Search

ITER envisages the use of two heating neutral beam injectors plus an optional one as part of the auxiliary heating and current drive system, to reach the desired performances during its various phases of operation. The 16.5 MW expected neutral beam power per injector is several notches higher than worldwide existing facilities.In order to enable such development, a Neutral Beam Test Facility (NBTF) was established at Consorzio RFX, exploiting the synergy of two test beds, called SPIDER and MITICA. SPIDER is dedicated developing and char-acterizing large efficient negative ion sources at relevant parameters in ITER-like conditions: source and accel-erator located in the same vacuum where the beam propagates, immunity to electromagnetic interferences of multiple radio-frequency (RF) antennas, avoidance of RF-induced discharges on the outside of the source. Three years of experiments on SPIDER have addressed to the necessary design modifications to enable full perfor-mances. The source is presently under a long shut-down phase to incorporate learnings from the experimental campaign, in particular events/issues occurred during operation, which led to the identification of improvement opportunities/necessities (e.g. RF discharges, local burns, water leaks, other damages, configuration/design upgrades to maximize chances/margin to quest target parameters).Parallelly, developments on MITICA, the full-scale prototype of the ITER Neutral Beam Injector (NBI) featuring a 1 MV accelerator and ion neutralization, are underway including manufacturing of the beam source, accel-erator and the beam line components, while power supplies and auxiliary plants, already installed, are under final testing and commissioning.Integration, commissioning and tests of the 1 MV power supplies are essential for this first-of-kind system, unparalleled both in research and industry field. 1.2 MV dc insulating tests of high voltage components were successfully completed. The integrated test to confirm 1 MV output by combining invertor systems, DC gener-ators and transmission lines extracted errors/accidents in some components. To realize a concrete system for ITER, said events have been addressed and solutions for the repair and the improvement of the system were developed.Hence, NBTF is emerging as a necessary facility, due to the large gap with existing injectors, effectively dedicated to identify issues and find solutions to enable successful ITER NBI operations in a time bound fashion. The lessons learned during the implementation on NBTF and future perspectives are here discussed.

The shape of a plasma meniscus is a key factor to determine the beam focusing. The physics model of the meniscus formation for hydrogen negative ion sources has not been established yet. A backward trajectory calculation based on experimental observation is performed in order to derive the particle information at the meniscus. It is observed that the negative ion density is spatially nonuniform in the direction parallel to the magnets for suppression of co-extracted electrons. A nonuniformity of the negative ion density in the vicinity of the meniscus is taken into account in the forward trajectory calculation. It reveals that the nonuniform negative ion distribution leads to degradation of the beam focusing and the beam splitting in phase space. The importance of the spatial distribution of negative ions on meniscus modelling is discussed with a comparison to uniform extraction model.

Sputtering yields of molybdenum (Mo) are computed for deuterium, oxygen and carbon as impurity ions from the residual gas of the vacuum system, as well as Mo and Cs using Yamamura formula. The incident ion energy ranges from 10 keV to 1 MeV, the back-streaming ion beam energy from the extraction voltage up to ITER full acceleration potential. The sputtering yield of Cs against Mo reached ten atoms per ion and was the largest among the investigated ion species. The effect due to retention of deuterons in Mo was studied for the case of grazing angle incidence of D+ at D- ion extraction energy to confirm the small effect onto the sputtering yield; the result obtained for 10 keV D+ for 10% retention of D atoms in Mo increased the sputtering yield only by 2%. The back-streaming D+ ions at 1 MeV energy should make a layer of high concentration deuterium atoms at 6 µm depth from the Mo surface. Possible failure mode associated with the particle implantation is discussed.

In preparation for NIBS 2020 various labs prepared reference sheets containing key information about their ion sources and the machines that they serve. The contents of the reference sheets have been formatted and edited into this paper for posterity and ease of access.

The extraction mechanism of negative ion beams is affected by the behavior of positive and negative ions near the extraction apertures. Flow of the charged particles in a hydrogen discharge were measured with a newly developed directional photodetachment probe which has a single probe tip. Compared with our previous multiple-tip directional probe, the single-tip directional probe was able to measure fine flow structure of the positive and the negative ions without spatial ambiguity associated with electron deflection magnetic field and density gradient. The single-tip probe observed the turning of the flow of the negative hydrogen ion by increasing the bias voltage in the extraction region of the negative ion source.

An isotope effect of negative ion motion in plasma near a plasma grid (PG), which is a plasma-beam boundary grid, has been investigated in a negative hydrogen-ion source with the surface production process of the negative ion on the PG surface. Negative deuterium-ion (D-) density was higher than negative hydrogen-ion (H-) density in the condition without extraction-grid bias (V egb) and approached the H- density in the condition with V egb. Thus, the D- density responded stronger than the H- density to the V egb. The density of the negative hydrogen-ion isotopes and the density response to the V egb have been organized into respective identical trends by momenta of isotopes emitting from the PG. The Larmor motion can be a dominant mechanism of the negative ion transport from the PG to the plasma.

