Tandem mirror reactor with thermal barriers

A new invention — the thermal barrier — promises to improve the tandem mirror fusion reactor. The thermal barrier consists of a region of reduced magnetic field strength, plasma density, and plasma potential between each end plug and the central cell of a tandem mirror. The depressed plasma potential serves to thermally insulate the plug electrons from the central cell electrons. With barriers and auxiliary electron heating in the plugs, the central cell confining potential can be generated with a lower plug plasma density, magnetic field strength, and beam injection energy than for the case without barriers. This paper summarizes the status of the rapidly evolving physics knowledge concerning tandem mirrors with thermal barriers, describes end plug components typical for tandem mirror reactors — yin-yang magnets, neutral beams, and ECRH heating systems, and discusses central cell design.     

Analysis of charge-exchanged neutral particles during IBW heating in the HT-7 tokamak

The charge-exchange neutral particles fluxes and energy distribution in IBW heated plasma were investigated in the HT-7 tokamak. The RF frequency was 30 MHz and with an injecting power up to 200 kW. It is observed that the plasma performance is obviously enhanced by IBW heating. The electron temperature was increased by 0.5 keV and the central line averaged electron density was doubled. The neutral particle fluxes of high-energy increased and the bulk ions were heated during IBW heating. The ion temperature was increased by 0.3 keV and the ion heating efficiency of (2–3) eV kW⁻¹ × 10¹³ cm⁻³ was achieved. The velocity distribution of charge-exchanged neutral particles appears to be Maxwellian without high-energy tail ions up to the maximum RF power.     

Design Studies of a Multicusp Ion Source with FEMLAB Simulation

Femlab simulations have been used to arrive at the first step in the design of an ion source. The goal is to optimize Magnetic multipole plasma confinement geometries, the increased area of constant magnetic field in the central region of the plasma volume and the increase in number of electrons which have stationary orbits within this region of the field. The confinement of electrons is essential for Multicusp ion source to produce intense beams of negative hydrogen ions (H⁻). A higher electron temperature and density given by a better plasma confinement leads to the higher efficiencies of the ionization and the production of highly charged ions. We have performed Femlab simulations of the magnetic flux density from permanent magnet used for a Multicusp ion source, plasma confinement and trapping of fast electrons by the magnetic field.     

Radiation damage (blistering) in Al,Cu, Si by exposure to a plasma focus discharge

Plates of Al, Cu (polycrystalline) and Si (monocrystal) have been irradiated with beams of D⁺ ions (keV to MeV) and other radiation by exposure to a single discharge of a 5–10-kJ Plasma Focus in deuterium. Scanning electron microscope and elemental X-ray energy dispersive analysis are used for diagnostics. The nonuniformity of the ion beam causes a nonuniform damage with formation of clusters of blisters. A statistical analysis of blister parameters (diameter and skin thickness) is used to investigate the internal structure of a deuteron beam ejected from the plasma. The value K ～ 10–20 keV is obtained as the typical ion energy for the bulk of the deuterons and an ion energy E ～ 200–230 keV is typical for individual ion groups (ion strings) forming the high-energy deuteron beam.     

An outlook of heavy ion driven plasma research at IMP-Lanzhou

Since the successful completion of the cooling storage ring (CSR) project in China at the end of 2007, high qualitative heavy ion beams with energy ranging from keV to GeV/u have been available at the Heavy Ion Research Facility at Lanzhou (HIRFL). More than 10⁹ 1 GeV/u C⁶⁺ particles or 10⁸ 235 MeV/u Xe particles can be stored in the CSR main-ring and extracted within hundred nano-seconds during the test running, the beam parameters will be improved in the coming years so that high energy density (HED) conditions could be achieved and investigated there. Recent scientific results from the experiments relevant to plasma research on HIRFL are summarized. Dense plasma research with intense heavy ion beams of CSR is proposed here.     

The influence of projectile charge state on ionization probabilities of sputtered atoms

The ionization probability of atoms sputtered from a clean polycrystalline metal surface was measured for different charge states of the projectile used to bombard the sample. More specifically, a polycrystalline indium surface was irradiated with Ar⁺ and Ar⁰ beams of energies between 5 and 15 keV, and In⁺ secondary ions and neutral In atoms emitted from the surface were detected under identical experimental conditions regarding the sampled emission angle and energy. The resulting energy integrated ionization probability of sputtered In atoms is consistently found to be smaller for neutral projectiles, the difference decreasing with decreasing impact energy. The observed trends agree with those measured for kinetic electron emission, indicating that secondary ion formation is at least partly governed by kinetic substrate excitation.     

