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At least 109 records · Page 6
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2023

Josephson Traveling Wave Parametric Amplifiers to Enable Future Neutrino Mass Measurements

Technologies for “quantum sensing" have the promise of dramatically improved sensitivity in some experiments that explore nuclear physics at the boundaries of our current knowledge. In particular, the Josephson Traveling Wave Parametric Amplifier (JTWPA) could enable future experiments such as Project 8 that use Cyclotron Radiation Emission Spectroscopy (CRES) to measure the absolute neutrino mass scale in tritium beta decays. CRES consists of detecting a signal of approximately one femtowatt of power radiated by electrons trapped in a 1-T magnetic field. The frequency of that radiation, around 27 GHz for a tritium endpoint electron, is inversely proportional to the electron energy. One of the significant challenges of a CRES experiment is the detection of minimal signal power levels. State-of-the-art transistor-based technologies will not likely achieve sufficient signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) in a competitive neutrino mass experiment. However, emerging quantum technologies have been demonstrated to operate at the fundamental lower limits of noise permitted by the laws of quantum mechanics. Of those technologies, JTWPAs appear to satisfy future performance needs with speed gain, bandwidth, and very low noise. We propose to bring together a group of neutrino physicists, experts in the needs of future neutrino mass measurements, with leaders in the field of quantum information science and JTWPA technology to develop JTWPAs appropriate for neutrino mass measurements.

73 NUCLEAR PHYSICS AND RADIATION PHYSICS↗
DOE OSTI2022

Verification of a fully kinetic ion model for electromagnetic simulations of high-frequency waves in toroidal geometry

For the research of high-frequency electromagnetic waves in tokamaks, an electromagnetic simulation model, in which the ion dynamics is described by a six-dimensional Vlasov equation and the electron dynamics is described by a drift kinetic equation, is formulated and implemented in the global gyrokinetic toroidal code (GTC). Analytic dispersion relations are derived in reduced systems and compared with various theories to verify the model. Linear simulations of a generalized ion Bernstein wave and ion cyclotron emission are verified by comparing the GTC simulation results with analytic dispersion relation theory and magnetoacoustic cyclotron instability theory, respectively, in cylindrical geometry.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2025

Feasibility of main thermal ion heating by ICRF waves using a top launcher in a tokamak with deuterium–tritium plasmas

A scenario of ion cyclotron range of frequency (ICRF) wave injection from a top launcher is proposed as an efficient and direct heating method for thermal deuterium ions in deuterium–tritium tokamak plasmas. Positioned between the tritium cyclotron layer and ion–ion hybrid layer, the top launcher allows effective wave penetration to the ion–ion hybrid layer and enables significant power transfer to thermal deuterium. This is achieved through favorable wave polarization for fundamental cyclotron damping. There is a Doppler broadening around the cyclotron resonance and this overlaps with the ion–ion hybrid layer. Low toroidal mode numbers and ion temperature in the range of 5–20 keV are favorable for enhancing the main ion damping relative to electron damping. In contrast to the neutral beam injection, which penetration strongly depends on machine size and plasma density, the proposed ICRF-based direct ion heating scenario is shown to be scalable and applicable to both larger and smaller tokamak devices within practical constraints.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2026

Global Non-axisymmetric Hall Instabilities in a Rotating Plasma

Non-axisymmetric, flow-driven instabilities in the incompressible Hall-MHD model are studied in a differentially rotating cylindrical plasma. It is found that, in the Hall-MHD regime, both whistler waves and ion-cyclotron waves can extract energy from the flow shear, resulting in two distinct branches of global instability. The non-axisymmetric whistler modes grow significantly faster than non-axisymmetric, ideal MHD modes. A discussion of the global whistler instability mechanism is presented in the large-ion-skin-depth, “electron-MHD” limit. When the magnetic field is azimuthal, a subset of the whistler modes having zero axial wave number are uncovered to be destabilized by the “corotation amplifier” mechanism. It is observed that the effect of the Hall term on the non-axisymmetric modes can be appreciable when d i is on the order of a few percent of the width of the cylindrical annulus. Distinct global modes emerge in the strong Hall-MHD regime at significantly stronger magnetic fields than those required for unstable global MHD modes, as the Hall effect weakens the stabilizing “field-line bending” by decoupling ion motion from the magnetic field. These global non-axisymmetric modes may play an important role in weakly ionized accretion disks.