It is reported from the measurement of a negative ion beamlet emittance that the characteristic three-Gaussian components are observed in the emittance diagram. The negative ion trajectories are calculated using 3D PIC-MCC simulation in order to clarify the origin of this complicated phase space structure and underlying physical mechanism. The characteristic three-Gaussian components can be reproduced in the emittance diagram from the simulation result. It is verified that the Gaussian components are caused by the negative ions extracted from the different plasma meniscus region, that is, the central region or the region near the edges of the meniscus.

Flows of the charged particles in hydrogen (H) and deuterium (D) plasmas were measured with the single-tip directional Langmuir probe. The flow patterns of positive and negative ions have been constructed from the data by moving the probe near the plasma grid. The positive ion flow from driver to extraction regions showed the different velocity equivalent to the mass difference between H and D. The negative ion flow indicated the surface production of negative ions on the plasma grid, and changed the direction corresponding to the magnitude of the extraction electric field.

Plasma and beam diagnostic methods for high-current-density negative ion sources are reviewed. The pulse laser–induced photodetachment method was widely used to measure negative ion density in the ion source plasma. The method was used to understand fundamental processes of negative hydrogen (H−) ion formation and destruction in hydrogen plasmas. Species composition and plasma parameters in H− ion sources can be estimated from optical emission spectroscopy data, while electrostatic probes are utilized to obtain local plasma parameters in the ion source. Plasma transport toward the extractor is studied by combining a laser beam for photodetachment and a structured electrostatic probe to visualize a flow pattern of H− ions. Spatial distributions of large-area H− ion beams are monitored by infrared thermography images, showing interactions among multiple beamlets. These diagnostic methods deepen the understanding of how H− ions are produced and extracted through beam-forming apertures. The acquired knowledge on ion source plasma and beam transport improves the ion source design of the next-generation H− ion sources for fusion experiments and accelerators. The essence of research and development for negative ion source study is summarized through briefly tracing the history.

We report on the characteristics of the beam-generated plasma in the multibeamlet case of a hydrogen negative ion beam at NIFS. The plasma potential, and the energy of secondary particles in the drift region of an ion beam, offer an insight into the mechanisms that allow beam transport in low pressure gasses. The first measurements reported here were made by means of a four-gridded retarding field energy analyzer, combined with the measurement of the drain current at the beam dump, and with infrared beamlet monitoring technique. The retarding field analyzer measures the energy distributions of particles emitted radially from the beam-generated plasma [1]. The beam is dumped onto a graphite calorimeter, which is electrically insulated, so that it can be electrically biased and the collected current can be measured. The thermal image of the calorimeter is acquired during the beam pulse, thus offering a quantitative estimation of the single beamlet optics and multibeamlet focusing. Finally, the influence of the neutral gas density is studied by puffing hydrogen gas in this drift region. The measured ion and electron energy distribution functions are strongly affected by the electric bias of the calorimeter. For a 47kV, 0.3A beam, an electron temperature of 3eV at the plasma edge was found. The energy distribution of the ions for a pressure of about 0.03Pa is presented, from which the plasma potential can be inferred.

Deuterium beam operations on neutral beam injectors (NBI) have been carried out successfully in the Large Helical Device (LHD) in 2017. We injected a total of 31 MW neutral beam power, which gave us a new operation region for high ion temperature plasma. Upgrading the beam energy from 40 keV to 60 keV and then to 80 keV for deuterium operation in a positive ion based NBI (P-NBI) of BL4 and BL5, respectively, we have achieved 10.6 MW (75 keV) beam injection in the P-NBI. We confirmed a good arc efficiency (extracted beam current/arc power) with 83% high deuteron ratio which is the same as the hydrogen operation in the positive source. We also extracted deuterium ion beam from three negative-ion based NBIs (N-NBI) without increase beam energy, although the injection power decreased by less than half. The averaged arc efficiency of the deuterium negative ion is approximately 66% of the hydrogen case, and the current density of the accelerated beam current reached 190 A/m2. We have clearly found the lower limit of electron current ratio depending on the arc discharge power. Certainly, the extracted electron current ratio increased in deuterium operation. However, we have had no trouble on the beam line components.Deuterium beam operations on neutral beam injectors (NBI) have been carried out successfully in the Large Helical Device (LHD) in 2017. We injected a total of 31 MW neutral beam power, which gave us a new operation region for high ion temperature plasma. Upgrading the beam energy from 40 keV to 60 keV and then to 80 keV for deuterium operation in a positive ion based NBI (P-NBI) of BL4 and BL5, respectively, we have achieved 10.6 MW (75 keV) beam injection in the P-NBI. We confirmed a good arc efficiency (extracted beam current/arc power) with 83% high deuteron ratio which is the same as the hydrogen operation in the positive source. We also extracted deuterium ion beam from three negative-ion based NBIs (N-NBI) without increase beam energy, although the injection power decreased by less than half. The averaged arc efficiency of the deuterium negative ion is approximately 66% of the hydrogen case, and the current density of the accelerated beam current reached 190 A/m2. We have clearly found the lower lim...

