of ions trapped by the image potential. The distortion by the image potential of the energy and angular distribution of desorbing ions is estimated. Our objective has been to provide a guide for experimentalists to the surprisingly large changes in such distributions caused by the image forces.