| 1. |
- Hellesen, Carl, 1980-, et al.
(författare)
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Neutron emission generated by fast deuterons accelerated with ion cyclotron heating at JET
- 2010
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Ingår i: Nuclear Fusion. - : IOP Publishing. - 0029-5515 .- 1741-4326. ; 50:2
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- For the first time, the neutron emission from JET plasmas heated with combined deuterium neutral beam injection and third harmonic ion cyclotron radio frequency heating have been studied with neutron emission spectroscopy (NES). Very high DD neutron rates were observed with only modest external heating powers, which was attributed to acceleration of deuterium beam ions to energies of about 2-3 MeV, where the DD reactivity is on a par of that of the DT reaction. Fast deuterium energy distributions were derived from analysis of NES data and confirm acceleration of deuterium beam ions up to energies around 3 MeV, in agreement with theoretical predictions. The high neutron rates allowed for observations of changes in the fast deuterium populations on a time scale of 50 ms. Correlations were seen between fast deuterium ions at different energies and magnetohydrodynamic activities, such as monster sawtooth crashes and toroidal Alfven eigenmodes.
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| 2. |
- Hellesen, Carl, 1980-, et al.
(författare)
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Measurements of fast ions and their interactions with MHD activity using neutron emission spectroscopy
- 2010
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Ingår i: Nuclear Fusion. - : IOP Publishing. - 0029-5515 .- 1741-4326. ; 50:8, s. 084006-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Ion cyclotron radio frequency (ICRF) heating can produce fast ion populations with energies reaching up to several megaelectronvolts. Here, we present unique measurements of fast ion distributions from an experiment with 3rd harmonic ICRF heating on deuterium beams using neutron emission spectroscopy (NES). From the experiment, very high DD neutron rates were observed, using only modest external heating powers. This was attributed to acceleration of deuterium beam ions to energies up to about 2-3 MeV, where the DD reactivity is on a par with that of the DT reaction. The high neutron rates allowed for observations of changes in the fast deuterium energy distribution on a time scale of 50 ms. Clear correlations were seen between fast deuterium ions in different energy ranges and magnetohydrodynamic activities, such as monster sawteeth and toroidal Alfven eigen modes (TAE). Specifically, NES data showed that the number of deuterons in the region between 1 and 1.5 MeV were decaying significantly during strong TAE activity, while ions with lower energies around 500 keV were not affected. This was attributed to resonances with the TAE modes.
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| 3. |
- Kiptily, V., et al.
(författare)
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Doppler broadening of gamma ray lines and fast ion distribution in JET plasmas
- 2010
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Ingår i: Nuclear Fusion. - : IOP Publishing. - 0029-5515 .- 1741-4326. ; 50:8, s. 084001-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The Doppler broadening of individual γ-ray lines was measured with a high purity germanium detector in JET plasma experiments. High-resolution γ-ray spectrometry of nuclear reactions between energetic D, 3 He and 4 He ions accelerated by ion cyclotron resonance heating and main plasma impurities such as carbon and beryllium has been used. The nuclear reactions giving rise to γ-rays have been identified and an effective temperature of the heated ions has been obtained in JET discharges. This technique could be used for fast ion and fusion alpha-particle studies in ITER.
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| 4. |
- Andersson Sundén, Erik, et al.
(författare)
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Instrumentation for neutron emission spectrometry in use at JET
- 2010
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Ingår i: Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A. - : Elsevier BV. - 0168-9002 .- 1872-9576. ; 623:2, s. 681-685
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The present contribution discusses two neutron spectrometers: the time-of-flight spectrometer (TOFOR) and the magnetic proton recoil spectrometer (MPRu). TOFOR uses fast plastic scintillators equipped with digital time-stamping electronics to register the time of each eligible scintillation event. The time trace for each detector is acquired practically dead-time free. The detectors of the MPRu are of phoswich type and each detector is connected to a digital transient recorder card that stores the full waveform for an event. By using phoswich detectors, pulse-shape discrimination techniques can be applied offline to distinguish signal events from background. A future upgrade of TOFOR could be digital “hybrid” cards, which store correlated time and waveform information. This information can be used to decrease the background level in the ttof spectrum, thereby increasing the operating range.