The properties of cesium (Cs) recycling due to back-streaming ions have been investigated using an optical emission spec-troscopy in the hydrogen negative ion (H−) source with a slot-type grounded grid (GG). The slot-type GG performed well to enhance the beam performance, and to reduce the thermal loading on GG by high transparency. We clearly observed increase of Cs optical emission intensity during beam extraction owing to the increase of the Cs ions sputtered from the back plate of the source due to the back-streaming positive hydrogen ions. Increase of Cs is closely related with the extracted H− current, but it does not depend on the beam energy. Recycling Cs from the back plate is deeply relevant to the perveance condition of the H− beam, and is minimized at the optimum perveance. Strong Cs recycling from the back plate owing to the back-streaming ions is promoted in the high perveance condition with large divergence, which is consistent with the numerical calculation for the distribution of back str...

As one of candidate materials for a low work function plasma grid, a new inorganic material, C12A7 electride having the low work function and high electrical conductance, was studied experimentally. The photoelectric current from the material under irradiations with 325 nm He-Cd laser and 405 nm, 450 nm, 532 nm diode lasers was measured. The measured work function was less than 2.7 eV. Exposure to the C12A7 electride to an atomic hydrogen (H0) flux has produced electric current corresponding to negative hydrogen ion (H-) current from the surface. Similar characteristics were obtained for a low-work-function bi-alkali material covered molybdenum surface (∼2.3 eV). Nearly the same negative current signals were observed under the same exposure condition of atomic hydrogen flux.

Total power of 16 MW has been successfully delivered to the plasma confined in the Large Helical Device (LHD) from three Neutral Beam Injectors (NBIs) equipped with negative hydrogen (H−) ion sources. However, the detailed mechanisms from production through extraction of H− ions are still yet to be clarified and a similar size ion source on an independent acceleration test bench called Research and development Negative Ion Source (RNIS) serves as the facility to study physics related to H− production and transport for further improvement of NBI. The production of negative-ion-rich plasma and the H− ions behavior in the beam extraction region in RNIS is being investigated by employing an integrated diagnostic system. Flow patterns of electrons, positive ions and H− ions in the extraction region are described in a two-dimensional map. The measured flow patterns indicate the existence a stagnation region, where the H− flow changes the direction at a distance about 20 mm from the plasma grid. The pattern also suggested the H- flow originated from plasma grid (PG) surface that turned back toward extraction apertures. The turning region seems formed by a layer of combined magnetic field produced by the magnetic filter field and the Electron-Deflection Magnetic (EDM) field created by magnets installed in the extraction electrode.

The internal transport barrier (ITB) appears in ion root plasmas with NBI heating, when the Te/Ti ratio is held below unity in LHD. The improvement of transport is observed only in the ion heat transport, not in the electron heat transport nor in the particle transport. During the formation of ion ITB, the region of low ion thermal diffusivity expands toward the plasma center and results in a wide weak ITB, which is in contrast to the narrow strong ITB typically observed in tokamaks (© 2010 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)

We have investigated morphology change of FePt nanogranular films (FePt) 47 (Al 2 O 3 ) 53 under irradiation with 210 MeV Xe ions. Here, electron tomography technique was extensively employed to clarify three-dimensional (3D) structure in irradiated specimens, in addition to conventional transmission electron microscopy (TEM) techniques such as bright-field observation and scanning TEM energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (STEM-EDX) analysis. The ion irradiation induces the coarsening of FePt nanoparticles with elongation along the beam direction. Electron tomography 3D reconstructed images clearly demonstrated that when the fluence achieves 5.0 × 10 14 ions/cm 2 , well-coarsened FePt balls have been formed on the irradiated surface, and the particles in the film interior have been deformed into rods along the ion trajectory. The alloy particles become inhomogeneous in composition after prolonged irradiation up to 1.0 × 10 15 Xe ions/cm 2 . The particle center is enriched with Pt, while Fe is slightly redistributed to the periphery.

SummaryIntraepithelial lymphocytes (IELs) can be identified among epithelial cells in systemic mucosal tissues. Although intestinal IELs play a crucial role in mucosal immunity, their bronchial counterparts have not been well studied. The purpose of this study was to determine the immunological functions of human bronchial IELs, which interact directly with epithelial cells, unlike lamina propria lymphocytes (LPLs). We isolated successfully bronchial IELs and LPLs using a magnetic cell separation system from the T cell suspensions extracted from bronchial specimens far from the tumours of resected lungs. Human bronchial IELs showed an apparent type 1 cytokine profile and proliferated more actively in response to CD2 signalling than did bronchial LPLs. CD8+ IELs were identified as the most significant sources of interferon (IFN)-γ. Human bronchial epithelial cells constitutively produced the T cell growth factors interleukin (IL)-7 and IL-15, and levels of those factors increased when cells were stimulated by IFN-γ. Bronchial epithelial cells expressed cell surface proteins CD58 and E-cadherin, possibly enabling adhesion to IELs. In summary, human bronchial IELs have immunological functions distinct from bronchial LPLs and may interact with epithelial cells to maintain mucosal homeostasis.

