| Abstract: | The scale length for an effective shielding of a charged particle in a plasma is the Debye length, which is for Maxwellian velocity distributions determined by the ratio of the temperature to the density. However, fusion plasmas heated by neutral-beam injection (NBI) exhibit highly non-Maxwellian slowing-down velocity distributions. In this case, the evaluation of the characteristic shielding distance from these velocity distributions requires the solution of Fokker-Planck-Poisson equations. In this paper, the effect of NBI slowing-down velocity distributions on the shielding distance are discussed. Analytic expressions for the Debye length of a neutral-beam-heated plasma are given. The results are compared to the Maxwellian case. |
