Bong-Ki Jung

Design Features and Commissioning of the Versatile Experiment Spherical Torus (VEST) at Seoul National University

A new spherical torus called VEST (Versatile Experiment Spherical Torus) is designed, constructed and successfully commissioned at Seoul National University. A unique design feature of the VEST is two partial solenoid coils installed at both vertical ends of a center stack, which can provide sufficient magnetic fluxes to initiate tokamak plasmas while keeping a low aspect ratio configuration in the central region. According to initial double null merging start-up scenario using the partial solenoid coils, appropriate power supplies for driving a toroidal field coil, outer poloidal field coils, and the partial solenoid coils are fabricated and successfully commissioned. For reliable start-up, a pre-ionization system with two cost-effective homemade magnetron power supplies is also prepared. In addition, magnetic and spectroscopic diagnostics with appropriate data acquisition and control systems are well prepared for initial operation of the device. The VEST is ready for tokamak plasma operation by completing and commissioning most of the designed components.

Global model analysis of negative ion generation in low-pressure inductively coupled hydrogen plasmas with bi-Maxwellian electron energy distributions

A global model was developed to investigate the densities of negative ions and the other species in a low-pressure inductively coupled hydrogen plasma with a bi-Maxwellian electron energy distribution. Compared to a Maxwellian plasma, bi-Maxwellian plasmas have higher populations of low-energy electrons and highly vibrationally excited hydrogen molecules that are generated efficiently by high-energy electrons. This leads to a higher reaction rate of the dissociative electron attachment responsible for negative ion production. The model indicated that the bi-Maxwellian electron energy distribution at low pressures is favorable for the creation of negative ions. In addition, the electron temperature, electron density, and negative ion density calculated using the model were compared with the experimental data. In the low-pressure regime, the model results of the bi-Maxwellian electron energy distributions agreed well quantitatively with the experimental measurements, unlike those of the assumed Maxwellian electron energy distributions that had discrepancies.

Effects of discharge chamber length on the negative ion generation in volume-produced negative hydrogen ion source

In a volume-produced negative hydrogen ion source, control of electron temperature is essential due to its close correlation with the generation of highly vibrationally excited hydrogen molecules in the heating region as well as the generation of negative hydrogen ions by dissociative attachment in the extraction region. In this study, geometric effects of the cylindrical discharge chamber on negative ion generation via electron temperature changes are investigated in two discharge chambers with different lengths of 7.5 cm and 11 cm. Measurements with a radio-frequency-compensated Langmuir probe show that the electron temperature in the heating region is significantly increased by reducing the length of the discharge chamber due to the reduced effective plasma size. A particle balance model which is modified to consider the effects of discharge chamber configuration on the plasma parameters explains the variation of the electron temperature with the chamber geometry and gas pressure quite well. Accordingly, H(-) ion density measurement with laser photo-detachment in the short chamber shows a few times increase compared to the longer one at the same heating power depending on gas pressure. However, the increase drops significantly as operating gas pressure decreases, indicating increased electron temperatures in the extraction region degrade dissociative attachment significantly especially in the low pressure regime. It is concluded that the increase of electron temperature by adjusting the discharge chamber geometry is efficient to increase H(-) ion production as long as low electron temperatures are maintained in the extraction region in volume-produced negative hydrogen ion sources.

Efficient ECH-assisted plasma start-up using trapped particle configuration in the versatile experiment spherical torus

An efficient and robust ECH (electron cyclotron heating)-assisted plasma start-up scheme with a low loop voltage and low volt-second consumption utilizing the trapped particle configuration (TPC) has been developed in the versatile experiment spherical torus (VEST). The TPC is a mirror-like magnetic field configuration providing a vertical magnetic field in the same direction as the equilibrium field. It significantly enhances ECH pre-ionization with enhanced particle confinement due to its mirror effect, and intrinsically provides an equilibrium field with a stable decay index enabling prompt plasma current initiation. Consequently, the formation of TPC before the onset of the loop voltage allows the plasma to start up with a lower loop voltage and lower volt-second consumption as well as a wider operation range in terms of ECH pre-ionization power and H2 filling pressure. The TPC can improve the widely-used field null configuration significantly for more efficient start-up when ECH pre-ionization is used. This can then be utilized in superconducting tokamaks requiring a low loop voltage start-up, such as ITER, or in spherical tori with limited volt-seconds. The TPC can be particularly useful in superconducting tokamaks with a limited current slew-rate of superconducting PF coils, as it can save volt-second consumption before plasma current initiation by providing prompt initiation with an intrinsic stable equilibrium field.