A long-pulse plasma discharge of more than 30 min duration was achieved on the Large Helical Device (LHD). A plasma of ne = 0.8 × 1019 m−3 and Ti0 = 2.0 keV was sustained with PICH = 0.52 MW, PECH = 0.1 MW and averaged PNBI = 0.067 MW. The total injected heating energy was 1.3 GJ. One of the keys to the success of the experiment was a dispersion of the local plasma heat load to divertors, accomplished by sweeping the magnetic axis inward and outward. Causes limiting the long pulse plasma discharge are discussed. An ion impurity penetration limited further long-pulse discharge in the 8th experimental campaign (2004).

In the Large Helical Device (LHD), two different divertor configurations, i.e. helical divertor (HD) and local island divertor (LID), are utilized to control the edge plasma. The HD with two X-points is an intrinsic divertor for heliotron devices, accompanied with a relatively thick ergodic layer outside the confinement region. Edge and divertor plasma behavior from low density to high density regimes is presented, referring to the divertor detachment. The effect of the ergodic layer on the edge transport is also discussed. On the other hand, the LID is an advanced divertor concept which realizes a high pumping efficiency by the combination of an externally induced magnetic island and a closed pumping system. Experimental results to confirm the fundamental divertor performance of the LID are presented.

A long-pulse plasma discharge for more than 30 min. was achieved on the Large Helical Device (LHD). A plasma of ne = 0.8× 1019 m−3 and Ti0 = 2.0 keV was sustained with PICH = 0.52 MW, PECH = 0.1 MW and averaged PNBI = 0.067 MW. Total injected heating energy was 1.3 GJ, which was a quarter of the prepared RF heating energy. One of the keys to the success of the experiment was a dispersion of the local plasma heat load to divertors, accomplished by shifting the magnetic axis inward and outward.

In the Large Helical Device (LHD) programme, one of the key research issues is to enhance helical plasma performance through edge plasma control. For the first time in the LHD programme, the edge plasma control was performed with a local island divertor (LID) that is a closed divertor, utilizing an m/n = 1/1 island generated externally by which 20 small perturbation coils, and fundamental LID functions were demonstrated experimentally. It was found that the outward heat and particle fluxes crossing the island separatrix flow along the field lines to the rear of the divertor head, where carbon plates are placed to receive the heat and particle loads. Accordingly, high efficient pumping was demonstrated, which is considered to be the key in realizing high temperature divertor operations, resulting in an improvement in energy confinement. In this experiment, relatively good energy confinement is achieved in the high density regime at a magnetic axis position, Rax, of 3.75?m. Results of edge modelling are also presented by using the EMC3-EIRENE code.

High-Z plasmas have been produced with Ar and/or Ne gas fuelling to increase the ion temperature in Large Helical Device (LHD) plasmas heated with high-energy negative-ion-based neutral beam injection (NBI). Although the electron heating is dominant in the high-energy NBI heating, the direct ion heating power is significantly enhanced in low-density plasmas due to both an increase in the beam absorption (ionization) power and a reduction of the ion density in the high-Z plasmas. Intensive neon- and/or argon-glow discharge cleaning works well to suppress dilution of the high-Z plasmas with wall-absorbed hydrogen. As a result, the ion temperature increases with an increase in the ion heating power normalized by the ion density and reaches 10 keV. An increase in the ion temperature is also observed with the addition of centrally focused electron cyclotron resonance heating to a low-density and high-Z NBI plasma, suggesting improvement of the ion transport. The results obtained in the high-Z plasma experiments with high-energy NBI heating suggest that an increase in the direct ion heating power and improvement of the ion transport are essential to ion temperature rise, and that a high-ion temperature could be obtained as well in hydrogen plasmas with low-energy positive-NBI heating which is planned in the near future in the LHD.

A local island divertor (LID) experiment has begun on LHD, with the aims of controlling edge recycling and improving the plasma confinement. The fundamental divertor functions of the LID have been demonstrated in the recent experiments. From the particle flux profile measurements on the LID head it was found that the particles diffusing out from the core region are well guided along the island separatrix to the LID head. Owing to the closed configuration around the LID head, evidence of the high efficient pumping was observed, together with a strong capacity to screen impurities. The first results of edge modeling using the EMC3-EIRENE code are also presented.

