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In order to realize negative ion sources and accelerators to be applicable to International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor and JT-60 Super Advanced, a large cesium (Cs)-seeded negative ion source and a multi-aperture and multi-stage electric acceleration have been developed at Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA). Long pulse production and acceleration of the negative ion beams have been independently carried out. The long pulse production of the high current beams has achieved 100 s at the beam current of 15 A by modifying the JT-60 negative ion source. The pulse duration time is increased three times longer than that before the modification. As for the acceleration, a pulse duration time has been also extended two orders of magnitudes from 0.4 s to 60 s. The developments of the negative ion source and acceleration at JAEA are well in progress towards the realization of the negative ion sources and accelerators for fusion applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Design techniques for the vacuum insulation have been developed in order to realize a reliable voltage holding capability of multi-aperture multi-grid (MAMuG) accelerators for fusion application. In this method, the nested multi-stage configuration of the MAMuG accelerator can be uniquely designed to satisfy the target voltage within given boundary conditions. The evaluation of the voltage holding capabilities of each acceleration stages was based on the previous experimental results about the area effect and the multi-aperture effect. Since the multi-grid effectwas found to be the extension of the area effect by the total facing area this time, the total voltage holding capability of the multi-stage can be estimated from that per single stage by assuming the stage with the highest electric field, the total facing area, and the total apertures. By applying these consideration, the analysis on the 3-stage MAMuG accelerator for JT-60SA agreed well with the past gap-scan experiments with an accuracy of less than 10% variation, which demonstrated the high reliability to design MAMuG accelerators and also multistage high voltage bushings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To understand the physics of the cesium (Cs) recycling in the large Cs-seeded negative ion sources relevant to ITER and JT-60SA with ion extraction area of 45-60 cm × 110-120 cm, the time evolution of the negative ion profile was precisely measured in JT-60SA where the ion extraction area is longitudinally segmented into 5. The Cs was seeded from the oven at 180 °C to the ion source. After 1 g of Cs input, surface production of the negative ions appeared only in the central segment where a Cs nozzle was located. Up to 2 g of Cs, the negative ion profile was longitudinally expanded over full ion extraction area. The measured time evolution of the negative ion profile has the similar tendency of distribution of the Cs atoms that is calculated. From the results, it is suggested that Cs atom distribution is correlated with the formation of the negative ion profile. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The long-pulse acceleration of the high-power positive ion beam has been demonstrated with the JT-60 positive ion source in the joint experiment among Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA), Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) and National Fusion Research Institute (NFRI) under the collaboration program for the development of plasma heating and current drive systems. In this joint experiment, the increase of the heat load and the breakdowns induced by the degradation of the beam optics due to the gas accumulation was one of the critical issues for the long-pulse acceleration. As a result of development of the long-pulse operation techniques of the ion source and facilities of the neutral beam test stand in KAERI, 2 MW 100 s beam has been achieved for the first time. The achieved beam performance satisfies the JT-60SA requirement which is designed to be a 1.94 MW ion beam power from an ion source corresponding to total neutral beam power of 20 MW with 24 ion sources. Therefore, it was found that the JT-60 positive ion sources were applicable in the JT-60SA neutral beam injectors. Moreover, because this ion source is planned to be a backup ion source for KSTAR, the operational region and characteristic has been clarified to apply to the KSTAR neutral beam injector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Doxapram is the only dedicated respiratory stimulant used to aid recovery of breathing after major surgery. Doxapram acts on peripheral chemoreceptors and although the central action of doxapram has been suggested, its detailed neuronal mechanism is unknown. We assessed doxapram-induced changes in spontaneous cervical nerve (C4) inspiratory activity and the firing of action potentials in pre-inspiratory and inspiratory neurones in the medulla. Experiments were performed in neonatal rat brainstem-spinal cord preparations, which can produce respiratory rhythm for several hours under in vitro conditions. Doxapram application (for 15 min) increased the frequency and amplitude of C4 activity dose-dependently. Doxapram induced changes in the electrophysiological properties of pre-inspiratory and inspiratory neurones. Our results suggest that respiratory activity enhancement was likely to be induced via effects on the potassium channels of pre-inspiratory and inspiratory neurones and indicate the central actions of doxapram. