M. O'Mullane

Modelling of measured tungsten spectra from ASDEX Upgrade and predictions for ITER

Tungsten (W) has moved into the focus of fusion research being a main candidate for the plasma facing components (PFCs) of ITER and a future fusion reactor. A main ingredient for understanding the influence of W as a plasma impurity and its impact on the plasma is the spatially resolved spectroscopic diagnosis of W. The focus of the experimental investigations at ASDEX Upgrade is on the most intense emissions of W ions (about I-like W21+ to Mn-like W49+) in the VUV to the soft x-ray region covering the electron temperature range from about 0.5?5.0?keV. The relative shape of the fractional abundances of the ionization stages Se-like W40+ to Ni-like W46+ and of the bundle of ionization stages between Sn-like W24+ and Y-like W35+ was determined. Calculated fractional abundances using published ionization and recombination rates do not accurately describe the experimental temperature dependence. Adjustments to the recombination rates were calculated to reconcile with the measurements. The spectral features of W at 0.4?0.8?nm, around 5?nm, between 12 and 14?nm and between 10 and 30?nm have been recorded and compared with modelling results. The quality of agreement is best for highly charged ionization stages and short wavelengths and decreases for lower charged ionization stages and longer wavelengths. However, in the latter case the predictions manage to reproduce the total emissivity in each considered spectral range and also the rough distribution of emissions versus wavelengths within these spectral ranges. The modelling of the SXR range at 0.4?0.8?nm looks very similar to the measurement. Further observations of weaker spectral features between 0.6 and 0.7?nm, between 1.8 and 3.5?nm and at 8?nm could be attributed to certain ionization stages. The modelling of W spectra for ITER predicts emissions of Cr-like W50+ to about C-like W68+ at 0.1?0.15?nm, 1.8?4.0?nm and around 8?nm.

Tungsten: an option for divertor and main chamber plasma facing components in future fusion devices

The tungsten programme in ASDEX Upgrade is pursued towards a full high-Z device. The spectroscopic diagnostic of W has been extended and refined and the cooling factor of W has been re-evaluated. The W coated surfaces now represent a fraction of 65% of all plasma facing components (24.8 m(2)). The only two major components that are not yet coated are the strikepoint region of the lower divertor as well as the limiters at the low field side. While extending the W surfaces, the W concentration and the discharge behaviour have changed gradually pointing to critical issues when operating with a W wall: anomalous transport in the plasma centre should not be too low, otherwise neoclassical accumulation can occur. One very successful remedy is the addition of central RF heating at the 20-30% level. Regimes with low ELM activity show increased impurity concentration over the whole plasma radius. These discharges can be cured by increasing the ELM frequency through pellet ELM pacemaking or by higher heating power. Moderate gas puffing also mitigates the impurity influx and penetration, however, at the expense of lower confinement. The erosion yield at the low field side guard limiter can be as high as 10(-3) and fast particle losses from NBI were identified to contribute a significant part to the W sputtering. Discharges run in the upper W coated divertor do not show higher W concentrations than comparable discharges in the lower C based divertor. According to impurity transport calculations no strong high-Z accumulation is expected for the ITER standard scenario as long as the anomalous transport is at least as high as the neoclassical one.

Dielectronic Recombination Data for Dynamic Finite-Density Plasmas. I; Goals and Methodology

A programme is outlined for the assembly of a comprehensive dielectronic recombination database within the generalized collisional-radiative (GCR) framework. It is valid for modelling ions of elements in dynamic finite-density plasmas such as occur in transient astrophysical plasmas such as solar flares and in the divertors and high transport regions of magnetic fusion devices. The resolution and precision of the data are tuned to spectral analysis and so are sufficient for prediction of the dielectronic recombination contributions to individual spectral line emissivities. The fundamental data are structured according to the format prescriptions of the Atomic Data and Analysis Structure (ADAS) and the production of relevant GCR derived data for application is described and implemented following ADAS. The requirements on the dielectronic recombination database are reviewed and the new data are placed in context and evaluated with respect to older and more approximate treatments. Illustrative results validate the new high-resolution zero-density dielectronic recombination data in comparison with measurements made in heavy-ion storage rings utilizing an electron cooler. We also exemplify the role of the dielectronic data on GCR coefficient behaviour for some representative light and medium weight elements.