Characteristics of MHD instabilities and their impacts on plasma confinement are studied in current free plasmas of the Large Helical Device. Spontaneous L?H transition is often observed in high beta plasmas close to 2% at low toroidal fields (Bt ? 0.75?T). The stored energy starts to rise rapidly just after the transition accompanying the clear rise in the electron density but quickly saturates due to the growth of the m = 2/n = 3 mode (m and n: poloidal and toroidal mode numbers), the rational surface of which is located in the edge barrier region, and edge localized mode (ELM) like activities having fairly small amplitude but high repetition frequency. Even in low beta plasmas without L?H transitions, ELM-like activities are sometimes induced in high performance plasmas with a steep edge pressure gradient and transiently reduce the stored energy up to 10%. Energetic ion driven MHD modes such as Alfv?n eigenmodes (AEs) are studied in a very wide range of characteristic parameters (the averaged beta of energetic ions, ?b?, and the ratio of energetic ion velocity to the Alfv?n velocity, Vb?/VA), of which range includes all tokamak data. In addition to the observation of toroidicity induced AEs (TAEs), coherent magnetic fluctuations of helicity induced AEs (HAEs) have been detected for the first time in NBI heated plasmas. The transition of a core-localized TAE to a global AE (GAE) is also observed in a discharge with temporal evolution of the rotational transform profile, having a similarity to the phenomenon observed in a reversed shear tokamak. At low magnetic fields, bursting TAEs transiently induce a significant loss of energetic ions, up to 40% of injected beams, but on the other hand play an important role in triggering the formation of transport barriers in the core and edge regions.

Significant progress has been made with ion cyclotron range of frequencies (ICRF) heating in the Large Helical Device. This is mainly due to better confinement of the helically trapped particles and less accumulation of impurities in the region of the plasma core. During the past two years, ICRF heating power has been increased from 1.35 to 2.7 MW. Various wave-mode tests were carried out using minority-ion heating, second-harmonic heating, slow-wave heating and high-density fast-wave heating at the fundamental cyclotron frequency. This fundamental heating mode extended the plasma density range of effective ICRF heating to a value of 1×1020 m−3. This use of the heating mode was its first successful application in large fusion devices. Using the minority-ion mode gave the best performance, and the stored energy reached 240 kJ using ICRF alone. This was obtained for the inward-shifted magnetic axis configuration. The improvement associated with the axis-shift was common for both bulk plasma and highly accelerated particles. For the minority-ion mode, high-energy ions up to 500 keV were observed by concentrating the heating power near the plasma axis. The confinement properties of high-energy particles were studied for different magnetic axis configurations, using the power-modulation technique. It confirmed that with the inward-shifted configuration the confinement of high-energy particles was better than with the normal configuration. By increasing the distance of the plasma to the vessel wall to about 2 cm, the impurity influx was sufficiently reduced to allow sustainment of the plasma with ICRF heating alone for more than 2 min.

Internal transport barriers with respect to electron thermal transport (eITB) were observed in the large helical device, when the electron cyclotron resonance heating (ECH) power was highly localized on the centre of a plasma sustained by neutral beam injection. The eITB is characterized by a high central electron temperature of 6–8 keV with an extremely steep gradient, as high as 55 keV m−1 and a low electron thermal diffusivity within a normalized average radius ρ≈0.3 as well as by the existence of clear thresholds for the ECH power and plasma collisionality.

The behaviour of high-energy ions accelerated by an ion cyclotron range of frequency (ICRF) electric field in the large helical device (LHD) is discussed. A better confinement performance of high-energy ions in the inward-shifted magnetic axis configuration was experimentally verified by measuring their energy spectrum and comparing it with the effective temperature determined by an electron slowing down process. In the standard magnetic axis configuration a saturation of the measured tail temperature was observed as the effective temperature was increased. The ratio between these two quantities is a measure of the quality of transfer efficiency from high-energy ions to a bulk plasma; when this efficiency was compared with Monte Carlo simulations the results agreed fairly well. The ratio of the stored energy of the high-energy ions to that of the bulk plasma was measured using an ICRF heating power modulation method; it was deduced from phase differences between total and bulk plasma stored energies and the modulated ICRF heating power. The measured high energy fraction agreed with that calculated using the injected ICRF heating power, the transfer efficiency determined in the experiment and the confinement scaling of the LHD plasma.

Balmer-α light emission from the extraction region of the LHD one-third ion source has shown a characteristic Doppler broadening in the wavelength spectrum detected by a high resolution spectrometer. The spectrum resembles Gaussian distribution near the wavelength of the intensity peak, while it has an additional component of a broader foot. The measured broadening near the wavelength of the intensity peak corresponds to 0.6 eV hydrogen atom temperature. The spectrum exhibits a larger expansion in the blue wing which becomes smaller when the line of sight is tilted toward the driver region from the original observation axis parallel to the plasma grid. A surface collision simulation model predicts the possibility of hydrogen reflection at the plasma grid surface to form a broad Balmer-α light emission spectrum.