Alfven waves↗
DOE OSTI2021

Alpha particle channeling in ITER

Alpha particle channeling, the attempt to extract energy from high-energy fusion alpha particles using a combination of high- and low-frequency waves introduced in the plasma with antennae, is studied using a guiding center code. We examine the effect of the combination of cooling caused by a cyclotron mode, particle diffusion due to Alfvén modes introduced for ash removal, the inclusion of microturbulent diffusion, and the slowing down of the alpha particles on electrons. Induced cooling is achieved with a cyclotron resonance, producing additional losses of particles above 3.5 MeV in an amount about equal to the prompt loss. The removal of the low-energy cooled particles by additional modes or by microturbulent diffusion is the hardest challenge for alpha channeling. The cooled alpha particles remain deep in the plasma center, so for this removal, the method used must be capable of providing transport from the plasma center to the edge without also causing losses of high-energy particles.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2022

Progress in ITER ECE diagnostic design and integration

The ITER electron cyclotron emission (ECE) diagnostic system has primary roles in providing measurements of the core electron temperature profile and the electron temperature fluctuation associated with the neoclassical tearing modes. The ITER ECE system includes a radial and oblique line-of-sight. Four 43-meter long low-loss transmission lines (TLs) are designed to transmit millimeter wave power in the frequency range of 70–1000 GHz in both X- and O-mode polarization from the port plug to the ECE instrumentation room in the diagnostic building. The measurement instrumentation includes two Fourier transform spectrometer (FTS) systems and two radiometer systems. The Indian Domestic Agency (IN-DA) and United States Domestic Agency share the responsibility. The IN-DA scope excluding instrumentation and control has passed its preliminary design review and is progressing towards the final design review (FDR). In parallel, the diagnostic integration in different areas is ongoing. Furthermore, several captive components for the TLs have passed FDR and will be manufactured for installation in the tokamak building soon. A peer review meeting has been held on the prototype hot calibration source, and its integration and new thermal analysis in the diagnostic shield module are continuing. A prototype TL is being tested. A prototype polarizing Martin-Puplett type FTS, operating in the frequency range 70–1000 GHz, features an in-vacuo fast scanning mechanism and a cryo-cooled dual-channel THz detector system. Its performance has been assessed in detail against ITER requirements.

47 OTHER INSTRUMENTATION↗
DOE OSTI2025

Wide-Bandgap Semiconductor Amplifiers for Fusion Plasma Heating and Control

This paper discusses power electronics developed under the ARPA-E GAMOW program to support nuclear fusion power production. The goal of this project was to develop and assess the potential for wide-bandgap (WBG) semiconductor devices in power electronics to enable high-efficiency and high-voltage solid-state systems for fusion plasma generation, heating, and control. The power electronics use an architecture in which multiple high-power boards can be combined to produce megawatt-level power, where using multiple boards provides high reliability. Two main areas of power electronics boards are developed in this project for fusion plasma heating and control applications: (1) pulse generation and control and (2) radiofrequency generation. The first area is for boards capable of driving high-voltage millisecond pulses at high duty cycles. The envisioned application of these pulses is in plasma control of magnetohydrodynamic instabilities, plasma position, and edge-localized modes. Pulse-width modulation allows for the implementation of a wide variety of linear and nonlinear control systems. The boards developed for this project could actuate control coils based on digital input signals and can be parallelized to provide megawatts of output power. The design of the pulse generator is a low-side load switch. A load switch was designed and constructed that utilized 2-kV-rated field-effect transistor (FET)-based cascodes developed by Qorvo under this project to perform initial testing of these cascodes. The second area is being implemented using class E amplifiers with WBG devices and a reactance steering network to handle inductive or capacitive plasma loads. Applications include ion cyclotron resonance heating (ICRH) and high-harmonic fast-wave (HHFW) heating. A class E reactance steering network is demonstrated in modeling and experiment with a resistive-inductive load that models an inductively-coupled plasma. Power combining of boards with class E reactance steering networks is also simulated and demonstrated experimentally, to enable scaling up to high power. Modeling of high-power-density cooling and remaining useful life is conducted to enable reliable, effectively cooled high-power electronics for fusion applications.