Simulation of Low–High Transition by Neutral Beam Injection in Edge Plasma of Small Size Divertor Tokamak

This paper reports simulation of L–H transition by fluid transport code B2SOLPS0.5.2D at low ion plasma density on neutral beam injection (NBI) in the edge plasma of small size divertor tokamak. The simulation provides the following results: (1) the transition is possible at plasma density 2 × 10¹⁹ m^?3 with NBI at temperature heating T^heating 3.62 keV. (2) The simulation predicts the generation of large negative radial electric field E _r, which is thought to help L–H transition during NBI, is suggested in the edge plasma of small size divertor tokamak. (3) The toroidal current density in the edge plasma of small size divertor tokamak is plasma density and direction of NBI dependence. (4) Parallel flux transport by anomalous viscosity (turbulent) through separatrix leads to the variation of toroidal current density.     

Negative Ion Confinement in the Multicusp Ion Source

To optimize the negative ion source and generate intense beams of negative ions, understanding of transport properties of both electrons and negative ions is indispensable. Transport process of negative hydrogen ions (H^?) in a multicusp H^? source, has been simulated by three-dimensional Femlab simulation software. Multipolar plasma confinement is known to result in enhanced plasma density, homogeneous plasma of a large volume, and quiescent plasmas. The effect of plasma confinement by applying multi-polar magnetic field was investigated. Results are obtained for ten different configurations of permanent magnet and discussed. Full line cusps are found to give optimum plasma density. Negative ions created on the sidewall hardly can reach the center of the source due to trapping by the multicusp magnetic field. As a result, H^? ions created on the sidewall do not have a significant effect on the H^? current.     

The populations of excited levels of hydrogen-like and helium-like ions in plasmas traversed by neutral hydrogen beams

This paper examines the populations of excited levels of impurity ions in a spatially homogeneous plasma containing primarily thermal electrons and protons and monoenergetic neutral hydrogen atoms. Of special concern is the role of recombination which may include the radiative, three-body and dielectronic processes together with charge exchange capture from neutral hydrogen beams.The influence of these primary processes on the populations is modified by radiative transitions and redistributive transitions due to collisions with electrons and protons in the plasma. The behaviour of the populations of the ions C⁵⁺, C⁴⁺ and Ar¹⁶⁺ with variation of plasma parameters is explored in the present work. A bundled principal quantum level picture and a more elaborate LS resolved picture are used which allow investigation of the expected spectral emission and its sensitivity to uncertainty in the primary rates.The variation of the impurity ion spectrum in transiently recombining or ionising conditions is also considered.     

Fabrication of a polymer with three-dimensional structure by the ion beam graft polymerization method

The graft polymerization method is one of the most effective techniques to produce a new polymer with unique function. To produce the polymer, we conducted experiments on radiation graft polymerization using ion beams of several hundred keV energy. A high density polyethylene (PE) film was irradiated with H⁺ beams, then, graft polymerization with monomer solution such as acrylic acid or acrylonitrile was conducted. Radicals generated by the interaction between the beam ions and the PE molecules become the starting point of the graft polymerization. Since the range in PE depends on ion energy, the density distribution of the graft chain can be controlled by the ion energy. Using a mask which restricts the ion beam incidence, PE sheets containing graft chains only in the unmasked area were obtained. Multiple ion beam graft polymerization can produce a polymer which has some functional bases at specified position. We have demonstrated the production of a polymer film with a three-dimensional structure.     

Monte Carlo studies of charge-exchange first wall heat fluxes from neutral beam injection in tandem mirror reactors

Monte Carlo methods are employed to compute surface heat fluxes at the first walls of three representative tandem mirror reactors: TDF, TASKA-M, and MARS, resulting from charge-exchange (CX) of high power neutral beams with the fusion plasmas. The full three-dimensional nature of the anisotropic interaction processes of neutral beams with mirror-confined plasmas is retained in the calculations, and resulting CX heat fluxes are mapped both azimuthally and axially on the first wall surfaces. The angular distribution of heat fluxes at the first wall shows strong backward-peaking for TDF with maximum power densities of ～ 2.4 kW cm^?2 occurring at 180° relative to the incident beam direction. By contrast, the angular distributions for TASKA-M and MARS exhibit strong forward-peaking, resulting in hot spots of 1140 and 700 W cm^?2, respectively, at the first wall. Physical arguments are presented for the behavior of these CX heat flux distributions in terms of the plasma and beam parameters of each system. Particular emphasis is given to the engineering implications of the results and methods for ameliorating these high first wall heat fluxes are discussed.     