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Long pulse beam extraction with a current density of 120 A/m² for 100 s has been achieved with a newly developed plasma grid (PG) for the JT-60SA negative ion source which is designed to produce high power and long pulse beams with a negative ion current of 130 A/m² (22 A) and a pulse length of 100 s. The PG temperature is regulated by fluorinated fluids in order to keep the high PG temperature for the cesium-seeded negative ion production. The time constant for temperature controllability of the PG was measured to be below 10 s, which was mainly determined by the heat transfer coefficient of the fluorinated fluid. The measured decay time of the negative ion current extracted from the actively temperature-controlled PG was 430 s which was sufficient for the JT-60SA requirement, and much longer than that by inertial-cooling PG of 60 s. Obtained results of the long pulse capability are utilized to design the full size PG for the JT-60SA negative ion source. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The HV bushing has a function of a bulk head between insulation gas (SF6) of 0.6MPa and vacuum, which is needed to insulate −1MV in vacuum in ITER heating neutral beam (NB) injection system. Mechanical analyses were carried out to verify the mechanical integrity of the HV bushing composed of five-stage double-layered insulator columns with large brazed ceramic ring and fiber reinforced plastic (FRP) ring of which non-metallic material is required to satisfy a safety factor of ≥3.5. As for the FRP ring required sustaining the pressure load, seismic load and dead weight, it was confirmed that isotropic fiber cloth FRP rings having sufficient strength against shear stress should be used. The shape and fixation area of the Kovar sleeve were modified to lower the stress at the brazing area having vacuum leak tightness and pressure tightness against the air filled at 0.6MPa. As a result, a design of the insulator for the HV bushing was established satisfying the requirement. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Toward long-pulse productions of 22A negative ion beams for 100s in JT-60SA, the plasma generator of the negative ion source has been developed to achieve stable long-pulse generations of spatially uniform negative ions. To realize the long pulse production of the negative ions, an actively cooled plasma grid (PG) has been designed to keep a surface temperature of 250–300°C optimized for high negative ion production. The designed active cooling system has a potential to control the surface temperature of the PG to 250°C with a time constant of 10s by flowing the fluorinated fluid having the high boiling temperature of 270°C. Since the time constant is sufficiently shorter than that of the degradation of the negative ion production, the active cooling system is applicable to the long-pulse operation of the large-current negative ion source, such as JT-60SA and ITER ion sources. As for the high current beam production, spatial uniformity of the negative ion productions in the plasma generator is improved. The calculation results of the magnetically confined electron orbits emitted from filaments showed that longitudinal deviations of the primary electron distributions has been reduced from 27% to 6% by the application of the symmetric magnet arrangements, so called the tent-shaped filter. This reduction of the deviation could reduce the grid heat load, leading to the long pulse production of the negative ion beams. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The ITER [1] fusion device is expected to demonstrate the feasibility of magnetically confined deuterium–tritium plasma as an energy source which might one day lead to practical power plants. Injection of energetic beams of neutral atoms (up to 1MeV D0 or up to 870keV H0) will be one of the primary methods used for heating the plasma, and for driving toroidal electrical current within it, the latter being essential in producing the required magnetic confinement field configuration. The design calls for each beamline to inject up to 16.5MW of power through the duct into the tokamak, with an initial complement of two beamlines injecting parallel to the direction of the current arising from the tokamak transformer effect, and with the possibility of eventually adding a third beamline, also in the co-current direction. The general design of the beamlines has taken shape over the past 17 years [2], and is now predicated upon an RF-driven negative ion source based upon the line of sources developed by the Institute for Plasma Physics (IPP) at Garching during recent decades [3–5], and a multiple-aperture multiple-grid electrostatic accelerator derived from negative ion accelerators developed by the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) across a similar span of time [6–8]. During the past years, the basic concept of the beam system has been further refined and developed, and assessment of suitable fabrication techniques has begun. While many design details which will be important to the installation and implementation of the ITER beams have been worked out during this time, this paper focuses upon those changes to the overall design concept which might be of general interest within the technical community. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Vacuum insulation on a large size negative ion accelerator with multiple extraction apertures and acceleration grids for fusion application was experimentally examined and designed. In the experiment, vacuum insulation characteristics were investigated in the JT-60 negative ion source with >1000 apertures on the grid with the surface area of ∼2 m2. The sustainable voltages varied with a square root of the gap lengths between the grids, and decreased with number of the apertures and with the surface area of the grids. Based on the obtained results, the JT-60SA (super advanced) negative ion source is designed to produce 22 A, 500 keV D- ion beams for 100 s. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Neutral beam (NB) injectors for JT-60 Super Advanced (JT-60SA) have been designed and developed. Twelve positive-ion-based and one negative-ion-based NB injectors are allocated to inject 30MW D0 beams in total for 100s. Each of the positive-ion-based NB injector is designed to inject 1.7MW for 100s at 85keV. A part of the power supplies and magnetic shield utilized on JT-60U are upgraded and reused on JT-60SA. To realize the negative-ion-based NB injector for JT-60SA where the injection of 500keV, 10MW D0 beams for 100s is required, R&Ds of the negative ion source have been carried out. High-energy negative ion beams of 490–500keV have been successfully produced at a beam current of 1–2.8A through 20% of the total ion extraction area, by improving voltage holding capability of the ion source. This is the first demonstration of a high-current negative ion acceleration of >1A to 500keV. The design of the power supplies and the beamline is also in progress. The procurement of the acceleration power supply starts in 2010. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

A plasma generator for a long pulse H+/D+ ion source has been developed. The plasma generator was designed to produce 65 A H+/D+ beams at an energy of 120 keV from an ion extraction area of 12 cm in width and 45 cm in length. Configuration of the plasma generator is a multi-cusp bucket type with SmCo permanent magnets. Dimension of a plasma chamber is 25 cm in width, 59 cm in length, and 32.5 cm in depth. The plasma generator was designed and fabricated at Japan Atomic Energy Agency. Source plasma generation and beam extraction tests for hydrogen coupling with an accelerator of the KSTAR ion source have been performed at the KSTAR neutral beam test stand under the agreement of Japan-Korea collaborative experiment. Spatial uniformity of the source plasma at the extraction region was measured using Langmuir probes and ±7% of the deviation from an averaged ion saturation current density was obtained. A long pulse test of the plasma generation up to 200 s with an arc discharge power of 70 kW has been successfully demonstrated. The arc discharge power satisfies the requirement of the beam production for the KSTAR NBI. A 70 keV, 41 A, 5 s hydrogen ion beam has been extracted with a high arc efficiency of 0.9 -1.1 A/kW at a beam extraction experiment. A deuteron yield of 77% was measured even at a low beam current density of 73 mA/cm2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Developments of the large negative ion source have been progressed in the high-energy, high-power, and long-pulse neutral beam injector for JT-60 Super Advanced. Countermeasures have been studied and tested for critical issues of grid heat load and voltage holding capability. As for the heat load of the acceleration grids, direct interception of D- ions was reduced by adjusting the beamlet steering. As a result, the heat load was reduced below an allowable level for long-pulse injections. As for the voltage holding capability, local electric field was mitigated by tuning gap lengths between large-area acceleration grids in the accelerator. As a result, the voltage holding capability was improved up to the rated value of 500 kV. To investigate the voltage holding capability during beam acceleration, the beam acceleration test is ongoing with new extended gap. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: IRFM (CEA Cadarache) and JAEA Naka have entered into a collaboration in order to test a Single Gap, Single Aperture (SINGAP) [H.P.L. de Esch, R.S. Hemsworth, P. Massmann, Updated physics design ITER-SINGAP accelerator, Fusion Eng. Des. 73 (2005) 329.] accelerator at the JAEA Megavolt Test Facility (MTF) at Naka, Japan. Whereas at the CEA testbed the acceleration current was limited to 0.1A, at JAEA 0.5A is available. This allows the acceleration of 15 H− beamlets in SINGAP to be tested and a direct comparison between SINGAP and Multi Aperture, Multi Grid (MAMuG) [M. Taniguchi, T. Inoue, N. Umeda, M. Kashiwagi, K. Watanabe, H. Tobari, M. Dairaku, K. Sakamoto, Acceleration of ampere class H− ion beam by MeV accelerator, Rev. Sci. Instrum. 79 (2008) 02C110.] to be made. High voltage conditioning in the SINGAP configuration has been quite slow, with 581kV in vacuum achieved after 140h of conditioning. With 0.25Pa of H2 gas present in the accelerator 787kV could be achieved. The conditioning curve for MAMuG is 200kV higher. SINGAP beam optics appears in agreement with calculation results. A beamlet divergence better than 5mrad was obtained. SINGAP accelerates electrons to a higher energy than MAMuG. Measurements of the power intercepted on one of the electron dumps have been compared with EAMCC code [G. Fubiani, H.P.L. de Esch, A. Simonin, R.S. Hemsworth, Modeling of secondary emission processes in the negative ion based electrostatic accelerator of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, Phys. Rev. ST Accel. Beams 11 (2008) 014202.] calculations. Based on the experiments described here, electron production by a SINGAP accelerator scaled up to ITER size was estimated to be too high for comfort. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In order to investigate the effect of radiation damage on hydrogen behavior in tungsten, tungsten samples with radiation damage of up to 3.5dpa were irradiated by a mixed hydrogen–carbon ion beam. The radiation damage was produced with 700keV negative hydrogen ion beam irradiation. The number density of blisters produced by the mixed ion beam irradiation decreased with increasing radiation damage. This was especially observed for blisters with diameters of 20μm or less. This result showed that radiation damage produced by high-energy particle irradiation suppresses blister formation on tungsten surfaces. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

In experiments on uniformity improvement in a large negative ion source, steep gradients have been observed in the profiles of electron temperature and H- ion beam intensity. It has been observed that the gradient in the H- ion beam intensity is altered by seeding cesium, though the electron temperature distribution is not affected by Cs. Thus in the Cs seeded condition, the H- ion beam intensity is enhanced in local area illuminated by high electron temperature plasmas. A brief analysis suggests possible advantages of high electron temperature plasmas for the negative ion surface production, by enhancement of dissociation to yield proton or atoms as parent particles of the negative ions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The origin of the beam non-uniformity, that is one of the key issues in JT-60 negative ion sources, was experimentally examined by measuring correlations between the intensity of the H− ion beam and plasma parameters, such as an electron temperature and plasma density in the JAERI 10 A negative ion source. The ion source was operated without cesium. Although a uniform filter field was applied, the electron temperature near plasma grid (PG) was higher than 1eV in the upper half region of the longitudinal direction, where the spatial beam intensity decreased rapidly. This indicates that the beam non-uniformity is caused by a higher electron temperature than 1eV, namely, by a leakage of the high-energy electrons toward the PG. To investigate the path of high-energy electrons leaking into the PG, a metal plate of 50mm×50mm was placed in the plasma. By placing the plate in a weak magnetic field of <30G leading to a driver region near the upper wall, the electron temperature near the PG was sufficiently reduced to 1eV in the upper half region, where the beam intensity was simultaneously increased. As a result, a 20% gain of the beam current was obtained. Further, the source of the high-energy electrons leaking toward the PG was examined by changing the relative filament position to the upper wall. It is found that the filaments closest to the upper wall, i.e., at 80mm from the upper wall is one of the sources of the high-energy electrons leaking into the PG. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