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗
DOE OSTI2023

Benchmark between antenna code TOPICA, RAPLICASOL and Petra-M for the ICRH ITER antenna

ITER will be equipped with three plasma heating systems: neutral beam (NB), electron cyclotron (EC), and ion cy-clotron resonance heating (ICRH). The latter consists of two identical ICRH antennas to deliver 20 MW to the plasma (baseline, upgradable to 40 MW). ICRH will play a crucial role in the ignition and sustainment of burning plasmas in ITER. A high fidelity and robust modeling effort to understand the interaction of the IC waves with the scrape-off-layer (SOL) plasma is a very important aspect. Among the main important research topics, we have the assessment of the antenna loading for different plasma scenarios, the role of the lower hybrid resonance in front of the antenna and how to include it in our models, and the RF sheath boundary conditions to evaluate the antenna impurity generation. In this work, we tackle the first of these by reporting on ICRF simulations employing the Petra-M code, which is an electromagnetic simulation tool for modeling RF wave propagation based on MFEM [http://mfem.org] for the ITER ICRH antenna. Moreover, a benchmark between the well tested antenna codes TOPICA, RAPLI-CASOL, which is based on COMSOL [www.comsol.com], and the Petra-M code is also presented. In conclusion, S- and Z-matrices and wave electric field are compared showing an excellent agreement among these codes.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2020

Effect of magnetic field ripple on parallel electron transport during microwave plasma heating in the Proto-MPEX linear plasma device

The Prototype Material Plasma Exposure eXperiment (Proto-MPEX) is a linear plasma device located at Oak Ridge National Laboratory to develop the plasma source concept for the Materials Plasma Exposure eXperiment (MPEX). Recent experiments have demonstrated the heating of electrons in a high-density deuterium plasma (n e ~ 5 × 10 19 m -3 ) via electron Bernstein waves and source plasma production via helicon waves in this linear configuration. Moreover, experimental observations suggest that the magnetic ripple adversely affects the parallel transport of the heated electrons toward the target where material samples are to be exposed to the plasma. In order to understand the transport process during microwave application, a test-particle Monte-Carlo (MC) code has been developed that incorporates the effects of Coulomb collisions, magnetic mirror adiabatic trapping and electron cyclotron interaction via a quasilinear RF heating operator. MC calculations indicate that the absence of 2nd turning points along the trajectory of cyclotron heated electrons significantly reduces adiabatic trapping and maximizes power transport to the Target surface. Thermalization of cyclotron heating electrons is analyzed with the MC code and it is found that for conditions relevant to ProtoMPEX, a significant fraction of the absorbed heating power is coupled to the Target surface via ballistic fast electrons; however, under certain conditions, up to 60% of the absorbed RF power can be dissipated via thermalization of the fast electrons on the background plasma. Results are compared with experimental measurements. Finally, the implications of the results are discussed in the context of the upcoming MPEX device.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2025

Status of the development and testing of in-vessel and ECH-protection components for the ITER low-field side reflectometer

The ITER Low-Field Side Reflectometer (LFSR) is a critical diagnostic system designed to measure edge electron density profiles, fluctuations, and plasma rotation in ITER. This paper presents the latest developments in the design, testing, and validation of key in-vessel and Electron Cyclotron Heating (ECH) protection components. The LFSR antenna array has been optimized to provide robust coverage over expected plasma vertical displacements and a Doppler measurement for plasma rotation. Further, a comprehensive assessment of a 170-GHz diffraction grating and a novel stray-ECH power monitor demonstrates effectiveness in mitigating the impact of stray ECH power on sensitive microwave electronics. Additionally, an advancement in anti-reflective technology for millimeter waves significantly improves transmission of LFSR's vacuum window while meeting ITER's stringent safety and operational requirements. These results support the continued integration of LFSR into ITER, ensuring its diagnostic capabilities remain resilient under reactor-relevant conditions.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2024

Fast ion studies in the extended high-performance high β P plasma on EAST

Comprehending and optimizing fast ion behaviors is critical for the enhancement of performance in Experimental Advanced Superconducting Tokamak (EAST). This study explores the potential benefits of several factors that can improve the fast ion confinement. First, experiments show the change in the direction of the NBI2 from counter-I p to co-I p leads to a significant reduction in fast ion losses. TRANSP/NUBEAM simulation and tomography results based on fast-ion D-alpha measurements reveal that after the neutral beam injection (NBI) upgrade, the beam ion prompt loss is reduced by approximately 50%. Second, the upgraded ion cyclotron resonant frequency (ICRF) antenna at the N-port features twice the coupling resistance of the original antennas at EAST. This improved ICRF power coupling has enhanced the synergistic heating effect of NBI + ICRF, where the ICRF wave field accelerates beam ions at the harmonics. Experiments demonstrate that NBI + ICRF synergistic not only enhances plasma neutron yield and β P , but also accelerates beam ions to hundreds of keV. Further, the electron density and the neutral beam voltage have been optimized to reduce the fast ion slowing-down time and beam ion losses. Experimental and simulation results indicate that increasing the electron density reduces beam ion losses and enhances the bootstrap current fraction. While higher beam voltage results in a slight decrease in beam power absorption, it can increase the fraction of bootstrap current. With the understanding of these optimization of fast ion confinement, experiments have demonstrated fully non-inductive operation at high density (n e /n G ∼ 0.67, β P ∼ 3.1, β N ∼ 2.1, H 98,y2 ∼ 1.2) even without the support of co-I p beam NBI2. This investigation presents a potential regime to enhance fast ion confinement and extend performance in the high β P plasma for future experiments.