Simulation of Electron Trajectories in the Multicusp Ion Source Using Geantn4 Monte Carlo Code

To optimize the negative ion source and generate intense beams of negative ions, understanding of transport properties of both electrons and negative ions is indispensable. Transport process of negative hydrogen ions (H⁻) in a multicusp H⁻ source, has been simulated by three-dimensional Femlab simulation software. Multipolar plasma confinement is known to result in enhanced plasma density, homogeneous plasma of a large volume, and quiescent plasmas. The effect of plasma confinement by applying multi-polar magnetic field was investigated. Results are obtained for ten different configurations of permanent magnet and discussed. Full line cusps are found to give optimum plasma density. Negative ions created on the sidewall hardly can reach the center of the source due to trapping by the multicusp magnetic field. As a result, H⁻ ions created on the sidewall do not have a significant effect on the H⁻ current.     

Development of Negative-Ion Based NBI System for JT-60

The negative-ion based neutral beam injector (N-NBI) for JT-60 has been developed for plasma core heating and neutral beam current drive in higher density plasmas. Construction of the N-NBI system was completed in 1996, and just after this completion, the efforts to increase beam power and beam energy started. The N-NBI system has already operated with negative ion beams with 14.3 A at 380 keV of deuterium and with 18.5A at 360 keV of hydrogen. During N-NBI experiments on JT-60, a deuterium neutral beam power of 5.2MW at 350keV has been injected for 0.7s stably, and the response of the JT-60 plasma to high energy beam injection with the N-NBI has been confirmed to be in agreement with a theoretical prediction.     

Symmetric Neutralized Ion Beams for Magnetic Fusion Applications

A symmetric neutralized ion beam (SNIB) is composed of positive and negative ions, and is capable of propagating across a transverse magnetic field due to the polarization of the beam. Such a beam may be of use as an alternative or complement to conventional neutral beam injection (NBI) in magnetic confinement fusion devices. SNIBs of energies from hundreds of keV up to a few MeV can be efficiently produced through a novel application of radio frequency quadrupole (RFQ) accelerators. Because the cross-field propagation ability of the SNIB depends mainly on beam density, SNIBs of significantly lower energy than the 1 MeV envisioned for ITER neutral beams can in principle reach the center of a magnetically confined plasma. Some challenges that need to be overcome for this technique to be viable are identified; nevertheless, the approach is attractive when compared to the bulky, high voltage, conventional neutral beam systems. Distributed injection of many beams is possible due to the relative compactness of a SNIB module.     

Radiosensitivity of hepatoma cell lines and human normal liver cell lines exposed in vitro to carbon ions and argon ions at the HIRFL

Human hepatoma (SMMC-7721) and normal liver (L02) cells were irradiated with γ-rays, ¹²C⁶⁺ and ³⁶Ar¹⁸⁺ ion beams at the Heavy Ion Research Facility in Lanzhou (HIRFL). By using the Calyculin-A induced premature chromosome condensation technique, chromatid-type breaks and isochromatid-type breaks were scored separately. Tumor cells irradiated with heavy ions produced a majority of isochromatid break, while chromatid breaks were dominant when cells were exposed to γ-rays. The relative biological effectiveness (RBE) for irradiation-induced chromatid breaks were 3.6 for L02 and 3.5 for SMMC-7721 cell lines at the LET peak of 96 keVμm⁻¹¹²C⁶⁺ ions, and 2.9 for both of the two cell lines of 512 keVμm⁻¹³⁶Ar¹⁸⁺ ions. It suggested that the RBE of isochromatid-type breaks was pretty high when high-LET radiations were induced. Thus we concluded that the high production of isochromatid-type breaks, induced by the densely ionizing track structure, could be regarded as a signature of high-LET radiation exposure.     