Ion temperature at the plasma centre has been measured from Doppler broadening of Ti XXI (2.61 A) and Ar XVII (3.95 A) x-ray lines using a newly installed crystal spectrometer with CCD detector in ECH, NBI and ICRF plasmas of Large Helical Device (LHD). The ion temperature obtained in a range of 0.6 and 3.5 keV was analysed with electron density and compared with electron temperature. A new parameter range of Ti>Te was found in low-density (ne

In LHD discharges, the NBI heated plasmas are terminated in two ways: (a) thermal decay (TD) after the termination of NBI and (b) radiative collapse (RC) during the NBI heating. The basic characteristics of the TD and RC discharges are compared. It is found that the decay and collapse of the plasma are mainly governed by the heating power and the plasma density. The critical density c for the collapse of RC plasmas is similar to the scaling laws obtained in other helical devices, i.e. c∝(PB/V)0.5, where P, B and V denote heating power, magnetic field and plasma volume, respectively. Moreover, measurements using multichannel bolometric diagnostics indicate that the total radiation profiles in TD and RC plasmas are usually inboard-outboard symmetric and asymmetric, respectively, at the end of the discharge. In RC discharges, the total radiation profile develops in several phases. Before the onset of the thermal instability (TI), the radiation profile is rather symmetric, while after that, the radiation profile evolves from being symmetric in the initial period towards being asymmetric eventually with high radiation on the inboard side. Corresponding variations are shown in the time evolutions of the density and temperature profiles, and a substantial contraction of the plasma column is observed immediately after TI onset. The spatial and temporal coincidence of the asymmetries in the radiation, density and temperature is similar to that observed with multifaceted asymmetric radiation from the edge (MARFE) in tokamaks. But, unlike MARFEs, the asymmetric radiation (AR) in LHD is rather transient since it appears just before the end of RC discharges. The underlying cause for the development of radiation asymmetry was investigated and compared with existing instability models. The result suggests that the high inboard radiation is a manifestation of an enhanced local thermal instability, and the AR results from asymmetric developments of TI on the inboard-outboard sides during the final stage of RC discharges.

The experimentally optimized magnetic field configuration of the Large Helical Device [A. Iiyoshi et al., Nucl. Fusion 39, 1245 (1999)], where the magnetic axis is shifted inward by 15 cm from the early theoretical prediction, reveals 50% better global energy confinement than the prediction of the scaling law. This configuration has been investigated further from the viewpoints of high energy particle confinement and magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) stability. The confinement of high energy ions is improved as expected. The minority heating of ion cyclotron range of frequency was successful and the heating efficiency was improved by the inward shift. The confinement of passing particles by neutral beam injection was also improved under low magnetic field strength, and there could be obtained an almost steady high beta discharge up to 3% in volume average. This was a surprising result because the observed pressure gradient exceeded the Mercier unstable limit. The observed MHD activities became as high as beta but they did not grow enough to deteriorate the confinement of high energy ions or the performance of the bulk plasma, which was still 50% better than the scaling. According to these favorable results, better performance would be expected by increasing the heating power because the neoclassical transport can also be improved there.

An analysis of plasma initiation by neutral beams in the presence of a confining vacuum magnetic field is presented. Plasma startup by NBI alone was demonstrated in LHD in 1999, and since then this has become an indispensable technique for producing plasmas over a wide range of magnetic field strengths. The method is simple: injecting high power neutral beams into a thin gas target, waiting for a few hundred milliseconds until a thin `seed' plasma appears and then adding a gas puff or injecting a pellet to build up the main plasma. The mechanism of the process is considered to be as follows. A small number of fast ions created by collisions with background neutrals are confined in the magnetic field. They ionize the background neutrals and heat the thin seed plasma produced earlier. Numerical calculations based on this physical model can reproduce well the observed time evolution and input power dependence of the plasma buildup. The essential point is that its electron temperature should be high enough to ionize the neutrals added by gas puffing or pellet injection. Because the main energy loss process from this partially ionized plasma is by charge exchange of ions, the ionization degree should become high enough that the electron temperature increases. Therefore, the initial target gas density is important for building up plasma within a limited time.

Secondary charged particle emission (SCPE) from a proton conductive perovskite oxide, namely, SrCe0.95Yb0.05O3-δ(SCO) film on Si by ion impact has been measured using a charge collector method. When the ion projected range is much longer than the film thickness, SCPE yields are found to be nearly independent of the ion beam current (IB) for IB < a few nA, giving SCPE yields under charge-accumulation free condition, to contrast with the results for the thick polycrystalline SCO which shows a strong dependence of SCPE on the ion beam current. Several corrections are required to evaluate the secondary positive ion yields and a method is described.

