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Osakabe, M

Publications and source records attributed to Osakabe, M.

8 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2012

Electron density measurement of cesium seeded negative ion source by surface wave probe

Electron density measurements of a large-scaled negative ion source were carried out with a surface wave probe. By comparison of the electron densities determined with the surface wave probe and a Langmuir probe, it was confirmed that the surface wave probe is highly available for diagnostic of the electron density in H{sup -} ion sources. In addition, it was found that the ratio of the electron density to the H{sup -} ion density dramatically decreases with increase of a bias voltage and the H{sup -} ions become dominant negative particles at the bias voltage of more than 6 V.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2012

Spatial distribution of the charged particles and potentials during beam extraction in a negative-ion source

We report on the characteristics of the electronegative plasma in a large-scale hydrogen negative ion (H{sup -}) source. The measurement has been made with a time-resolved Langmuir probe installed in the beam extraction region. The H{sup -} density is monitored with a cavity ring-down system to identify the electrons in the negative charges. The electron-saturation current decreases rapidly after starting to seed Cs, and ion-ion plasma is observed in the extraction region. The H{sup -} density steps down during the beam extraction and the electron density jumps up correspondingly. The time integral of the decreasing H{sup -} charge density agrees well with the electron charge collected with the probe. The agreement of the charges is interpreted to indicate that the H{sup -} density decreasing at the beam extraction is compensated by the electrons diffusing from the driver region. In the plasmas with very low electron density, the pre-sheath of the extraction field penetrates deeply inside the plasmas. That is because the shielding length in those plasmas is longer than that in the usual electron-ion plasmas, and furthermore the electrons are suppressed to diffuse to the extraction region due to the strong magnetic field.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2011

Comparison of Optical Emission Spectroscopy and Cavity Ring-Down Spectroscopy in Large-Scaled Negative-Ion Source

Optical emission spectroscopy (OES) and cavity ring-down spectroscopy (CRDS) systems are installed in a 1/3-scaled negative hydrogen-ion source at the National Institute for Fusion Science testbed to investigate the dynamics of H{sup -} ions in the extraction region near the plasma grid. The signal form of the H{sup -} ion density rapidly drops after beam extraction on applying a low-bias voltage. A similar signal drop appears in the intensity of the hydrogen Balmer-line emission measured by OES and is caused by decreasing atomic hydrogen produced by mutual neutralization effects between H{sup -} and H{sup +}. Shot trend of the beam currents are similar to the H{sup -} density and H{sub {alpha}}/H{sub {beta}} in the extraction region, which increases twice as large immediately after Cs seeding. We observe a linear correlation between the H{sup -} density and the inclination of H{sub {alpha}}/H{sub {beta}} which allows for experimentally benchmarking the OES measurement with that of CRDS. Thus, this approach is used for estimating the H{sup -} density by OES in negative-ion sources for high-energy neutral beam injector.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2011

Measurement of Electron Density near Plasma Grid of Large-scaled Negative Ion Source by Means of Millimeter-Wave Interferometer

A millimeter-wave interferometer with the frequency of 39 GHz ({lambda} 7.7 mm) was newly installed to a large-scaled negative ion source. The measurable line-integrated electron density (n{sub e}l) is from 2x10{sup 16} to 7x10{sup 18} m{sup -2}, where n{sub e} and l represent an electron density and the plasma length along the millimeter-wave path, respectively. Our interest in this study is behavior of negative ions and reduction of electron density in the beam extraction region near the plasma grid. The first results show the possibility of the electron density measurement by the millimeter-wave interferometer in this region. The line-averaged electron density increases proportional to the arc power under the condition without cesium seeding. The significant decrease of the electron density and significant increase of the negative ion density were observed just after the cesium seeding. The electron density measured with the interferometer agrees well with that observed with a Langmuir probe. The very high negative ion ratio of n{sub H-}/(n{sub e}+n{sub H-}) = 0.85 was achieved within 400 min. after the cesium seeding.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2011