High energy accelerator and high current ion source development have been carried out at JAERI for negative-ion based neutral beam (N-NB) systems of JT-60U and ITER. One of R&D issues on the ITER prototype 5-staged electrostatic accelerator was voltage holding capability of the accelerator insulator column. By installing a stress ring, which reduces electric field concentration at the triple junction (interface of metal flange, insulator, and vacuum), 300 kV is held at each stage instead of rated voltage of 200 kV. At present the accelerator insulator column sustains 900 kV stably with the rings in all five stages. In the JT-60U N-NB system, a beamlet deflection by distorted electric field was found at the bottom of the extractor. Correcting the distorted field, reduction in beam divergence was confirmed for the overall beam. As the result, the heat load on the NB port limiter of JT-60U, located about 20 m away from the accelerator, was reduced to less than a half of the previous value before the correction. Consequently, we have succeeded in 10 s continuous injection of H0 beam with the NB power of 2.6 MW at 355 keV. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract The effects of extracellular ions on the acquisition and maintenance of the potential for motility in the spermatozoa of the ayu, Plecoglossus altivelis Temminck et Schlegel (Osmeridae), were examined. Testicular spermatozoa and milt spermatozoa were obtained from fully matured males and diluted with buffered solution (BS, 20 mM HEPES–NaOH, pH 7.5). Testicular spermatozoa showed a significantly low rate of motility (0.8 ± 0.4%), whereas milt spermatozoa showed a high rate (89.4 ± 2.1%). The spermatozoa were incubated with various isotonic media for 2 h, diluted with BS, and changes in the rates of motility were then compared. When incubated for 2 h with artificial seminal plasma (ASP), corresponding in terms of ionic constituents to seminal plasma buffered at pH 8.0, both spermatozoa showed a high rate of motility. Testicular spermatozoa acquired and milt spermatozoa maintained the potential for motility in response to the HCO3– ion concentrations (between 0 and 20 mM) in the ASP. The differences in the pH of the ASP had a significant effect on the acquisition and maintenance of the potential for motility, and spermatozoa showed the highest rate of motility with the ASP at pH 8.0 and 8.5. These results suggest that the quality of milt in the ayu can be regulated by controlling the concentration of bicarbonate and the pH of the incubating media. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Experimental campaign on MTF carried out in QST lab in Naka, Ibaraki, Japan. • Opera, SLACCAD, COMSOL, EAMCC3D correctly predict beam divergence. • Semi-empirical Opera model with current density asymmetry correctly predicts the beam deflection. • COMSOL and EAMCC3D slightly underestimate heat loads on the grids. It is a widely recognized phenomenon that, in negative ion sources for NBI, the magnetic fields in the source cause an asymmetry of the current density at the meniscus, which affects the beam optics. In order to achieve a more realistic estimation of the negative ion beam optics, the ion current density profile at the beamlet meniscus is sometimes assumed to be non-symmetric with respect to the beamlet axis. The new hypothesis tested in this paper is an empirical law obtained by recent investigations on a similar Kamaboko ion source, which relates this asymmetry to the magnetic field strength at the meniscus and to the power injected in the ion source. For the first time this hypothesis is used to directly and correctly predict the value of the beamlet deflection. The MeV ion source Test Facility (MTF) is a high voltage negative ion beam accelerator dedicated to fusion experiments in QST, Naka, Ibaraki, Japan. MTF can be operated as a three- or five-stage multi-aperture accelerator with a configuration and beam energy comparable to the future ITER NBI. In 2019, experiments were conducted on MTF aiming at accelerating a H- beam with high energy and good optics for a long duration of the beam (around 100 s). These experiments allowed to measure the beamlet divergence and deflection as well as the heat loads due to particle impinging on the accelerator grids, over a wide range of operating parameters. The predictions of several beam simulation codes (Opera, COMSOL, SLACCAD, EAMCC3D) have been compared to the experimental measurements, which allows to obtain a good agreement in terms of beam optics and a fair agreement in terms of heat loads. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A Correction to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10815-020-02039-3 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hatching responses of the Japanese whiting, Sillago japonica Temminck et Schlegel, to a series of temperature changes were measured by exposing the fertilized eggs to eight constant incubation temperatures which ranged from 20.0 to 34.0°C. For a control, hatching temperature was kept the same as temperature of the ambient environment. Hatching responses were expressed as hatching percentages. Altogether 18 experimental trials were conducted during the natural spawning season of the species which extended over a period of 2 months from late July to mid-September 1988, when seawater temperature varied between 24.0 and 30.0°C. Optimum and limiting temperatures were recorded and the data were optimally fit to the quadratic model. Results indicated that viable hatch occurred at almost all ranges of hatching temperature from 22.0 to 32.0°C. However, no hatching was recorded at either 20.0 or 32.0°C. The experiment showed that the optimum hatching temperature varied with the ambient temperature changes during the spawning season, indicating the latter to be a dependent factor for any hatching success. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Seeding lateral epitaxy for silicon films on an insulator, using pseudoline shaped electron beam annealing, has been investigated. Higher oscillation frequency, higher beam scanning velocity, and suitable oscillation amplitude were effective to achieve large uniform silicon on insulator (SOI) films with the aid of simulating temperature distribution in silicon substrate. Furthermore, improved seed with tapered edge and capping layer of tungsten/insulator were employed to obtain 300 μm×1.3 mm single-crystal SOI films on a 1.3-μm SiO2 layer. Stacked SOI devices were successfully fabricated with low-temperature planarization process. 218 ps/stage propagation delay and 17 pJ power-delay product were obtained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The first neutral beam (NB) injection system of the Korea Superconducting Tokamak Advanced Research (KSTAR) tokamak was partially completed in 2010 with only 1/3 of its full design capability, and NB heating experiments were carried out during the 2010 KSTAR operation campaign. The ion source is composed of a JAEA bucket plasma generator and a KAERI large multi-aperture accelerator assembly, which is designed to deliver a 1.5 MW, NB power of deuterium at 95 keV. Before the beam injection experiments, discharge, and beam extraction characteristics of the ion source were investigated. The ion source has good beam optics in a broad range of beam perveance. The optimum perveance is 1.1-1.3 μP, and the minimum beam divergence angle measured by the Doppler shift spectroscopy is 0.8°. The ion species ratio is D+:D2+:D3+ = 75:20:5 at beam current density of 85 mA/cm2. The arc efficiency is more than 1.0 A/kW. In the 2010 KSTAR campaign, a deuterium NB power of 0.7-1.5 MW was successfully injected into the KSTAR plasma with a beam energy of 70-90 keV. L-H transitions were observed within a wide range of beam powers relative to a threshold value. The edge pedestal formation in the Ti and Te profiles was verified through CES and electron cyclotron emission diagnostics. In every deuterium NB injection, a burst of D-D neutrons was recorded, and increases in the ion temperature and plasma stored energy were found. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spatially non-uniform electron energy distribution function (EEDF) in an arc driven negative ion source (JAEA 10A negative ion source: 10 A NIS) is calculated numerically by a three-dimensional Monte Carlo kinetic model for electrons to understand spatial distribution of plasma production (such as atomic and ionic hydrogen (H0/H+) production) in source chamber. The local EEDFs were directly calculated from electron orbits including electromagnetic effects and elastic/inelastic collision forces. From the EEDF, spatial distributions of H0/H+ production rate were obtained. The results suggest that spatial non-uniformity of H0/H+ productions is enhanced by high energy component of EEDF. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A multiaperture multigrid accelerator called “MeV accelerator” has been developed for neutral beam injection system of international thermonuclear experimental reactor. In the present work, long pulse H- ion beam acceleration was performed by the MeV accelerator equipped with new water-cooled grids. At present, the pulse length was extended to 5 s for the beams of 750 keV, 221 mA, and 10 s for the beams of 600 keV, 158 mA. Energy density, defined as products of beam energy (keV), current (mA), and pulse (s) divided by aperture area (m2), increased more than one order of magnitude higher compared with original MeV accelerator without water cooling in its grids. At higher energy and current, the grid was melted by beam