Energetic ion transport by abrupt large-amplitude event induced by negative-ion-based neutral beam injection in the JT-60U

Abstract

To investigate energetic ion transport induced by bursting modes in the frequency range of Alfvén eigenmodes, which is called abrupt large-amplitude events (ALEs) driven by negative-ion-based neutral beam (N-NB) injection, neutron emission profile measurement and charge exchange (CX) neutral particle (flux) measurement using a natural diamond detector have been performed simultaneously in JT-60U. It is found from the CX neutral particle (flux) measurement that energetic neutral particles in a limited energy range (100–370 keV) are enhanced due to ALEs, and the neutron radial profile is flattened. The change in the energetic ion density profile inferred from these measurements indicates that ALEs expel energetic ions from the core region of the plasma and induce both redistribution and loss of energetic ions. It has been shown that the energy range of transported energetic ions is consistent with a resonance condition between energetic ions and ALEs, and the energetic ion transport results from the resonant interaction between energetic ions and ALEs. Further, a fraction of the energetic ion loss has been quantitatively estimated to be ∼4%.