Stability of High Power Beam Injection in Negative-Ion-Based LHD-NBI

We describe the characteristic of stable beam injection in a neutral beam injector (NBI) for Large Helical Device (LHD) in high injection power of more than 6 MW. In the NBI, it takes a week after starting Cs seeding to finish the pre-injection conditioning. The injection starts with the beam power {approx}6.2 MW, and the maximum power reaches {approx}7 MW. The Cs-seeding rate affects the beam stability in such high power injections. By optimizing the rate to 0.65 mg/shot, the success ratio, which is defined as a ratio of actual pulse duration to setting one, increases to 85-90% in the power and energy range of more than 6.2 MW and 185 keV, respectively. The weights of Cs adsorbed on several surfaces in the ion sources of the NBI are measured by means of Inductively-Coupled Plasma Atomic Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-AES), and averaged surface densities are calculated by dividing with the several surface areas. The seeded Cs of 99.5% is condensed in the plasma generator, and very tiny amount of Cs reaches the surfaces of the accelerator grids. This very low amount of Cs on the grids is interpreted that most of the Cs atom evaporated from the inner walls is ionized during the arc discharges, and repelled to the source plasmas by the electrostatic field for H- extraction.

43 PARTICLE ACCELERATORS↗
DOE OSTI2011

ITER Test Blanket Module Error Field Simulation Experiments at DIII-D

Experiments at DIII-D investigated the effects of magnetic error fields similar to those expected from proposed ITER test blanket modules (TBMs) containing ferromagnetic material. Studied were effects on: plasma rotation and locking, confinement, L-H transition, the H-mode pedestal, edge localized modes (ELMs) and ELM suppression by resonant magnetic perturbations, energetic particle losses, and more. The experiments used a purpose-built three-coil mock-up of two magnetized ITER TBMs in one ITER equatorial port. The largest effect was a reduction in plasma toroidal rotation velocity v across the entire radial profile by as much as Delta upsilon/upsilon similar to 60% via non-resonant braking. Changes to global Delta n/n, Delta beta/beta and Delta H(98)/H(98) were similar to 3 times smaller. These effects are stronger at higher beta. Other effects were smaller. The TBM field increased sensitivity to locking by an applied known n = 1 test field in both L-and H-mode plasmas. Locked mode tolerance was completely restored in L-mode by re-adjusting the DIII-D n = 1 error field compensation system. Numerical modelling by IPEC reproduces the rotation braking and locking semi-quantitatively, and identifies plasma amplification of a few n = 1 Fourier harmonics as the main cause of braking. IPEC predicts that TBM braking in H-mode may be reduced by n = 1 control. Although extrapolation from DIII-D to ITER is still an open issue, these experiments suggest that a TBM-like error field will produce only a few potentially troublesome problems, and that they might be made acceptably small.

Schaffer, M J↗
DOE OSTI2011

Energetic-ion-driven global instabilities in stellarator/helical plasmas and comparison with tokamak plasmas

Comprehensive understanding of energetic-ion-driven global instabilities such as Alfven eigenmodes (AEs) and their impact on energetic ions and bulk plasma is crucially important for tokamak and stellarator/helical plasmas and in the future for deuterium-tritium (DT) burning plasma experiments. Various types of global modes and their associated enhanced energetic ion transport are commonly observed in toroidal plasmas. Toroidicity-induced AEs and ellipticity-induced AEs, whose gaps are generated through poloidal mode coupling, are observed in both tokamak and stellarator/helical plasmas. Global AEs and reversed shear AEs, where toroidal couplings are not as dominant were also observed in those plasmas. Helicity induced AEs that exist only in 3D plasmas are observed in the large helical device (LHD) and Wendelstein 7 Advanced Stellarator plasmas. In addition, the geodesic acoustic mode that comes from plasma compressibility is destabilized by energetic ions in both tokamak and LHD plasmas. Nonlinear interaction of these modes and their influence on the confinement of the bulk plasma as well as energetic ions are observed in both plasmas. In this paper, the similarities and differences in these instabilities and their consequences for tokamak and stellarator/helical plasmas are summarized through comparison with the data sets obtained in LHD. In particular, this paper focuses on the differences caused by the rotational transform profile and the 2D or 3D geometrical structure of the plasma equilibrium. Important issues left for future study are listed.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