EAST tokamak↗
DOE OSTI2022

DIII-D Electron Cyclotron Heating and Current Drive System Status and Plans

The DIII-D 110 GHz Electron Cyclotron Heating and Current Drive (ECH/ECCD) System supports a wide range of experiments at the DIII-D National Fusion Facility and is pioneering innovative new techniques for future fusion reactors. Here, the system currently includes 8 sockets with 4 installed gyrotrons, 31.75 mm circular corrugated transmission lines, four dual real time steerable launchers plus two Top Launchers. After the successful testing of the first Top Launcher, that injects the EC waves downward nearly parallel to the resonance layer with double current drive efficiency and a long absorption path, a second new Top Launcher was designed and installed with an upgraded design. Some of the operational limitations encountered for the 110 GHz X-mode second harmonic resonance scenario launched in over-dense plasmas were overcome with the alternative use of O-mode second harmonic launch. Two new gyrotrons in a new series manufactured by CPI were installed and tested, bringing up the total installed power to 3 MW. The installation of repaired and new gyrotrons will increase the number of installed gyrotrons to 7 in 2023. An addition to the DIII-D building will be completed in early 2022 to provide the space to expand the ECH/ECCD system to ten gyrotron systems, plus an extra gyrotron test socket.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2020

Cross-field electron diffusion due to the coupling of drift-driven microinstabilities

In this paper, the nonlinear interaction between kinetic instabilities driven by multiple ion beams and magnetized electrons is investigated. Electron diffusion across magnetic field lines is enhanced by the coupling of plasma instabilities. Here, a two-dimensional collisionless particle-in-cell simulation is performed accounting for singly and doubly charged ions in a cross-field configuration. Consistent with prior linear kinetic theory analysis and observations from coherent Thomson scattering experiments, the present simulations identify an ion-ion two-stream instability due to multiply charged ions (flowing in the direction parallel to the applied electric field) which coexists with the electron cyclotron drift instability (propagating perpendicular to the applied electric field and parallel to the ExB drift). Small-scale fluctuations due to the coupling of these naturally driven kinetic modes are found to be a mechanism that can enhance cross-field electron transport and contribute to the broadening of the ion velocity distribution functions.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2021

Observation of second harmonic electron cyclotron resonance heating and current-drive transition during non-inductive plasma start-up experiment in QUEST

Here, noninductive plasma current start-up using 2nd harmonic electron cyclotron resonance heating (ECRH) with oblique radio frequency (RF) injection is demonstrated in a Q-shu University experiment with steady-state spherical tokamak. A strong transition was observed in the heating and plasma current ramp-up. The initial bulk electron heating regime exhibits T ebulk ~ 140 eV and no hard x-ray (HXR) emission with a low I p of ~15 kA; it abruptly transitions to a regime that exhibits a low T ebulk of ~10 eV and a strong HXR emission with a high I p of ~50 kA. This behavior is distinctly different from that observed in previous fundamental ECRH experiments. The mechanism of the heating and current drive transition are investigated considering wave power absorption and plasma power balance. The results indicate that the transition is caused by the favorable heating of tail electrons where the RF power absorption at the 2nd harmonic increases nearly linearly with T etail , while the power transfer from the tail electrons to the bulk electrons decreases with 1/T etail 0.5 . This causes a rapid transition to a state with high T etail while reducing T ebulk towards colder ion temperature. The understanding of the transition mechanism helps to consider plasma current start-up using 2nd harmonic ECRH for tokamak reactors such as JT-60 SA and ITER.

