Energetic particle orbits in the National Spherical Tokamak Experiment

Abstract

The trajectories of neutral beam injected energetic ions in spherical tokamaks are examined. The large poloidal magnetic field in the outboard region of spherical tokamaks causes neutral beam injected ions to be born on trapped orbits even with cotangential injection. Numerical solutions to the equations for particle motion and for guiding center drifts are compared in several magnetic equilibria for a range of particle initial conditions. Even when rL/a∼1/4 the guiding center orbits closely resemble the path of the instantaneous center of gyration of the particle motion; exceptions occur primarily for orbits near the trapped/passing boundary. Finite Larmor radius effects are included in guiding center simulations of prompt orbit loss in the National Spherical Tokamak Experiment (NSTX) [J. Spitzer et al., Fusion Technol. 30, 1337 (1996)]. Orbit loss in the NSTX is caused primarily by collisions with the close fitting conducting shell, and severe losses would be expected with counter directed injection. While most orbits are similar to those found in conventional tokamaks, additional orbit types are possible in spherical tokamaks.