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| 5. |
- Gatu Johnson, Maria, 1978-
(författare)
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Fusion Plasma Observations at JET with the TOFOR Neutron Spectrometer : Instrumental Challenges and Physics Results
- 2010
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The neutron spectrometer TOFOR was installed at JET in 2005 for high-rate observation of neutrons from reactions between two deuterium (D) ions. Neutron spectrometry as a fusion plasma diagnostic technique is invoked to obtain information about the velocity states of fusion fuel ions. Based on neutron spectrometry data, conclusions can be drawn on the efficiency of plasma heating schemes as well as optimization of fuel ion confinement. The quality of TOFOR analysis is found to depend on how well the instrument response function is known; discriminator threshold levels, detector time alignment and electronics broadening are identified as crucial issues. About 19 percent of the neutrons observed with TOFOR have scattered off the JET vessel wall or other structures in the line-of-sight before reaching the instrument, as established through simulations and measurements. A method has been developed to take these neutrons into account in the analysis. TOFOR measurements of fast deuterium distributions are seen to agree with distributions deduced from NPA data, obtained based on an entirely different principle. This serves as validation of the modeling and analysis. Extraordinary statistics in the TOFOR measurements from JET pulses heated with 3rd harmonic RF heating on D beams allow for study of instabilities using neutron emission spectrometry. At ITER, similar studies should be possible on a more regular basis due to higher neutron rates. Observations of neutrons from Be+3He reactions in the TOFOR spectrum from D plasmas heated with fundamental RF tuned to minority 3He raise the question of beryllium neutrons at JET after installation of the ITER-like wall, and at ITER, with beryllium as the plasma facing component. This is especially important for the first few years of ITER operation, where the machine will not yet have been certified as a nuclear facility and should be run in zero-activation mode.
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| 6. |
- Gatu Johnson, Maria, et al.
(författare)
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Modelling and TOFOR measurements of scattered neutrons at JET
- 2010
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Ingår i: Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion. - : IOP Publishing. - 0741-3335 .- 1361-6587. ; 52:8, s. 085002-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In this paper, the scattered and direct neutron fluxes in the line of sight (LOS) of the TOFOR neutron spectrometer at JET are simulated and the simulations compared with measurement results. The Monte Carlo code MCNPX is used in the simulations, with a vessel material composition obtained from the JET drawing office and neutron emission profiles calculated from TRANSP simulations of beam ion density profiles. The MCNPX simulations show that the material composition of the scattering wall has a large effect on the shape of the scattered neutron spectrum. Neutron source profile shapes as well as radial and vertical source displacements in the TOFOR LOS are shown to only marginally affect the scatter, while having a larger impact on the direct neutron flux. A matrix of simulated scatter spectra for mono-energetic source neutrons is created which is folded with an approximation of the source spectrum for each JET pulse studied to obtain a scatter component for use in the data analysis. The scatter components thus obtained are shown to describe the measured data. It is also demonstrated that the scattered flux is approximately constant relative to the total neutron yield as measured with the JET fission chambers, while there is a larger spread in the direct flux, consistent with simulations. The simulated effect on the integrated scattered/direct ratio of an increase with movements outward along the radial direction and a drop at higher values of the vertical plasma position is also reproduced in the measurements. Finally, the quantitative agreement found in scatter/direct ratios between simulations (0.185 ± 0.005) and measurements (0.187 ± 0.050) serves as a solid benchmark of the MCNPX model used.
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| 7. |
- Gatu Johnson, Maria, 1978-, et al.