Calculation and experimental test of the cooling factor of tungsten

The cooling factor of W is evaluated using state of the art data for line radiation and an ionization balance which has been benchmarked with experiment. For the calculation of line radiation, level-resolved calculations were performed with the Cowan code to obtain the electronic structure and excitation cross sections ( plane-wave Born approximation). The data were processed by a collisional radiative model to obtain electron density dependent emissions. These data were then combined with the radiative power derived from recombination rates and bremsstrahlung to obtain the total cooling factor. The effect of uncertainties in the recombination rates on the cooling factor was studied and was identified to be of secondary importance. The new cooling factor is benchmarked, by comparisons of the line radiation with spectral measurements as well as with a direct measurement of the cooling factor. Additionally, a less detailed calculation using a configuration averaged model was performed. It was used to benchmark the level-resolved calculations and to improve the prediction on radiation power from line radiation for ionization stages which are computationally challenging. The obtained values for the cooling factor validate older predictions from the literature. Its ingredients and the absolute value are consistent with the existing experimental results regarding the value itself, the spectral distribution of emissions and the ionization equilibrium. A table of the cooling factor versus electron temperature is provided. Finally, the cooling factor is used to investigate the operational window of a fusion reactor with W as intrinsic impurity. The minimum value of nT tau(E), for which a thermonuclear burn is possible, is increased by 20% for a W concentration of 3.0 x 10(-5) compared with a plasma without any impurities, except for the He ash which is considered in both cases.

Ionization state, excited populations and emission of impurities in dynamic finite density plasmas: I. The generalized collisional–radiative model for light elements

The paper presents an integrated view of the population structure and its role in establishing the ionization state of light elements in dynamic, finite density, laboratory and astrophysical plasmas. There are four main issues, the generalized collisional-radiative picture for metastables in dynamic plasmas with Maxwellian free electrons and its particularizing to light elements, the methods of bundling and projection for manipulating the population equations, the systematic production/use of state selective fundamental collision data in the metastable resolved picture to all levels for collisonal-radiative modelling and the delivery of appropriate derived coefficients for experiment analysis. The ions of carbon, oxygen and neon are used in illustration. The practical implementation of the methods described here is part of the ADAS Project.

Tritium transport experiments on the JET tokamak

An overview is given of the experimental method, the analysis technique and the results for trace tritium experiments conducted on the JET tokamak in 2003. Observations associated with events such as sawtooth collapses, neo-classical tearing modes and edge localized modes are described. Tritium transport is seen to approach neo-classical levels in the plasma core at high density and low q(95), and in the transport barrier region of internal transport barrier (ITB) discharges. Tritium transport remains well above neo-classical levels in all other cases. The correlation of the measured tritium diffusion coefficient and convection velocity for normalized minor radii r/a = [0.65, 0.80] with the controllable parameters q95 and plasma density are found to be consistent for all operational regimes (ELMy H-mode discharges with or without ion cyclotron frequency resonance heating, hybrid scenario and ITB discharges). Scaling with local physics parameters is best described by gyro-Bohm scaling with an additional inverse beta dependence.

Dielectronic recombination data for dynamic finite-density plasmas

Partial and total dielectronic recombination (DR) rate coefficients for fluorine-like ions forming neon-like systems have been calculated as part of the assembly of a final-state level-resolved DR database necessary for the modelling of dynamic finite-density plasmas (Badnell et al. 2003). Calculations have been performed for DR of both ground and metastable initial states for Ne to Zn21+, as well as for Kr27+, Mo33+, and Xe45+. Results for a selection of ions are presented and discussed. We find that low-temperature DR, via 2 → 2 core excitations involving no change in the principal quantum number of the core electron, does not scale smoothly with nuclear charge Z due to resonances straddling the ionization limit of the recombined system, thereby making explicit calculations for each ion necessary. Most of the earlier calculations neglected contributions from the fine-structure 2p3/2 − 2p1/2 excitation which has been shown to be very important for low-temperature DR coefficients. The DR data are suitable for modelling of solar and cosmic plasmas under conditions of collisional ionization equilibrium, photoionization equilibrium, and non-equilibrium ionization.