QUEST↗
DOE OSTI2025

Fermi surface origin of the low-temperature magnetoresistance anomaly

Magnetoresistance (MR) at a fixed field can demonstrate a non-monotonic temperature dependence—an anomaly—in many systems, including low-dimensional chalcogenides, spin- and charge-density-wave metals, and topological semimetals. These systems are often low-carrier-density compensated metals, and the physics are expected to be quasi-classical. Nevertheless, the MR anomaly also exists in the highly conductive metals Cr, Mo, and W for both linear and quadratic field dependence, with their non-saturation attributed to either open orbit or electron-hole compensation. We argue that quantum transport across sharp Fermi surface arcs, but not necessarily the full cyclotron orbit, governs this MR anomaly, thereby accounting for the profound effects of disorder. In Cr, an overlay exists between three temperature dependences: MR at a constant high field, linear MR at a low field, and Shubnikov-de Haas (SdH) oscillations of the smallest orbit. In Mo, the MR anomaly extends beyond the temperature of its SdH oscillations but disappears before Kohler’s scaling reemerges.

Feng, Yejun [Okinawa Institute of Science and Tech↗
DOE OSTI2021

Effects of multiply charged ions on microturbulence-driven electron transport in partially magnetized plasmas

Herein, nonlinear interaction between kinetic instabilities in partially magnetized plasmas in the presence of multiply-charged ion streams is investigated using kinetic simulations. It was observed by Hara and Tsikata [Phys. Rev. E 102, 023202 (2020)] that the axial ion-ion two-stream instability (IITSI) due to singly and doubly charged ion streams, coupled with the azimuthal electron cyclotron drift instability (ECDI), enhances cross-field electron transport. In the present study, it is observed that the addition of triply charged ions (as a third ion species) contributes to damping of the excited modes, leading to a reduction in the cross-field electron transport. The net instability-driven electron transport is shown to be a function not only of the azimuthal modes, such as the ECDI, but of the multiple ion species that dictate the development of additional plasma waves. It is found that trapping of the higher ion charge states within the plasma waves results in a broadening of the ion velocity distribution functions.

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY↗
DOE OSTI2024

Electron Heating in 2D Particle-in-cell Simulations of Quasi-perpendicular Low-beta Shocks

Abstract We measure the thermal electron energization in 1D and 2D particle-in-cell simulations of quasi-perpendicular, low-beta ( β p = 0.25) collisionless ion–electron shocks with mass ratio m i / m e = 200, fast Mach number M ms = 1 –4, and upstream magnetic field angle θ Bn = 55°–85° from the shock normal n ˆ . It is known that shock electron heating is described by an ambipolar, B -parallel electric potential jump, Δ ϕ ∥ , that scales roughly linearly with the electron temperature jump. Our simulations have Δ ϕ ∥ / ( 0.5 m i u sh 2 ) ∼ 0.1 –0.2 in units of the pre-shock ions’ bulk kinetic energy, in agreement with prior measurements and simulations. Different ways to measure ϕ ∥ , including the use of de Hoffmann–Teller frame fields, agree to tens-of-percent accuracy. Neglecting off-diagonal electron pressure tensor terms can lead to a systematic underestimate of ϕ ∥ in our low- β p shocks. We further focus on two θ Bn = 65° shocks: a M s = 4 ( M A = 1.8 ) case with a long, 30 d i precursor of whistler waves along n ˆ , and a M s = 7 ( M A = 3.2 ) case with a shorter, 5 d i precursor of whistlers oblique to both n ˆ and B ; d i is the ion skin depth. Within the precursors, ϕ ∥ has a secular rise toward the shock along multiple whistler wavelengths and also has localized spikes within magnetic troughs. In a 1D simulation of the M s = 4 , θ Bn = 65° case, ϕ ∥ shows a weak dependence on the electron plasma-to-cyclotron frequency ratio ω pe /Ω ce , and ϕ ∥ decreases by a factor of 2 as m i / m e is raised to the true proton–electron value of 1836.

Tran, Aaron (ORCID:0000000334834890)↗
DOE OSTI2026

Investigation of Causal Relationships of the Cross‐Scale Wave Coupling Through Information Theoretical Approach

On 2015 October 2, MMS spacecraft observed an electron micro-injection event near the southern hemispheric high-altitude cusp, coinciding with intense wave activity across several frequency bands. Here, we investigated the MMS magnetic field and plasma during this event to explore cross-scale coupling among the wave modes. Employing the Hilbert-Huang transform, we perform an empirical mode decomposition to extract frequencies and amplitudes of the intrinsic mode functions (IMFs). In this analysis, we establish both linear and nonlinear relationships and examine the information transfer between the IMFs. Notably, the transfer entropy suggests that high frequency ion cyclotron waves may be driven by the mirror mode structures. Our case study effectively demonstrates the utility of the information theory based tools for studying cross-scale wave coupling phenomena.

Rivera, Elmer C. [Andrews University, Berrien Spri↗