(författare)
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Neutron emission from beryllium reactions in JET deuterium plasmas with 3He minority
- 2010
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Ingår i: Nuclear Fusion. - : IOP Publishing. - 0029-5515 .- 1741-4326. ; 50:4, s. 045005-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Recent fast ion studies at JET involve ion cyclotron resonance frequency (ICRF) heating tuned to minority He-3 in cold deuterium plasmas, with beryllium evaporation in the vessel prior to the session. During the experiments, the high-resolution neutron spectrometer TOFOR was used to study the energy spectrum of emitted neutrons. Neutrons of energies up to 10MeV, not consistent with the neutron energy spectrum expected from d(d,n)He-3 reactions, were observed. In this paper, we interpret these neutrons as a first-time observation of a Be-9(He-3, n)C-11 neutron spectrum in a tokamak plasma, a conclusion based on a consistent analysis of experimental data and Monte Carlo simulations. Be-9(a, n)C-12 and Be-9(p, n)B-9 reactions are also simulated for p and a fusion products from d(He-3, a) p reactions; these two-step processes are seen to contribute on a level of about 10% of the single-step process in Be-9(He-3, n) C-11. Contributions to the total neutron yield from the Be-9(3He, n)C-11 reaction are found to be in the range 13 +/- 3 to 57 +/- 5%. We demonstrate how TOFOR can be used to simultaneously (i) probe the deuterium distribution, providing reliable measurements of the bulk deuterium temperature, here in the range 3.2 +/- 0.4 to 6.3 +/- 1.0 keV and (ii) provide an estimate of the beryllium concentration (in the range 0.48 +/- 0.17 to 6.4 +/- 1.7% of n(e) assuming T-3He = 300 keV). The observation of Be-9 related neutrons is relevant in view of the upcoming installation of a beryllium-coated ITER-like wall on JET and for ITER itself. An important implication is possible neutron-induced activation of the ITER vessel during the low-activation phase with ICRF heating tuned to minority He-3 in hydrogen plasmas.
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| 8. |
- Gatu Johnson, Maria, 1978-, et al.
(författare)
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Neutron emission levels during the ITER zero activation phase
- 2010
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Ingår i: Nuclear Fusion. - : IOP Publishing. - 0029-5515 .- 1741-4326. ; 50:8, s. 084020-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In recent experiments at JET, a contribution to the neutron emission from reactions between beryllium and 3He, 4He and H has been identified. With the beryllium walled planned for ITER, this raises the question of possible neutron activation during the ITER zero activation phase. Here, we estimate the neutron emission rates for various heating scenarios foreseen for this ITER phase using Monte Carlo simulations. The emission is seen to be strongly dependent on the scenario chosen and the assumptions involved. We find that fundamental minority heating can contribute on the scale of low temperature deuterium plasmas, depending on minority concentration and ICRH power applied. Harmonic ICRH leads to production of tails that can give rise to significant neutron emission rates, while rates from hydrogen beams will be near zero. Better knowledge of the zero activation phase conditions, and more sophisticated ICRH codes, would be needed to give exact rate predictions. We conclude that rates from so-called zero activation plasmas will be significantly lower than expected for the DD or DT phases, but far from zero.
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| 9. |
- Hellesen, Carl, 1980-, et al.
(författare)
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Neutron spectroscopy measurements and modeling of neutral beam heating fast ion dynamics
- 2010
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Ingår i: Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion. - : IOP Publishing. - 0741-3335 .- 1361-6587. ; 52:8, s. 085013-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The energy spectrum of the neutron emission from beam-target reactions in fusion plasmas at the Joint European Torus (JET) has been investigated. Different beam energies as well as injection angles were used. Both measurements and simulations of the energy spectrum were done. The measurements were made with the time-of-flight spectrometer TOFOR. Simulations of the neutron spectrum were based on first-principle calculations of neutral beam deposition profiles and the fast ion slowing down in the plasma using the code NUBEAM, which is a module of the TRANSP package. The shape of the neutron energy spectrum was seen to vary significantly depending on the energy of the beams as well as the injection angle and the deposition profile in the plasma. Cross validations of the measured and modeled neutron energy spectra were made, showing a good agreement for all investigated scenarios.
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| 10. |
- Ronchi, Emanuele, et al.
(författare)
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A parametric model for fusion neutron emissivity tomography for the KN3 neutron camera at JET
- 2010
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Ingår i: Nuclear Fusion. - : IOP Publishing. - 0029-5515 .- 1741-4326. ; 50:3, s. 035008-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- A parametric model for fusion neutron emissivity is presented and applied to the KN3 neutron camera data collected during the trace tritium experiment at the Joint European Torus. This work is aimed at achieving a good compromise between accuracy of tomographic reconstruction and low model complexity. This means low numerical degeneracy and good time consistency of the results. The model is compared both with plasma simulation codes and other tomographic techniques, which use KN3 line integrated emissivity data, showing good agreement over the entire data set analysed approximate to‰ˆ 500 plasma discharges).
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