deflection. Due to this grid melting, breakdowns occurred between the grids, and hence, the pulse length was limited. Beam deflection will be compensated by aperture displacement in next experiment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Voltage holding capability of JT-60 negative ion source that has a large electrostatic negative ion accelerator with 45 cm×1.1 m acceleration grids was experimentally examined and improved to realize 500 keV, 22 A, and 100 s D- ion beams for JT-60 Super Advanced. The gap lengths in the acceleration stages were extended to reduce electric fields in a gap between the large grids and at the corner of the support flanges from the original 4–5 to 3–4 kV/mm. As a result, the voltage holding capability without beam acceleration has been successfully improved from 400 to 500 kV. The pulse duration to hold 500 kV reached 40 s of the power supply limitation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The H- ion accelerator R&D to realize the international thermonuclear experimental reactor neutral beam is ongoing at Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA). The required performance for the prototype MeV accelerator developed at JAEA is 1 MeV, 500 mA (current density of 200 A/m2) H- ion beam at the beamlet divergence angle of less than 7 mrad. Up to 2005, 836 keV, 146 A/m2 H- ion beam was successfully accelerated as the highest record of the current density at MeV class energy beams. In the present work, high current negative ion beam acceleration test was performed by increasing the beam extraction apertures from 3×3 (9 apertures) to 3×5 (15 apertures). By fixing the air leak at the source chamber due to backstream ions as well as the improvement of voltage holding capability by a new fiber reinforced plastic insulator ring, the performance of the MeV accelerator was improved. So far, H- ion beam of 320 mA was successfully accelerated up to 796 keV with the beam divergence angle of 5.5 mrad. The accelerated drain current including the electron reaches close to the power supply limit for the MeV test facility. The heat flux by the backstream ion during the above beam acceleration was estimated to be 360 W/cm2. The Cs leakage to the accelerator during the test campaign (Cs total input of 5.0 g) was 0.26 mg (7.0 μg/cm2). This is considered to be the allowable level from the viewpoint of voltage holding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The influence of magnetic filter configuration on the beam uniformity was examined to improve beam uniformity in a large Cs-seeded negative-ion source. By reducing the filter strength of the transverse magnetic field used in a typical negative-ion source, the beam uniformity was largely improved with the improvement of the plasma uniformity while the beam intensity was kept to be nearly constant. However, the coextracted electron current greatly increased. To suppress the coextracted electron current, a tent-shaped magnetic filter was applied together with modifications in the cusp magnets to form a typical multicusp positive-ion source arrangement. The uniformity in longitudinal beam profile was improved with the deviation of local beam intensity within 16% that was nearly equal to the deviation obtained at 50 G cm of the transverse filter strength. In the meantime, the coextracted electron current was kept to be the same as the H- ion current. The present result suggests that the uniformity of H- ion-beam profile is affected by the uniformity of atoms or protons in the source plasma, which are the primary species of negative ions under Cs-seeded surface production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Development of an electrostatic accelerator for 1 MeV, 1 ampere class H- ion beams has been carried out as a Proof-of-Principle (PoP) of high current accelerators required in neutral beam system of fusion reactors such as ITER. A unique feature of such fusion oriented accelerators is to utilize vacuum insulation not only inside but also outside of the accelerator for high voltage insulation, since conventional gas insulation is not applicable due to excess radiation induced conductivity in the gas. The PoP accelerator is surrounded by an insulator stack as a vacuum boundary with a vacuum gap of 50 mm all around the accelerator. One of the key technologies to achieve insulation of MV voltage was reduction of electric field strength at triple junction of the insulator (made of FRP, fiber reinforced plastic) stack. By lowering the stress to 1.7 kV/mm, the accelerator sustained 1 MV stably for more than 2 hours. By tuning the ion source with/without cesium under stable accelerator operation, the PoP accelerator generated H- ion beams of 70 mA at 1 MeV, and 110 mA (80 A/m2) at 900 keV stably for several hundreds shots (pulse length, 0.5–1 s limited by the target). The dark current flowed inside/on the surface of the FRP