During the first two years of the LHD experiment the following results have been achieved: (i) higher Te (Te(0) = 4.4 keV at ne = 5.3 × 1018 m-3 and Pabs = 1.8 MW); (ii) higher confinement (τE = 0.3 s, Te(0) = 1.1 keV at ne = 6.5 × 1019 m-3 and Pabs = 2.0 MW); (iii) higher stored energy, Wpdia = 880 kJ at B = 2.75 T. High performance plasmas have been realized in the inward shifted magnetic axis configuration (R = 3.6 m) where helical symmetry is recovered and the particle orbit properties are improved by a trade-off of MHD stability properties due to the appearance of a magnetic hill. Energy confinement was systematically higher than that predicted by the International Stellarator Scaling 95 by up to a factor of 1.6 and was comparable with the ELMy H mode confinement capability in tokamaks. This confinement improvement is attributed to configuration control (inward shift of the magnetic axis) and to the formation of a high edge temperature. The average beta value achieved reached 2.4% at B = 1.3 T, the highest beta value ever obtained in a helical device, and so far no degradation of confinement by MHD phenomena has been observed. The inward shifted configuration has also led to successful ICRF minority ion heating. ICRF powers up to 1.3 MW were reliably injected into the plasma without significant impurity contamination, and a plasma with a stored energy of 200 kJ was sustained for 5 s by ICRF alone. As another important result, long pulse discharges of more than 1 min were successfully achieved separately with an NBI heating of 0.5 MW and with an ICRF heating of 0.85 MW.

The confinement characteristics of large net-current-free plasmas heated by neutral-beam injection have been investigated in the Large Helical Device (LHD). A systematic enhancement in energy-confinement times from the scaling derived from the medium-sized heliotron/torsatron experiments have been observed, which is attributed to the edge pedestal. The core confinement is scaled with the Bohm term divided by the square root of the gyro radii. The comparative analysis using a dimensionally similar discharge in the Compact Helical System indicates gyro-Bohm dependence in the core and transport improvement in the edge region of LHD plasmas.

The dissociative scattering of CF 3 + ions from a clean Ag(111) and a barium-covered Ag(111) surface was explored in the energy range 100–600 eV. Both negative (CF 3 − , CF 2 − and F − ) and positive (CF + and C + ) ions were observed. The complete dissociation of the CF 3 + ions into C + fragments was found at low (normal) incoming energies. The breaking of three CF bonds is due to concerted electronic and mechanical energy transfer. The azimuthal orientation of the crystal has a large influence on the degree of dissociation, which indicates the importance of direct momentum transfer. For the barium-covered Ag(111) surface the negatively charged scattering products only showed F − and the positives showed CF + and C + fragments. No negatively charged polyatomic ions were observed. The lowering of the work function facilitates resonant neutralization into the excited 3s Rydberg state of the neutral molecule. Consequently, the spectral features associated with Auger neutralization are not observed.

In this article we report on surface scattering experiments at graphite as to model the interactions at divertor surfaces in tokamaks and conversion electrodes in negative ion sources. The formation of negative and positive hydrogen ions on a graphite surface during positive hydrogenous ion scattering at a projectile energy of 400 eV is observed. A remarkably high H− and H+ ion fraction, both varying between 10% and 30% of all scattered particles, is found during scattering of positive hydrogenous ions.

The dissociative scattering of CF + 3 ions from a barium-covered Ag(111) surface has been studied for incident energies between 100 and 500 eV. The negatively charged scattering products only showed F − and the positives showed CF + and C + fragments. No negatively charged molecular ions are observed. The results are compared with those on scattering from a clean Ag(111) surface. The lowering of the work function facilitates resonant neutralization into the excited 3s Rydberg state of the neutral molecule. Consequently, the spectral features associated with Auger neutralization are not observed.

Characteristics of negative-hydrogen ion (H−) density in the vicinity of plasma grid (PG) which is a boundary electrode between plasma and beam were experimentally investigated in cesium-seeded H− source. The H− density was measured with Cavity Ring Down method (CRD). Our CRD system has been upgraded from fixed line measurement to movable one which provides a profile measurement of the H− density. The H− density above the PG aperture is lower than that above the PG metal surface, and this density structure become to disappear in further region from the PG surface. The H− density decreases with positive bias voltage where an arc discharge chamber is higher potential than the PG. On the other hand, the H− density does not largely change with negative bias voltage. Reduction of the H− density was observed when a beam extraction voltage is applied. The reduction occurs in the case of lower bias voltage close to plasma potential. The extraction voltage influences H− density to a greater degree than bias voltage in low bias voltage region.

The first results of saturation-currents polar distribution, which is measured with a directional Langmuir probe, at the beam extraction region of our caesium (Cs) seeded negative ion source have been reported. The line from maximum to minimum of the distribution tilts by 40° to the normal direction of the plasma grid (PG) surface. The maximum intensity is one order of magnitude larger than the minimum one. Depth distribution of the saturation currents is also measured along the axis of the PG aperture and the middle line between a pair of the axes of nearest neighbor PG apertures. Ionic plasma with quite low electron density is generated within a distance of 10 mm from PG. With a bias voltage lower than plasma potential, the difference between negative to positive saturation currents, which corresponds to electron current, increases rapidly beyond the boundary of ionic plasma. The electron current decreases by a factor of 6 with increasing the bias voltage from 2.8 to 6.4 V.

