Increasing the beam power of the JT-60U negative ion based neutral beam system

In the negative ion based NBI for JT-60, the maximum injection power reached so far is 5.2 MW at 350 keV. However the beam power and pulse duration are limited mainly by a mismatched perveance of the accelerated beam due to the source plasma non-uniformity. The source plasma uniformity was investigated by measuring the arc current distribution and ion saturation current in the plasma generator. A large non-uniformity has been found at the bottom side along a longitudinal direction in the ion source. As countermeasures against the source plasma non-uniformity, the adjustment of resistors in series with are current circuit connected to each of eight filament groups and the masking both fringes of the plasma grid are effective.