Anomalous transport processes near a levitated coil immersed in a plasma

Abstract

The influence of drift cyclotron instability on transport processes in the plasma layer surrounding a levitated coil in a conceptual D-3He fusion reactor is considered. This is a potentially dangerous instability for the systems discussed. It is important that the particle flux through the layer vanishes as a result of strong recycling near the coil surface. It is shown that this severely limits the magnitude of cyclotron fluctuations and also, as a result, the anomalous thermal flux. Thus, the main impact of the instability is reduced to the formation of self-consistent density and temperature profiles in the layer, while the thermal flux remains classical. On the basis of the model developed, self-consistent density and temperature profiles and the thermal flux in the layer are computed. With plasma parameters suitable for a D-3He reactor, the thermal flux density in the layer is approximately 15 W/cm2 and is weakly dependent on the thickness L of the layer. When L ⩾ ρi (mi/me)1/2, this thermal flux should be almost completely transformed into bremsstrahlung radiation