insulator due to photoelectron effect was estimated to be less than μA in case of 0.1 A electron beam acceleration (maximum current observed in the experiment). This is in the same order to that due to conductivity of the insulator material. So far, high voltage breakdown due to photoelectron has never been observed. © 2004 American Institute of Physics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The influence of a dipole magnetic field in the extractor on the beamlet deflection has been investigated using a JAER1400 kev H- ion source. The beam deflection angle decreased from 10.2 to 7.0 mrad when the integrated value of the magnetic field was changed from 2530 to 910 Gcm. The measured deflection angle was larger than the estimated value from the ion trajectory considering the magnetic field. To understand the dominant factor that enhances the beam deflection angle, three-dimensional trajectory simulation was performed. It was confirmed that the axis of the beamlet deflected by the magnetic field in the extractor is displaced from the center of the aperture at the grounded grid (GRG). This displacement enhances the beam deflection angle due to the effect of the electrostatic lens at the GRG. This phenomenon is similar to the beam deflection by aperture displacement of the GRG. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A spatial uniformity of negative ion production has been studied experimentally in a tandem-type volume negative ion source, where the plasma is divided into two regions by a magnetic filter, i.e., a driver region and an extraction region near the plasma grid (PG). A plasma density profile and the negative ion beam profile were measured. By the Langmuir probe measurement, a strong nonuniformity of the plasma density was observed near the plasma grid when the plasma grid is biased electrically with respect to the anode. By changing the polarity of the bias voltage, the deviation of the plasma density profile changed to the direction of E x B. In the pure hydrogen operation, the extracted beam profile corresponded to the plasma density profile in the extraction region. In the Cs-seeded operation, on the other hand, the uniformity of the beam current density became uniform despite the nonuniformity of the plasma density profile in the extraction region. The uniformity of the negative ions corresponded to the plasma uniformity in the driver region. These results indicate that the negative ions are not produced by positive ions in the extraction region in the Cs-seeded operation. We conclude that the negative ions are produced mainly by neutral atoms produced in the driver region via the surface production on the PG. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Development of the negative-ion sources has been conducted to realize a high power neutral beam injector for International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER). A high negative-ion current density of 31 mA/cm² (H-) at a very low pressure of 0.1 Pa has been produced in a cesium seeded multicusp plasma generator which has the same concept of the ITER source. For a vacuum insulated accelerator, a voltage holding experiment of long distance vacuum gaps up to ∼1.8 m has been performed. It was clarified that the transition region of product pressure distance (pd) from the vacuum breakdown to the gas discharge is about 0.2 Pa m which is high enough from the operating region of the ITER source. A prototype vacuum insulated accelerator was fabricated based on the experiment and tested. A high-energy H-beam acceleration up to 970 keV, 37 mA, and 1 s has been successfully demonstrated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The target performance for the KAMABOKO ion source on the MANTIS test bed in Cadarache is to accelerate a beam of D- with a current density of 200 A/m² and < 1 extracted electron per accelerated D-ion, at an injected power ranging between 1 and 2 kW per liter of source volume, at a source pressure of 0.3 Pa. For ITER, a continuous neutral beam must be assured for pulse lengths of 500 s, but beams of up to 3600 s are also envisaged. During the last campaign, continuous beam pulses of duration up to 1000 s were demonstrated both in hydrogen and in deuterium. In this article, the source performance, the effect of the plasma grid temperature for long pulse operation, and the limits of the present experimental setup are described. Additionally, the effect of changing the strength of the magnetic filter in the ion source on the extracted ion and electron currents and the beam transmission is reported. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines hydrogen negative ion beam acceleration using a five-stage, multiaperture electrostatic accelerator. Development of a high power negative ion source/accelerator for a neutral beam injector; High current density beam acceleration; Heat load in the accelerator.