Advances in neutral-beam-based diagnostics on the Madison Symmetric Torus reversed-field pinch (invited)

Innovative charge-exchange recombination spectroscopy (CHERS), motional Stark effect (MSE), and Rutherford scattering diagnostics are now in operation on the Madison Symmetric Torus (MST) reversed-field pinch (RFP). The CHERS diagnostic measures impurity ion flow and temperature, localized to 2cm with high time resolution (∼100kHz). A spectral MSE diagnostic has been in use for five years, measuring ∣B∣ down to 0.2T with high precision (∼2%) and good time resolution (10kHz). The Rutherford scattering diagnostic has demonstrated the robustness of this technique for reliable measurement of majority (D) ion temperature, also with high time resolution. MST is a large RFP (R=1.5m, a=0.52m) operated at moderate current (Ip⩽600kA), with ne typically (1–2)×1019m−3 and Te, Ti⩽2keV. Two compact and reliable diagnostic neutral beams are installed on MST. These beams are short pulse, intense, monoenergetic, and low divergence. The first, a neutral H beam, is used in combination with ultraviolet and visible spectrosco...

A radiation-damped R -matrix approach to the electron-impact excitation of helium-like ions for diagnostic application to fusion and astrophysical plasmas

Electron-impact excitation collision strengths for transitions between all singly excited levels up to the n = 4 shell of helium-like argon and the n = 4 and 5 shells of helium-like iron have been calculated using a radiation-damped R-matrix approach. The theoretical collision strengths have been examined and associated with their infinite-energy limit values to allow the preparation of Maxwell-averaged effective collision strengths. These are conservatively considered to be accurate to within 20% at all temperatures, 3×105-3×108 K for Ar16+ and 106-109 K for Fe24+. They have been compared with the results of previous studies, where possible, and we find a broad accord. The corresponding rate coefficients are required for use in the calculation of derived, collisional-radiative, effective emission coefficients for helium-like lines for diagnostic application to fusion and astrophysical plasmas. The uncertainties in the fundamental collision data have been used to provide a critical assessment of the expected resultant uncertainties in such derived data, including redistributive and cascade collisional-radiative effects. The consequential uncertainties in the parts of the effective emission coefficients driven by excitation from the ground levels for the key w, x, y and z lines vary between 5% and 10%. Our results remove an uncertainty in the reaction rates of a key class of atomic processes governing the spectral emission of helium-like ions in plasmas.

Consistency of atomic data for the interpretation of beam emission spectra

Several collisional–radiative (CR) models (Anderson et al 2000 Plasma Phys. Control. Fusion 42 781–806, Hutchinson 2002 Plasma Phys. Control. Fusion 44 71–82, Marchuk et al 2008 Rev. Sci. Instrum. 79 10F532) have been developed to calculate the attenuation and the population of excited states of hydrogen or deuterium beams injected into tokamak plasmas. The datasets generated by these CR models are needed for the modelling of beam ion deposition and (excited) beam densities in current experiments, and the reliability of these data will be crucial to obtain helium ash densities on ITER combining charge exchange and beam emission spectroscopy. Good agreement between the different CR models for the neutral beam (NB) is found, if corrections to the fundamental cross sections are taken into account. First the Hα and Hβ beam emission spectra from JET are compared with the expected intensities. Second, the line ratios within the Stark multiplet are compared with the predictions of a sublevel resolved model. The measured intensity of the full multiplet is ≈30% lower than expected on the basis of beam attenuation codes and the updated beam emission rates, but apart from the atomic data this could also be due to the characterization of the NB path and line of sight integration and the absolute calibration of the optics. The modelled n = 3 to n = 4 population agrees very well with the ratio of the measured Hα to Hβ beam emission intensities. Good agreement is found as well between the NB power fractions measured with beam emission in plasma and on the JET Neutral Beam Test Bed. The Stark line ratios and σ/π intensity ratio deviate from a statistical distribution, in agreement with the CR model in parabolic states from Marchuk et al (2010 J. Phys. B: At. Mol. Opt. Phys. 43 011002).