Development of a novel radio-frequency negative hydrogen ion source in conically converging configurationa)

Volume-produced negative ion source still requires enhancement of current density with lower input RF (radio-frequency) power in lower operating pressure for various applications. To confirm recent observation of efficient negative ion production with a short cylindrical chamber with smaller effective plasma size, the RF-driven transformer-coupled plasma H(-) ion source at Seoul National University is modified by adopting a newly designed quartz RF window to reduce the chamber length. Experiments with the reduced chamber length show a few times enhancement of H(-) ion beam current compared to that extracted from the previous chamber design, which is consistent with the measured H(-) ion population. Nevertheless, decrease in H(-) ion beam current observed in low pressure regime below ∼5 mTorr owing to insufficient filtering of high energy electrons in the extraction region needs to be resolved to address the usefulness of electron temperature control by the change of geometrical configuration of the discharge chamber. A new discharge chamber with conically converging configuration has been developed, in which the chamber diameter decreases as approaching to the extraction region away from the planar RF antenna such that stronger filter magnetic field can be utilized to prohibit high energy electrons from transporting to the extraction region. First experimental results for the H(-) ion beam extraction with this configuration show that higher magnetic filter field makes peak negative beam currents happen in lower operating pressure. However, overall decrease in H(-) ion beam current due to the change of chamber geometry still requires further study of geometrical effect on particle transport and optimization of magnetic field in this novel configuration.

Development of internal magnetic probe for current density profile measurement in Versatile Experiment Spherical Torusa)

An internal magnetic probe using Hall sensors to measure a current density profile directly with perturbation of less than 10% to the plasma current is successfully operated for the first time in Versatile Experiment Spherical Torus (VEST). An appropriate Hall sensor is chosen to produce sufficient signals for VEST magnetic field while maintaining the small size of 10 mm in outer diameter. Temperature around the Hall sensor in a typical VEST plasma is regulated by blown air of 2 bars. First measurement of 60 kA VEST ohmic discharge shows a reasonable agreement with the total plasma current measured by Rogowski coil in VEST.

Modification to the accelerator of the NBI-1B ion source for improving the injection efficiency

Minimizing power loss of a neutral beam imposes modification of the accelerator of the ion source for further improvement of the beam optics. The beam optics can be improved by focusing beamlets. The injection efficiencies by the steering of ion beamlets are investigated numerically to find the optimum modification of the accelerator design of the NBI-1B ion source. The beam power loss was reduced by aperture displacement of three edge beamlets arrays considering power loadings on the beamline components. Successful testing and operation of the ion source at 60 keV/84% of injection efficiency led to the possibility of enhancing the system capability to a 2.4 MW power level at 100 keV/1.9 μP.

Discharge Characteristics of Large-Area High-Power RF Ion Source for Positive and Negative Neutral Beam Injectors ⁄

A large-area high-power radio-frequency (RF) driven ion source was developed for positive and negative neutral beam injectors at the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI). The RF ion source consists of a driver region, including a helical antenna and a discharge chamber, and an expansion region. RF power can be transferred at up to 10 kW with a fixed frequency of 2 MHz through an optimized RF matching system. An actively water-cooled Faraday shield is located inside the driver region of the ion source for the stable and steady-state operations of high-power RF discharge. Plasma ignition of the ion source is initiated by the injection of argon-gas without a starter-filament heating, and the argon-gas is then slowly exchanged by the injection of hydrogen-gas to produce pure hydrogen plasmas. The uniformities of the plasma parameter, such as a plasma density and an electron temperature, are measured at the lowest area of the driver region using two RF-compensated electrostatic probes along the direction of the short-and long-dimensions of the driver region. The plasma parameters will be compared with those obtained at the lowest area of the expansion bucket to analyze the plasma expansion properties from the driver region to the expansion region.

Beam Sweeping for Long-Pulse Operation of an Ion Source in Neutral Beam Injectors

Abstract Long-pulse operation has been initially and successfully demonstrated during a 100-s stable beam extraction in the neutral beam test stand (NBTS) system of the Korea Atomic Energy Research Institute (KAERI) for the positive ion source (IS) of the JT-60SA neutral beam injector. The NBTS system was constructed at KAERI to develop 300-s deuterium beam extractions of 100 kV/50 A as an auxiliary heating system of the Korea Superconducting Tokamak Advanced Research (KSTAR). The IS of the JT-60SA neutral beam injector is composed of a plasma generator and a set of tetrode accelerators. The beamline components include an optical multichannel analyzer duct, a neutralizer, a bending magnet (BM), a calorimeter, and a vacuum pump system. The beam power deposition of the IS and the beamline components along the NBTS have been measured by water flow calorimetry (WFC), and a total of 99.7% of the extracted beam power (Vacc∙Iacc) was counted for a hydrogen beam of 82 kV/25 A (2.05 MW) during 100-s beam extraction. To reduce the localized heat load on the calorimeter plate, a method of small-angle deflection for the ion beam particles was applied using a small alternate current of 8 A, 0.5 Hz for the BM coil.

Study on monatomic fraction improvement with alumina layer on metal electrode in hydrogen plasma ion source

A high monatomic beam fraction is an important factor in a hydrogen ion source to increase the application efficiency. The monatomic fraction of hydrogen plasmas with different plasma electrode materials is measured in a helicon plasma ion source, and aluminum shows the highest value compared to that with the other metals such as copper and molybdenum. Formation of an aluminum oxide layer on the aluminum electrode is determined by XPS analysis, and the alumina layer is verified as the high monatomic fraction. Both experiments and numerical simulations conclude that a low surface recombination coefficient of the alumina layer on the plasma electrode is one of the most important parameters for increasing the monatomic fraction in hydrogen plasma ion sources.