SIMS depth profiling of multilayer metal-oxide thin films — improved accuracy using a xenon primary ion

Multilayer thin films containing silver and copper, sandwiched in a metal oxide, have been depth profiled by secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) using primary ions of differing mass, energy and chemical reactivity. These results were compared for accuracy with those obtained by Rutherford backscattering spectrometry (RBS). The use of O₂⁺ or O^? as primary ions resulted in severe distortion of the silver ion intensity distribution in the SIMS profile of a ZnO/Ag/ZnO thin film on glass; O₂⁺ bombardment at energies from 3–10 keV resulted in the detection of silver at the glass interface, while the use of O^? caused the silver to be detected closer to the outer surface than expected from RBS results. Primary beams of Ar⁺ and Xe⁺ gave progressively more accurate results for the Zn/Ag/Zn distribution; Xe⁺ at 5.0 keV energy produced profiles that agreed within 10% of RBS-derived values. The same beam conditions, used to profile a double silver layer in ZnO, resulted in some discrepancy in the position of the inner layer, compared to RBS results, and this was attributed to an enhanced sputter rate in the oxide under the outside metal film. Depth profiling of TiO₂/Cu/TiO₂ films with oxygen also resulted in significant distortion of the perceived position of the metal layer, and this was again significantly improved using Xe⁺ primary ions of 6–9 keV energy. The distorting effects of oxygen bombardment can be understood in terms of a migration of metal ions in an electrostatic field created by a charged surface. Ionization of the metallic layer is enhanced by the use of oxygen. By contrast, the use of rare gases reduces the production of ions from the metallic layer which can migrate prior to the onset of sputtering.     

Si nanocrystals formation by a new ion implantation device

Metallic and non-metallic ion beams can be used to modify the properties of wafer surfaces if accelerated at moderate energies. We developed a new “implantation machine” able to generate ions and to accelerate them up to 80 kV. The ion generation is achieved by a laser-plasma source which creates plasma in expansion. The device consists of a KrF excimer laser and a generating vacuum chamber made of stainless steel. The laser energy was 45 mJ/pulse with a power density of 2.25 × 10⁸ W/cm². The target was kept to positive voltage to accelerate the produced ions. The ion dose was estimated by a fast polarised Faraday cup. This machine was utilised to try synthesizing silicon nanocrystals in SiO₂ matrix. Preliminary results of Si nanocrystals formation and the glancing-angle X-ray diffraction analyses are reported.     

A comparison of secondary ion mass spectra from keV and MeV ion bombarded vanadium,niobium and copper

Positive secondary ion mass spectra have been measured from stainless steel, copper, niobium, and vanadium targets bombarded by 70 MeV ⁷⁹Br⁷⁺ and 100 keV ⁴⁰Ar⁺ ions using a modified quadrupole residual gas analyzer. Additional spectra have also been measured from the vanadium target for a number of ⁷⁹Br and ⁴⁰Ar projectile energies from 25 keV up to 5 MeV. As has been previously reported [13], under MeV ion bombardment there is an enhancement in the yield of positive ions of electronegative trace constituents relative to the yield of singly charged metal substrate ions. These data suggest that projectiles capable of large inelastic energy deposition may induce secondary ion emission by a mechanism whose contribution to the total ion yield is insignificant or absent when the projectile energy is limited to a few keV. The similarity of these data to recent results in electron- and photon-stimulated desorption is noted.     

Cu and Y ion beams by a new LIS generator

In this work, we present the experimental results of a laser ion source (LIS) implemented for ion accelerators. A KrF excimer laser beam operating at 248 nm was focused on a solid target mounted inside a vacuum chamber in order to obtain the plasma. The laser energy was fixed at 11.5 mJ/pulse. The ion components of the plasma were extracted and accelerated up to 160 keV per charge state by a double gap system formed in two different stages. The beam cross section was circular, 1.5 cm in diameter. Using Cu and Y disks, as laser targets, we produced ion beams containing 1.2 × 10¹¹ ions/pulse (0.7 × 10¹¹ ions/cm²). Applying a total accelerating voltage of 60 kV we obtained an increase in ion dose up to 3.4 × 10¹¹ ions/pulse, (2 × 10¹¹ ions/cm²) for the Cu target and up to 6.3 × 10¹¹ ions/pulse (3.5 × 10¹¹ ions/cm²) for the Y target. The characterization of the plasma was performed using a Faraday cup for the electromagnetic properties, and a pepper pot system for the geometric ones. At 60 kV accelerating voltage and 5.5 mA output current the normalized beam emittance resulted in 0.22 π mm mrad for the Cu target, while under the same accelerating voltage, but with 7.4 mA output current, the normalized beam emittance resulted in 0.14 π mm mrad for the Y target.