Intense H− beams have been extracted from a large multicusp plasma source operated with cesium seeding. The H− beams were accelerated up to 100 keV by a single‐stage or a two‐stage electrode system. Spatial profiles of the beams are measured calorimetrically and the beam divergence angle is obtained from half of the e‐folding width. A minimum beam divergence angle of 5 mrads is achieved at a H− current density of 30 mA/cm2 with a beam energy of 100 keV. The ratio of acceleration current to H− current increases abruptly when a H− current saturates in the space charge limited region. This enhancement is mainly due to secondary electrons caused by the intersection of H− beams with an extraction grid. When the operating gas pressure decreases, the ratio of the acceleration current to the H− current decreases. This is related to a stripping loss of H− ions in the electrodes. A beam divergence angle reaches a minimum when a ratio of Vacc to Vext is set at an optimum value of 1.6 in the single‐stage acceleration...

Three high-power heating mechanisms, i.e. electron cyclotron resonance heating, ion cyclotron resonance heating and neutral beam injection heating will be available to achieve operation of the Large Helical Device in the (i) high nτT mode, (ii) high T i mode and (iii) high β mode. The requirements for each heating method are (i) 10 MW of ECH at a frequency of 84 GHz with a pulse length of 10 s, (ii) 3 MW of ICRF heating in the frequency range 25–100 MHz in CW operation and (iii) 20 MW of NBI at a hydrogen injection energy of 125 keV and 10 s operation. The components of each heating mechanism which need development individually exist, i.e. (i) a high-power gyrotron with an output power of 1 MW in CW operation and a high-efficiency transmission line for ECH, (ii) a high-power co-axial transmission line with cooling and an automatic matching circuit for ICRF heating and (iii) a large negative ion source and some components of the beam line for NBI. The heating scenario and the present status of the development are described for each heating system.

A millimeter-wave interferometer with the frequency of 39 GHz ({lambda} 7.7 mm) was newly installed to a large-scaled negative ion source. The measurable line-integrated electron density (n{sub e}l) is from 2x10{sup 16} to 7x10{sup 18} m{sup -2}, where n{sub e} and l represent an electron density and the plasma length along the millimeter-wave path, respectively. Our interest in this study is behavior of negative ions and reduction of electron density in the beam extraction region near the plasma grid. The first results show the possibility of the electron density measurement by the millimeter-wave interferometer in this region. The line-averaged electron density increases proportional to the arc power under the condition without cesium seeding. The significant decrease of the electron density and significant increase of the negative ion density were observed just after the cesium seeding. The electron density measured with the interferometer agrees well with that observed with a Langmuir probe. The very high negative ion ratio of n{sub H-}/(n{sub e}+n{sub H-}) = 0.85 was achieved within 400 min. after the cesium seeding.

Optical emission spectroscopy (OES) and cavity ring‐down spectroscopy (CRDS) systems are installed in a 1/3‐scaled negative hydrogen‐ion source at the National Institute for Fusion Science testbed to investigate the dynamics of H− ions in the extraction region near the plasma grid. The signal form of the H− ion density rapidly drops after beam extraction on applying a low‐bias voltage. A similar signal drop appears in the intensity of the hydrogen Balmer‐line emission measured by OES and is caused by decreasing atomic hydrogen produced by mutual neutralization effects between H− and H+. Shot trend of the beam currents are similar to the H− density and Hα/Hβ in the extraction region, which increases twice as large immediately after Cs seeding. We observe a linear correlation between the H− density and the inclination of Hα/Hβ which allows for experimentally benchmarking the OES measurement with that of CRDS. Thus, this approach is used for estimating the H− density by OES in negative‐ion sources for high‐e...

The effect of the cesium on hydrogen negative ions is discussed using the vacuum ultraviolet emissions (VUV) from vibrational states of hydrogen molecules. The VUV spectrum from 90 to 165 nm is related to the H− production from the dissociative attachment of electrons to hydrogen molecules. The VUV spectra in hydrogen plasmas are measured in the extraction region of a negative ion source for neutral beam injector. Under the pure hydrogen discharge, the cesium vapor is introduced into the ion source to enhance the hydrogen negative ion density. When the same arc power of ∼99 kW is applied in both with and without cesium admixture cases, the ratio of the observed VUV spectrum without to with cesium is not changed clearly. Therefore the production process of H− related to the wall/electrode surface would be enhanced rather than the volume production process.

Characteristics of radio frequency (RF) plasma production were investigated using a FET inverter power supply as a RF generator. High density hydrogen plasma was obtained using an external coil wound a cylindrical ceramic tube (driver region) with RF frequency of lower than 0.5 MHz. When an axial magnetic field around 10 mT was applied to the driver region, an electron density increased drastically and attained to over 10{sup 19} m{sup -3} in the driver region. Effect of the axial magnetic field in driver and expansion region was examined. Lower gas pressure operation below 0.5 Pa was possible with higher RF frequency. H{sup -} density in the expansion region was measured by using laser photo-detachment system. It decreased as the axial magnetic field applied, which was caused by the increase of energetic electron from the driver.