RF heating for fusion product studies

Abstract

Third harmonic cyclotron heating is an effective tool for accelerating deuterium (D) beams to the MeV energy range, suitable for studying ITER relevant fast particle physics in plasmas without significant tritium content. Such experiments were recently conducted in JET with an ITER like wall in D plasmas with 3He concentrations up to 30% in order to boost the fusion reactivity by D-3He reactions. The harmonic cyclotron heating produces high-energy tails in the MeV range of D ions by on-axis heating and of 3He ions by tangential off-axis heating. The discharges are characterized by long sawtooth free periods and a rich spectrum of MHD modes excited by the fast D and 3He ions. The partitions of the power, which depend on the distribution function of D, vary strongly over several slowing down times. Self-consistent modelling of the distribution function with the SELFO-light code are presented and compared with experimental data from fast particle diagnostics.